Xica da Silva is a 1976 Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and written

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 by Carlos Diegues

Carlos Diegues

Carlos Diegues, also known as Cacá Diegues, is a Brazilian film director. He is best known as a member of the Cinema Novo movement.-Filmography:* 2010 O Grande Circo Místico...

. It stars Zezé Motta, Walmor Chagas

Walmor Chagas

Walmor Chagas is a Brazilian actor. He has appeared in over 50 films and television shows since 1965.-Selected filmography:* São Paulo, Sociedade Anônima * Xica da Silva...

 and José Wilker

José Wilker

José Wilker de Almeida is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and TV, born in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Northeast of Brazil.-Filmography:* A falecida * A vida provisória * Estranho triângulo...

. It was chosen as the Brazilian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 at the 49th Academy Awards

49th Academy Awards

The 49th Academy Awards were presented March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, and Warren Beatty....

, but it failed to get a nomination.

Plot summary

The film is based on the novel Memórias do Distrito de Diamantina, written by João Felicio dos Santos (who has a small role in the film as a Roman Catholic pastor). It is a romanticized retelling of the true story of Chica da Silva

Chica da Silva

Chica da Silva, sometimes written as Xica da Silva was a Brazilian woman who became famous for becoming rich and powerful though having been born into slavery. Her life has been a source of inspiration for many works in television, films, theater and literature...

, an 18th century Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n slave in the state of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

, who attracts the attention of João Fernandes de Oliveira, a Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 sent by Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 with the Crown's exclusive contract for mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

s, and eventually becomes his lover. He quickly asserts control, letting the intendant

Intendant

The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...

 and other authorities know that he's onto their corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 scheme. Eventually Lisbon hears of João's excesses and sends an inspector. José, a political radical, provides Xica refuge.

Main cast

• Zezé Motta as Xica da Silva
• Walmor Chagas as João Fernandes
• Altair Lima as Intendent
• Elke Maravilha as Hortência
• Stepan Nercessian as José
• Rodolfo Arena
  Rodolfo Arena
  Rodolfo Arena was a Brazilian actor. He appeared in 90 films between 1920 and 1980. He starred in the 1974 film Sagarana: The Duel, which was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival....
  
   as Sargeant
• José Wilker
  José Wilker
  José Wilker de Almeida is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and TV, born in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Northeast of Brazil.-Filmography:* A falecida * A vida provisória * Estranho triângulo...
  
   as The Count of Valadares
  Governador Valadares
  Governador Valadares is a Brazilian city in the state of Minas Gerais. In 2006, its population was 260,405 inhabitants.It is an economical center of the middle Valley of the Rio Doce, making a significant influence on the east and northeast of Minas Gerais and local authorities of the state of the...
  
  
• Marcos Vinicius as Teodoro
• João Felicio dos Santos as pastor

TV adaptation

On 1996, the now defunct TV station Rede Manchete

Rede Manchete

Rede Manchete was a television network from Brazil. It first aired on June 5, 1983 in Rio de Janeiro and simultaneously in other 5 Brazilian cities, like São Paulo on Rede Exclesior's old channel 9 frequency...

 successfully adapted the film plot to the telenovela

Telenovela

A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...

 format, directed by Walter Avancini, written by Walcyr Carrasco and starring Taís Araújo

Taís Araújo

Taís Bianca Gama de Araújo is a Brazilian actress. She was the first black Brazilian actress to be a protagonist in a Brazilian telenovela, Xica da Silva , in Rede Manchete...

 as the title character. This telenovela marked the first time an Afro-Brazilian

Afro-Brazilian

In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...

 actress played the lead role on a TV show. On 2005, SBT re-aired Xica da Silva.