Livia Mattos working on Documentary financed by major bank Itaú Unibanco

For the past eight years, Livia Mattos has been recording video interviews with circus workers, major names and obscure acts alike, throughout Brazil. Having began her own career as an accordionist and circus performer in her twenties, Livia recognized a void in storytelling concerned with circus traditions in Brazil and vowed to find a way to preserve these narratives. Livia has been especially sensitive to championing the histories of older entertainers, whose words may soon be lost forever. After producing 8 years of self-funded work (including 47 complete interviews) Livia has finally received major funding from Itau Cultural (sponsored by Itaú Unibanco) to expand and complete her longstanding project. Working in multiple capacities (director, producer and interviewer), Livia will now embark on finalizing the additional partnerships needed to complete work on her first full-length documentary film, Musica no Circo, which will document a century of circus culture throughout Brazil.

Biodun Kuti Performing on Paul Simon’s Farewell Tour

In 2013, Collaborating Artists Mark Stewart and Jamey Haddad — both members of Paul Simon’s touring band — were deeply impressed by the cohort of musicians they met at the OneBeat residency. In particular, one musician stood out to them both, Nigerian guitarist Biodun Kuti — in fact, after Jamey Haddad returned home from visiting the residency, he immediately and excitedly asked Mark if he could imagine Biodun playing in Paul’s band, “in some other dimension” or circumstance, he had said. Five years later, after the tragic passing of Paul’s longtime guitarist, Vincent Nguini, Mark and Jamey both advocated for Biodun to have a chance at joining the final tour. “There was a feeding frenzy — a lot of guitarists were hoping to get that call,” says Mark. “But Paul was ambitious, and he hoped to find a great African guitarist who could lend the gravitas necessary to be on […]