The Many Faces of a Scoundrel:
Jece Valadão

Fifty years ago, the film "Os Cafajestes", starring and produced by Jece Valadão, and directed by Ruy Guerra, began filming. A box office success, the film marked the beginning of Magnus Filmes, created by Jece, a company that produced more than 30 films. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary, Caixa Cultural Rio de Janeiro will host, from Tuesday until April 10, the exhibition "The Many Faces of a Cafajeste – Jece Valadão and Magnus Films", with 18 films shown, always from Tuesday to Sunday. Among the films selected for the exhibition are "A Razor in the Flesh", "As sete faces de um cafajeste", "Bonitinha, mas ordinária" and "Engraçadinha depois dos três". With only four characters and a script with controversial scenes, "Os Cafajestes" was a huge scandal and box office success. Presented at the Berlin Film Festival in the same year it premiered in Brazil (1952), the film received international critical acclaim. Jece also invested in "Bonitinha, mas Ordinária", by Nelson Rodrigues, which attracted more than two million Brazilian viewers to movie theaters. Magnus Filmes' contribution to Brazilian cinema is decisive in terms of the market. It is enough to remember that the company produced more than 30 feature films, 15 of which were shot in just five years, at a time when the major national studios did not have the same momentum. The production company was responsible for perhaps the most frenetic industrial pace experienced by Brazilian cinema.