Bahians in the US, the LA Brazilian Film Festival and More

Los Angeles, California - Carlos Borges is a Brazilian journalist from Bahia who now resides in Fort Lauderdale. He’s lived in the United States since 1989 and has nearly four decades of experience in the media and show business. He’s became one of the most vibrant leaders in the Brazilian expatriate community. As an entrepreneur, he has created a series of national events to promote the best of Brazil in the US, including Brazilian Press Awards, Focu-Brazil, Miss Brasil-USA. He is also an author and a publisher.

Brazilian designer and painter Antonio da Motta left his native Bahia to study at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He has worked in both New York and Los Angeles on high end residential and business projects. Antonio’s line of furniture is represented by Espasso at the Pacific Design Center and in Tribeca in New York City.

Brazilian artist Carmem Gusmao’s latest installation was a poetic symphony employing abstract hearts, poems, loose words, symbols and signs. Some of the poems came from my latest book A Brazilian Heart. A huge canvas on the wall and empty frames along the floor allowed people to choose their own section of the artwork and cut it to their size of choice. In this exhibition everyone got a chance to directly experience a piece of Carmen’s art. Part of the same exhibition was artist Jade’s With and Without Love which toyed with the notion of life with and without love.

On Valentine's Day I went to hear jazz singer Jackie Ryan at The Vic in Santa Monica's atmospheric Victorian collection building. It was a special night - and not just because of the lovely, romantic versions of songs such as My Funny Valentine. Jackie also sang a song of mine; the music for All the Days and Nights of My Life was composed by Sergio Santos, and I wrote the lyrics with Don Heckman. Jackie's performance of it was magical, a thrilling experience. She's wants to sing more of my songs, in English and Portuguese, and I can hardly wait.

BrazilFoundation is a non-profit organization that raises money in the US for worthy and innovative social projects in Brazil. The Foundation served as a community partner of the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival. Many of the films featured at the festival called attention to the social issues that the foundation works to address. The pre-festival benefit gala was attended by Brazilian movie stars, directors and producers who were guests of the foundation. The gathering honored the extraordinary achievements of Thereza Maria Quintella, consul general of Brazil in Los Angeles. There was also be the exciting performance by two young Brazilian violinists – Walter and Wagner Caldas – twin brothers who, with the help of a grant from BrazilFoundation, left a hardscrabble life in a Brazilian favela to study and launch their and careers here in the US. They were featured on the episode of The Bianca Rossini Show, my television program, which I produced and hosted in Paraty a few years ago. It was their first interview for American audiences. Little did they know that their lives were to change so radically. They are beautiful, talented and charismatic., I won’t be surprised if they win American Idol, Either way they are destined to great success.

My niece Mariana Rahman is lucky. She came from Brazil to spend one month with me to further her English studies (more like an excuse to extend her vacation). Like a typical 18 year-old she wanted to meet some of her Hollywood idols. She asked me if she could get an autographed picture of Lisa Kudrow. I wasn’t sure since I hadn’t seen Lisa for quite some time. But, by chance, on the very night Mariana asked me, Lisa’s husband was in the neighborhood to visit a friend and stopped by. The next night she called me from Westwood to see if I could get her into a premiere to meet Tom Cruise. It was too late to make any calls, so I just told her, half jokingly, “If you are my niece you’ll find a way.” Well, some how she did it, getting everything she wanted: an invitation to the Premiere of Mad Money, a picture with Tom Cruise, and a specially autographed photo of Lisa Kudrow.

Special thanks to Don Heckman, Denise Dorman, Galina Sobolev, Edward LeMarier (hair design), André, and Phil FewSmith.

About the Author: Bianca Rossini Bio

Bianca Rossini was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an author, accomplished actress, singer and talk show host. Her acting credits include the films The Fast One, Brainiacs, Mobsters, Bad Influence and Moon Over Parador, and the television shows Martial Law, Diagnosis Murder, The Sentinel, Chicago Hope and Matlock. Bianca’s first music CD includes a song co-written with Hollywood film and TV composer Glenn Scott Lacey. The collection of original Latin, pop, jazz tracks features notable musicians such as Flora Purim and Marco Tulio. After reading Bianca's book of poetry A Brazilian Heart, American pop songwriter Ken Hirsch (If I Could, No One in the World, I’ve Never Been to Me) invited Bianca to write the lyrics for one of his songs, which she titled "First of December." Several other popular composers are interested in having Bianca write original lyrics for their compositions. She lives in Beverly Hills where she currently produces, writes and hosts a weekly TV talk show The Bianca Rossini Show. The Bianca Rossini show is presenting the world premiere of Bianca in Paraty - a two part TV show filmed by Gisele Feth and edited by Gustavo Dias. Bianca is the author of Julia: Confessions of a Brazilian Super Model and A Brazilian Heart: Rubies, Murdered Love and Other Poems, her first bilingual poetry book. For more information, visit the official Bianca Rossini website or the Bianca Rossini My Space page. Click here to send e-mail to Bianca.