Samba Filming Locations
Where was Samba filmed? Samba was filmed in 9 locations across Brazil in the following places:
Samba Filming Locations
Belo Horizonte is the capital city of southeastern Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Surrounded by mountains, the city’s known for the vast Mineirão Stadium. Built in 1965, the stadium also houses the Brazilian Football Museum. Nearby are Lake Pampulha and the Pampulha Architectural Complex, home to the wavy-topped Church of St. Francis of Assisi, designed by Brazil’s modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Brasília, inaugurated as Brazil’s capital in 1960, is a planned city distinguished by its white, modern architecture, chiefly designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Laid out in the shape of an airplane, its “fuselage” is the Monumental Axis, 2 wide avenues flanking a massive park. In the “cockpit” is Praça dos Três Poderes, named for the 3 branches of government surrounding it.
Petrópolis is a Brazilian city north of Rio de Janeiro. Bordering the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, with its forested peaks and waterfalls, it’s known as a mountain retreat for Rio residents. In the center, the Imperial Museum displays period furnishings in the former palace of 19th-century emperor Dom Pedro II. Nearby, the huge São Pedro de Alcântara Cathedral houses the mausoleum of the emperor and his wife.
Rio de Janeiro is a huge seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, 38m Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado and for Sugarloaf Mountain, a granite peak with cable cars to its summit. The city is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns). Its raucous Carnaval festival, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes and samba dancers, is considered the world’s largest.
Salvador, the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, is known for its Portuguese colonial architecture, Afro-Brazilian culture and a tropical coastline. The Pelourinho neighborhood is its historic heart, with cobblestone alleys opening onto large squares, colorful buildings and baroque churches such as São Francisco, featuring gilt woodwork.
Samba (1965)
Brazilian singer Laura Monteiro is murdered in her dressing-room by her jealous lover João Fernandes de Oliveira when he discovered she was cheating on his with Assis and planning to escape from him and go to Buenos Aires with Assis. Meanwhile, Belén Moreira, who lives in Favela do Salgueiro and is a dead ringer for Laura, goes to Copacabana with her boyfriend Paulo. Two members of a gang that smuggles precious stones sewn in Carnival costumes see Belén and force the President of the Salgueiro Samba School to invite her to perform Chica da Silva in the Carnival parade in a costume that is adorned with genuine precious stones to be smuggled to Europe.