Rio ‘City of God’ Favela Tour

Overview

Experience Category

Tours
Entertainment

About the experience

Experience Duration : 3 hrs
Experience Summary:

This experience lets you walk the famous streets that are the setting for one of the most iconic Brazilian movies ever made: City of God (or in Portuguese ‘Cidade de Deus’). This unique tour led by a true Rio local will take you into the neighbourhood favelas to soak up the history at the heart of the movie’s storyline. Amazing life and colour fills the streets, its buildings and the people. You’ll discover that while the movie portrayed life as dangerous and tragic here, it is in fact a very friendly and safe environment. You’ll feel welcome to mix with the local communities.

Detailed description:

Rio de Janeiro’s beauty has gone far from unnoticed by the world’s Movie & TV directors. The city’s marvellous landscape has been a popular backdrop on the big and small screens, captivating and inspiring audiences all over the world.

City of God depicts the growth of organised crime in the suburbs, or ‘favelas’ of Rio de Janeiro, between the 1960s and 1980s. The movie shows the perspective of two friends with different destinies: one becomes a photographer, one a drug dealer.

The favelas have transformed over the past thirty years and are now pacified. A big government effort was supported by the people here. Visitors and tourism is now encouraged and celebrated. It has also become a big source of support to the local communities and has helped the economy here to develop and thrive.

Just as the movie shows a reality opposed to that of high society portrayed, this experience provides an opportunity to go beyond the generic tours of Rio that often concentrate on the picturesque Sugarloaf Mountain, or Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, So come with me and my local eyes to see and feel a real slice of culture where all the movie moments and locations come alive.

About the host

Olá, I am Luiz Fernando. I am a carioca (Rio native local) born and bred here. I grew up in West Rio, right beside the favelas that became famous through the City of God movie. I grew up and studied with many people from the favelas, who I had the opportunity to get to know from an early age and who now are close friends of a lifetime.

I am a professional documentary filmmaker working for a big Brazilian media company. My focus is on creating and being part of projects that represent real life stories. I believe that film is a powerful tool to share the lives, stories and cultures of the world’s diverse and unique communities. I have worked on several projects over the past twenty years to document the positive change of quality of life in the favelas and the incredible spirit of the locals .

I began hosting local tours with the City of God theme not to just show picture worthy sights, but as a productive way for people to embrace history and culture in a more authentic way - off the screen. This gives cultures from around the world a chance to understand the incredible creativity, character and love at the heart and soul of the dynamic communities I grew up in.