(35 mm, 91 min, color, 1984) Three days in the life of group of high school kids, in 1972. Nando dates Soninha, who flirts with everybody. Robertão is the master of ceremonies at the ball where the class queen will be chosen. Teco is interested in Rita. Dudu edits a gossip paper. Pedro is the goalkeeper of the class's team, and he is in love with the teacher. How long does it take to go from adolescence to adulthood? A weekend, a few years or your whole life?

Photo by Christian Lesage: Márcia do Canto and Werner Schünemann

STILL IMAGES

Directors: Carlos Gerbase and Giba Assis Brasil

Executive Producer: Sérgio Lerrer
Written by: Alvaro Luiz Teixeira
Cinematographer: Christian Lesage
Art Directors: José Artur Camacho and Marlise Storchi
Music by: Nei Lisboa and Nelson Coelho de Castro
Production Coordinator: Rudi Lagemann
Editor: Alpheu Ney Godinho
Assistant Director: Alex Sernambi

Distribution Casa de Cinema PoA

Main Cast:
Werner Schünemann (Nando)
Marcos Breda (Teco)
Luciene Adami (Soninha)
Márcia do Canto (Cândida)
Marta Biavaschi (Rita)
Xala Felippi (Marieta)
Marco Antônio Sorio (Robertão)
Sérgio Lulkin (Pedro)
Zé Tachenco (Dudu)
Biratã Vieira (Leopoldo)
Haydée Porto (Bárbara)

FULL CAST AND CREW

Prêmios

• 12th Gramado Film Festival, 1984:
  Special Jury Prize.

• Federation of Cineclubs of Rio de Janeiro, 1985:
  Special São Saruê Award for the Production.

• 22nd Caxambu Film Festival, 1985:
  Best Screenplay and Collective Acting Prize for the entire Cast.

Reviews

"One can feel the unity of the crew, from production itself (item reportedly cost as little as $50,000, unbelievably low even by Brazilian standards) to all steps of the filmmaking, including the acting. Under these circunstancies, the directors have managed to create a number of funny and dramatic situations."
(Nelson Hoineff, VARIETY, New York, 02/05/1984)

"You see GREEN YEARS the first time to give them some encouragement. After all, they’re a bunch of kids, locals, no money, etc. The first laugh is out of good will. The second, out of surprise. The third one, it’s out of enthusiasm. The production' deficiencies are evident, but ten minutes into the movie you have been won by its charm. But it is the second time you see it that you will really like it."
(Luis Fernando Verissimo, ZERO HORA, Porto Alegre, 22/05/84)

"DEU PRA TI ANOS 70 (Seventies, you're over) was the film of hope. INVERNO (Winter) was the film of the resistance. VERDES ANOS (Green years) is the dream. (...) Even in the films' endings there is a thematic coherence. They all speak about the future, of continuing the struggle. In the tired words of Werner Schünneman in WINTER, in the streets where Pedro Santos walks in SEVENTIES... and in the lyrical ending of GREEN YEARS. This is our cinema. The cinema made by young poets of everyday life, of the rain, the cold and the fog."
(Goida, ZERO HORA, Porto Alegre, 01/06/84)

"Prepare your hearts: this will hurt. Because nostalgia always hurts. Especially here, on this trip back to the early seventies, in the sweet company of these guys who, like me, loved the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, (...) rolled a joint or two and believed blindly in peace and love. In GREEN YEARS, the nightmare is still only a shadow, seen through the character of the teacher. The rest are dreams. It is what we were. Boys and girls who liked dating, playing football, fool about in the classroom, going to dances, having idle chats, laughing about the dumbest things. The young filmmakers reconstitute this 'greenness' with moving simplicity. (...) They bring from the south an old, beautiful nostalgia that makes you cry."
(José Márcio Penido, O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, 25/04/86) 

25/05/1984