VIDEO: The ballet school for under privileged girls from São Paulo favelas

Discover the ballet project teaching girls from one of Sao Paulo´s most brutal districts and offering hopes and dreams to children who could otherwise face exposure to crime, drugs and early pregnancy.


The dance studio in São Paulo is a world away from the neighbouring favelas most of these girls were born into. Here, they find a temporary refuge through a children's dance program.

The Dozape, a skate crew from the East side of São Paulo

Meet The Dozape, a seven-skater crew from the Eastern neighbourhoods of São Paulo. Their friendship goes back a long way and they've been skating together for the past 10 years opening up a skate shop and launching a clothing brand along the way

The video below has them showing off some tricks and explaining where their name comes from:

 

Meet Letícia Bufoni, pro skategirl from São Paulo

Born on the 13th April 1993 in São Paulo, Letícia Bufoni e Silva, is a young Brazilian skater who is taking the skating world by storm.

She moved to live in the US at 14 to be close to her sport and although she spends a few months a year in Brazil, most people back in her home town of São Paulo have never heard of her depite her impressive skate record.

She hit fame when she was shot doing the so-called rockslide, an already perilous-sounding activity involving skating down a stair hand rail, in high heels. Glamour magazine USA promptly hired her for their ad campaign in a replica skate shot. But even before that she had already won a bunch of tiles and boasts a high profile array of sponsors including Nike, TNT, Oakley and GoPro.

By the age of twenty one Leticia had already been ranked the #1 women’s street skateboarder by World Cup Skate for four years in a row. And in 2013, she became the only female athlete to win three separate X Games Gold Medals. In the words of the International Skateboarding Federation “Leticia is what the world of skateboarding has been waiting for. A kick-ass athlete that can hang with the best (including the boys), great looks and a magnetic personality.”

We think it’s about time she was known back in SP.

Below is a recent video she shot for Nike in which she describes her passion for skateboarding:

You can follow Leticia here:

Facebook: facebook.com/LeticiaBufoni
Twitter: twitter.com/LeticiaBufoni
InstaGram: LeticiaBufoni
YouTube: youtube.com/leticiabufoni

VIDEO: São Paulo is a Little Planet

São Paulo is a Little Planet is a short film by Idrone.tv, a pioneer in Brazilian drone filming. The company develops drones which are custom built for high quality filming from the air and include independent tilt, roll, and infinite pan functions. 

The drones they make are able to send video back to earth in real time and are operationally silent to eliminate vibrations during filming. 

Enough about the technicalities. Check out the clip below, we think it is the coolest video of São Paulo we've seen this year!

São Paulo is a Little Planet by Idrone.tv

VIDEO: The story of São Paulo punks

Viva Viva - Trailer - English from Carolina Pfister on Vimeo.

Yes, São Paulo is home to punk culture as well and the film VivaViva tells the story. The project was brought to life by Swiss-born Carolina Pfister and funded as a Kickstarter project.

It lets you experience the lives and surroundings of São Paulo punks, in a city that is the Brazilian birthplace of the movement. Combine the beauty of urban chaos, street art and polluted sunsets with punk culture and the result is a VivaViva. Follow VivaVivas site for upcoming screenings and if you get a chance to see it somewhere close to you, don`t miss the chance:

http://vivavivamovie.com/news-blog-novidades/

About the director: Carolina Pfister lived between Brazil and the USA for most of her life. She has worked with media in independent television and non-profits, and once received a Chicago Emmy for her short documentary television work.

She also received a Women in Film “Emerging Latina Filmmaker” award, co-founded an inner city cultural center and farmer’s market, released her first feature length film on Brazilian punks, and is creating more in Portland, OR, her new home.

VIDEO: Ruan Mosca and his BMX in São Paulo

Born and raised in Porto Ferreira, São Paulo, Ruan Mosca is a local BMX rider.

He's only 18 years old but has been riding since 2007 and says he plans to do so for the rest of his life or for as long as his body allows him to.

Below is a video of Ruan filmed during week stay in São Paulo.

Ruan Mosca | SP TRIP from Bike Rules on Vimeo.

Music: MF DOOM – Guinnesses

VIDEO: SP in Reverse

SP in Reverse is a short, dreamy film by Vaca Barbuda and a São Paulo timelapse video with a difference.

As the title suggests, the whole thing is filmed and produced backwards which adds a surreal touch to the video. It is very literally portrays the city of São Paulo in reverse mode

Check it out on Vimeo or play it below:

SP in Reverse from Vaca Barbuda on Vimeo.

The city of São Paulo in the reverse mode

Song: Raining - Kai Engel

VIDEO: São Paulo in miniature

São Paulo Miniatura is a video of São Paulo shot in tilt shift.

It was co-produced by Canvas 24p Filmes and the local city government's ministry of culture, designed to challenge the viewer's perception of the city.

Famed for its size, the city appears to be tiny with everything running like clockwork.

Have a look at the video below which runs through the main sights in town including Marginal Tietê , Luz station, the Banespa building, Theatro Municipal, Anhangabaú, Tomie Otahke building, Mercado Municipal, Paulista Avenue, the Sambadrome, and more.

São Paulo Miniatura from Canvas 24p on Vimeo.

Directed by Wiland Pinsdorf

VIDEO: São Paulo by Fifa TV

São Paulo as Fifa sees it:

VIDEO: Wheatpasting in São Paulo

Wheatpaste.Doc is a 2012 Brazilian documentary about "wheatpasting", wheatpaste being a glue made of flour and water commonly used by informal advertisers and street artists alike to quickly attach large pieces of paper or posters to walls.



