Reidy, Building Utopia

Reidy, a construção da utopia (Reidy, Building Utopia)
R: Ana Maria Magalhães, BR 2008, 77 min, English subtitles
The creed of modernist architects in the early 20th century included the notion that the organization of living space and the fabric of the city – urban utopia – were crucial to the transformation of society and the birth of “modern man“. In her film, the director Ana Maria Magalhães looks at the work of the Brazilian architect and construction pioneer Affonso Eduardo Reidy (1909 – 1964), whose blueprints for a modern, people-friendly Rio de Janeiro have had a lasting effect. Projects such as the “Museum of Modern Art“ and the “Aterro e Parque do Flamengo“, through which Reidy turned his utopias of urban cityscapes into reality, remain architectural landmarks of Rio to this day.

Ana Maria Magalhães (* 1950 in Rio de Janeiro) is one of the best-known and funniest actresses in Brazil. She has acted in films by numerous famous Brazilian directors, from “Girl from Ipanema“ (Leon Hirszman) to “Das Alter der Erde“ (The Age of the Earth) by Glauber Rocha, etc. In the late 1970s, she directed her first film, the documentary “Mulheres de Cinema“ (Women in Cinema) and went on to make several short films. She subsequently turned her attention to the life and work of the architect and city planner, Affonso Eduardo Reidy, producing two documentary films on the topic.