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Favela Stereo

A day spent conducting ad-hoc interviews in Tavares Bastos one of the few favelas in Rio not run by the local movimento - the unofficial authorities that both police the favelas and controls the drug trade that passes through its boundaries. So why the artillery?

The proximity of the Tavares Bastos to the BOPE head quarters and the stunning hill top views of the city makes it a suitable location from which to film the soap opera - Vidas Opostas (Opposite Lives) which touches on, amongst other things life in favelas as viewed through the lens of a TV drama.

Favela Stereo? Stereotypes actually - the actor Cesar Mayko, pictured above gently chided the director for asking him to remove his shirt for this mid-winter shoot - he plays a drug dealer's armed guard and (buff) drug dealers go topless right? Sure they do.

Writing from Tavares Bastos | August 5, 2007 | Permalink