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Last Hour of Summer

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About

LAST HOUR OF SUMMER is a poetic documentary about a cache of photographs that were found at a flea market in Rio de Janeiro in 2003. Most of the pictures were taken of women on the beach at Ipanema. Although we did not know who the photographer was at first, he took two self-portraits of himself in a mirror. He also penned the first name of his subjects on the verso and dated his pictures. Who were these women? The years were 1962 and 1963. A time of innocence, wonder, and hope. But all this was about to change. The photographs capture this last hour of happiness before the coup in 1964 and 20 years of a military dictatorship in Brazil. They also represent the last hour of the classic black and white snapshot before the widespread introduction of Kodacolor film in 1964. While these photos were being taken, Tom Jobim was writing his most famous songs a few blocks away and in 1964, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto would win the Grammy and introduce Bossa Nova to the world. As Americans discovered Ipanema, the first surfers arrived in Brazil in 1964 and they began to surf the waves at Arpoador, the first beach at Ipanema. The photos also document this threshold moment when Brazilian women begin to change in so many ways. Their style, their beauty, and the way they walked the beach would forever captivate the world. These images offer a unique window into these years in Rio as well as capturing the aesthetics of personal photography. Using the photographs as a base of exploration, the film will spiral out from the mystery of who these women were to the various manifestations of this last hour.