The documentary, “Cola de Farinha” follows various artists around São Paulo during a 20 minute introduction to the wheatpaste scene of São Paulo. Well worth a watch!

VIDEO: Dancing on a longboard

Today free style skater, Victor Freitas, shows us how to dance on a longboard in Villa Lobos Park, São Paulo.

I´m sure this is harder than it looks.

Check out the video:

VIDEO: Cars swept away by heavy rains in São Paulo

Anyone living in São Paulo will have noticed the sudden downpour of rain yesterday afternoon. Hopefully none of you were unlucky enough to park their cars in the Vila Madalena district.

Check out the video below of what happened to some cars that did.

Video of the rains on Rua Harmonia:

The moral of the story, park at the top of the hill next time! ;)

VIDEO: Bicycles in São Paulo

Here's a cute little animation called Bicicletas em São Paulo or Bicycles in São Paulo.

It's a pro-bike, utopic and slightly political statement on traffic in São Paulo. It's also very neatly produced.

 Hope you like it!

BICICLETAS EM SÃO PAULO (Bicycles in São Paulo) from Céu D´Ellia on Vimeo.

VIDEO: The Conditioned. Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho's story

One of 10 stories celebrating Facebook's 10th anniversary is from São Paulo, Brazil

It is Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho's story. He lived as a homeless man for almost 35 years on a street corner in Alto de Pinheiros, São Paulo, sitting in the same place every day and becoming a well known local character due to the poetry he would incessantly write.

One day in 2011, a woman called Shalla Monteiro stopped to chat to Raimundo and they became friends. He told her of his dreams to publish a book and shared some of his poems with her. She was so touched she created a Facebook page to showcase his poetry. 

In the words of Facebook "neither could have expected what happened next"  Below is the film which covers his story and features a before and after video portrait of Raimundo.


The Conditioned from Facebook Stories on Vimeo.

Raimundo´s facebook page, which is updated by Shalla already has 30,000 fans: facebook.com/ocondicionado

VIDEO: São Paulo by Like from Pac Div

Recorded in São Paulo here is the new video clip São Paulo by Like from Pac Div. 

Look out for the "beans and rice, eating nice" line. Priceless.

São Paulo by Like from Pac Div

VIDEO: 5 Great Buildings of São Paulo

To the careless visitor they are hard to spot and to the tired Paulistano they are easy to forget but lost amongst the endless sea of skyscrapers are some architectural gems.

The video below, by Monstro Filmes, helps us to take a step back and appreciate 5 iconic triumphs of São Paulo architecture. In a simple but beautifully put together video we're given a chronological portrait of the following buildings:

The symbolic Banespa tower

The majestic Martinelli

Niemeyer's curvaceous Copan building

The bright and bold MASP

The watermelon-shaped 5-star hotel

Here is the video:

from Monstro Filmes on Vimeo.

VIDEO: Arriving in São Paulo by plane

Here's a great video which most of you will probabaly connect with; the familiar sensation of arriving in São Paulo Guarulhos by plane. 

The clip is by Luis Filipe Gaspar, a Portuguese travel apasionado and the soundtrack he used is Svefn-g-englar by Sigur Rós.

The video is an accelerated yet slow, melancholic journey through the skies starting in Lisbon and ending in São Paulo where, unsurprisingly, the drizzle awaits. In Luis Filipe's words "every departure entails an arrival"

If you liked the video you may want to check out the Rio to São Paulo video 

VIDEO: Worms eat through people's heads in São Paulo anti-drug advert

The Crack Consome ad at the Galeria do Rock, São Paulo

O Crack Consome is a governmental campaign which was launched earlier this year to highlight the dangers of drug use in particular crack cocaine. It used shock tactics in São Paulo by using larvae to eat through the photos of people's heads from the inside.

Filmed at the Galeria do Rock in the centro region of São Paulo, the clip below shows how live worms were made to eat through the poster ads. It's not the most pleasant sensation as you watch them being devoured and transformed into scarred and holey looking people.  But the campaign did win the ad agency Talent a Cannes Lions Prize in 2013

Crack Consumes from Malabar Filmes on Vimeo.

The pictures were actually produced by printing on to dough rather than paper to give the worms an apetite.

VIDEO: Wallpaper's city short on São Paulo

As you would expect from Wallpaper the video they produced on São Paulo is a thoughtful pondering of the city from a design and architectural standpoint.

The clip itself is shot by Paulistano Marcelo Galvão and is a meandering collection of personal thoughts and reflections on urban aesthetics, energy and utility by architects Letícia Nobell and Trytique and designers Fernando and Humberto Campana.

Whilst I don't necessarily agree with everything they say, it is defintively another interesting perspective on a what is an incredibly complex city. And, although it is not the intention of the film, it also gives us an insight into how some foreign residents perceive the city. Well worth a watch:

VIDEO: Quenum & Cesare vs Disorder "Just For Fun", Serialism 021

The nice people from False Manners were in São Paulo this winter and made this dreamy video clip. The visuals are a playful criss-cross of skylines and skyscrapers, tunnels and horizons. 

Definitely a different take on São Paulo.

Quenum & Cesare vs Disorder "Just For Fun", Serialism 021 (Official Video) from False Manners Productions on Vimeo.