Rat fever is an expression from the Northeast of Brazil meaning ‘losing control’ or ‘going insane’. This is often triggered by extreme heat, and people soon start behaving erratically, shedding their fears and inhibitions. This is the case with Cláudio Assis 2011 films Rat Fever, where a community of artists in the Brazilian city of Recife disregard most social conventions and live freely, in an intoxicating mixture of poetry and sexual experimentation. Click here in order to read our 5-splat review of the movie.

The British capital also experienced rat fever this Tuesday, as DMovies screened Cláudio Assis’s movie to an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 100 cinema lovers, who braved the very intense summer heat wave outside to come the Brazilian Embassy in Trafalgar Square. The weather reached 31C, making it the hottest day on record in London this year.

The debate about artistic and sexual freedom that followed the film was equally heated. Brazilian congressman and LGBT activist Jean Wyllys shared his views about personal freedoms in Brazil and the impact of sudden political shift to the right on Brazilian cinema and arts. The programmer at BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival Brian Robinson discussed his experience with LGBT films from the tropics, and the perceived sexuality of Brazilians. Professor of Film Studies at the University of Reading Lucia Nagib inserted Rat Fever in a much broader political and cultural context.

Very special guests were in the audience, including the Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission Academic, Cultural & Political Affairs Ana Maria de Souza Bierrenbach, Cultural Attaché Hayle Gadelha and the prominent Australian-born British LGBT activist Peter Tatchell. These are all pictured below.

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The debate was moderated by Victor Fraga, director at DMovies. A full video of the event will be made available online on our website, Facebook and YouTube in the next few days. So stay tuned!

DMovies would like to take the opportunity to thank the Brazilian Embassy – in particular Hayle Gadelha and Fernanda Franco – for the continuing support and commitment to groundbreaking Brazilian cinema.