Departures of note

Jomard Muniz de Britto was born in 1937 in Recife, the son of a Paraíba father and a Pernambuco mother. He studied at the Ginásio Pernambucano and graduated in philosophy from the University of Recife, today the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), beginning his professional career as a teacher in basic education. In the 1960s he joined the initial team of the Paulo Freire adult education system at the educator's invitation, and during the military dictatorship he was arrested in 1964 and taken to Forte das Cinco Pontas in Recife, where he shared a cell with politician Gregório Bezerra and lawyer Joel Câmara. He became known for his critiques of conservatism. In the late 1960s he embraced tropicalist aesthetics and adapted it to the local reality, coining the term "Pernambucália" in opposition to what he called the "tradicionalismo tropicológico" of the state's cultural scene. In the 1970s and 1980s he became a leading exponent of experimental Super-8 cinema in Pernambuco, part of the so-called "Geração Super-8" movement that marked the state's filmmaking. Over more than four decades of cultural activity he wrote books and directed films, mostly short films, including "Recinfernália", "Esperando João", "O Palhaço Degolado", "Inventário de um Feudalismo Cultural", "Escrevivendo" and "Arrecifes do Desejo", and he took part actively in debates on the cultural modernization of the Northeast. He died on 12 October 2026 in Recife at the age of 89, after being hospitalized with bronchopneumonia, with his death attributed to complications of Parkinson's disease.