Above: French grande for Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, Australia, 1978). Artist Léo Kouper.
Update: Sadly, because of coronavirus precautions closing down all of Lincoln Center yesterday, this series has been cancelled. It may only ever exist in poster form.
One of the most interesting and eclectic New York repertory series in many a moon starts today at Film at Lincoln Center. Titled “Mapping Bacurau,” the series has been handpicked by filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles to highlight the varied cinematic influences behind their current arthouse-meets-grindhouse sensation. The result is a baker’s dozen of eccentric horror movies, spaghetti westerns, revenge saga,s and essential texts of the Cinema Novo movement. Having art directed the U.S. poster for Bacurau with illustrator Tony Stella and designer Midnight Marauder, it was fascinating to see how the posters for these films had echoes in our final design, even if only coincidentally. One of which was not coincidental: after seeing a first draft of Kleber and Juliano’s wish list I took a look at the Wake in Fright (a.k.a. Outback) posters and sent the American one to Tony since I thought it had a rather Stella-esque style. The blinding hot sun from that poster ended up in Bacurau.
I’ve chosen a couple of posters for each film, though for some, especially a couple of the Brazilian titles, I could only find one. I hope they whet your appetite to seek out these incredible films.
Above: International poster for Blood for Dracula aka Andy Warhol’s Young Dracula (Paul Morrissey, Italy, 1974). Art by Emmett.
Above: US one sheet for Blood for Dracula aka Andy Warhol’s Dracula (Paul Morrissey, Italy, 1974). Art by Ken Barr.
Above: US poster for Bye Bye Brazil (Carlos Diegues, Argentina/Brazil/France, 1980).
Above: Brazilian poster for Bye Bye Brazil (Carlos Diegues, Argentina/Brazil/France, 1980).
Above: US one sheet for Compañeros (Sergio Corbucci, Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1970).
Above: UK quad for Compañeros (Sergio Corbucci, Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1970).
Above: US one sheet for Duck, You Sucker! (Sergio Leone, Italy/Spain, 1972).
Above: Italian poster for Duck, You Sucker! (Sergio Leone, Italy/Spain, 1972). Art by Rodolfo Gasparri.
Above: Brazilian poster for The Guns (Ruy Guerra, Brazil/Argentina, 1964).
Above: Polish poster for The Guns (Ruy Guerra, Brazil/Argentina, 1964). Art by Andrzej Krajewski
Above: Brazilian poster for The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga (Roberto Santos, Brazil, 1965).
Above: US one sheet for Lone Star (John Sayles, USA, 1996).
Above: Australian poster for Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, Australia, 1978).
Above: US one sheet for Southern Comfort (Walter Hill, USA/Switzerland, 1981).
Above: Alternative US poster for Southern Comfort (Walter Hill, USA/Switzerland/UK, 1981).
Above: US one sheet for Starman (John Carpenter, USA, 1984).
Above: Polish poster for Starman (John Carpenter, USA, 1984). Art by Andrzej Pagowski.
Above: Brazilian poster for Twenty Years Later (Eduardo Coutinho, Brazil, 1984).
Above: US one sheet for Wake in Fright aka Outback (Ted Kotcheff, Australia, 1971).
Above: Polish poster for Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff, Australia, 1971). Art by Wiktor Gorka.
Above: US one sheet for The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, UK, 1974).
Above: US 1979 re-release one sheet for The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, UK, 1974).
"Mapping Bacurau" runs March 13–24, 2020 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York. MUBI is exclusively showing Bacurau from March 27 - April 25, 2020 in the United Kingdom. UPDATE: Film at Lincoln Center has suspended all screenings due to public health concerns related to COVID-19.