My love for movies

My love for movies tells us about the beginning of the Estação Botafogo Cinema Club and its expansion through the memories and point of view of one of its founding members, Marcelo França Mendes. The history of Grupo Estação starts in Rio de Janeiro, in the effervescent 1980s. It was the time of Diretas Já euphoria, of the first Rock in Rio, of the Circo Voador opening, and so many other events that transformed the city's culture. Darks lived alongside hippies, the feminist third wave was growing, and the Black and LGBTQIA+ (at the time just called “gay”) movements found ways to express themselves and gain new ground.

In this ebullient environment, where culture and diversity were in the air, five friends who met every Saturday at the Macunaíma Cinema Club decided to take their passion for the seventh art to the next step. Penniless, armed solely with will and curiosity, these young friends lived the adventure of starting their own film club. Open in 1985, Coper Botafogo, which became Estação Botafogo in the same year, was a humble space. But, in a short time, Estação would become a network of theaters, a film distributor, a publisher and much more. Throughout 30 years, over 20 million people of different generations of film buffs attended their movie theaters around Rio and in other cities and cinema circuits as well.

In a conversational tone, permeating his writing with film references, Marcelo conducts the narrative with the flow, humor and excitement of a young man whose life was transformed by the movies. In the words of journalist Arthur Dapieve, “Marcelo Mendes’s story isn’t just his story, but also the story of the Estação Botafogo Cinema Club. And the story of the Cinema Club Estação Botafogo isn’t just its story, but the cultural story of 80s Rio de Janeiro. They’re that important. Indissociable.”

About the author
Marcelo França Mendes was born in Rio de Janeiro. With a BA in Film Studies from Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), he’s also a licensed professor with a degree from PUC-Rio. He was one of the founders of Grupo Estação (1985) and conducted activities such as film screenings and distribution, editorial publishing, and the creation of shows, exhibitions, retrospectives and film festivals in thirty-plus years leading the Grupo. He distributed over 300 films, and was one of the creators of the Tabu newspaper (1986-2015) and of the Mostra Banco Nacional de Cinema (1989-95), MostraRio (1996-8) and Festival do Rio (1909-) film festivals, having acted as programming director of these events until 2011. He was the mastermind behind Première Brasil (1995), one of the foremost current Brazilian film festivals, as well as the investment director at RioFilme. In 2010, he was granted the UFF Prata da Casa award, an honor given to alumni with exceptional professional performance. Nowadays, he writes and develops movies, TV series and streaming shows.

Specifications
Title My love for movies [Eu que amava tanto o cinema]
Subtitle Uma viagem pessoal pela aventura do Cineclube Estação Botafogo [A personal adventure managing the Estação Botafogo Cinema Club]
Author Marcelo França Mendes
Language Portuguese
Page count 336
ISBN 978-65-5691-055-0
Cover Tita Nigrí
Size 14 x 21 cm
Format Softcover
Year 2022
CDD 920.71