The Early Work of Paulo Freire
In the early 1960s, Paulo Freire led an experimental adult education program known as “Culture Circles” in Northeastern Brazil. The Culture Circles mobilized students from the University of Recife to teach adult literacy and concientization in several cities in the region. One of these was the small city of Angicos in the arid sertão of Rio Grande do Norte, where they planned to teach reading and writing in only 40 hours. Produced by The Literacy Project in to honor the Freire Centenary, the creative team drew on pre-existing footage from into a 100% archive film, using footage collected from six filmmakers, two TV stations, and three universities. Through conversations with those filmmakers, institutions and a couple of the protagonists, the result is a 28-minute film documentary film that explores the experience of Angicos and it’s legacy for Brazil in the world today.