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Around 100 to 120 films are produced per year in Brazil. Despite this impressive production rate, Brazilian cinema hasn't travelled outside of its home territory as much as you might expect.

Lúcia's project, , aimed to influence the way others understand the Brazilian films that do make it out into the wider world. The three-and-a-half year project was co-funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the UK and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) of Brazil.

Such an approach provides a deeper and more meaningful understanding of what Brazilian culture is and how its society is organised. 

For example, Lúcia and her colleagues looked at how other media, such as music and paintings, have influenced or overlapped with Brazilian cinema in different periods of its history. 

They analysed cinema in the 1930s through the way it dealt with Samba, how it interacted with theatre in the 1950s, and the later "Cinema Novo" and "Tropicália" movements, where painting and advertising were prevalent.

The IntermIdia project was the first scheme within the arts to expose Lúcia's Brazilian colleagues to the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø and vice versa. Everyone involved had the opportunity to explore new cultures that their work may not have allowed them to otherwise. 

For students, there were many benefits. The project influenced the creation of a new third-year undergraduate module called World Cinema and Intermediality. Students on another undergraduate module, Ensemble Practice, were commissioned to restage silent movie prologues from Brazil, with screenings of the films they originally accompanied. 

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The project has made an impact on the Department of Film, Theatre  & Television's postgraduate research student intake. Seven Brazilian PhD students were attracted to study here by the work the Department is doing â€“ it has inspired their own research.