Filming Creative Resistance in 1970s Rio de Janeiro Leon Hirszman, Paulinho da Viola, and Partido Alto (1976-1982)

In 1976, the leftist Brazilian filmmaker Leon Hirszman collaborated with samba and choro composer Paulinho da Viola on the short documentary Partido Alto (1976-1982), which showcased the improvised form of samba known as partido-alto and the Afro-descended, proletarian way of life it was a part of. This article argues that the film was among the most politically charged of Hirszmans' career, highlighting the way partido-alto manifested an ideal of free creative expression, communication, and everyday collective creation that aligned with his Marxian-Freirean vision for art and society. I show how the spontaneous, improvised versing practice defied commodification and represented an organic form of Afro-Brazilian resistance and transcendence that Hirszman aimed to depict, emulate, and nurture. As the growing urban Black movement in Brazil increasingly sought cultural expression through the Black Soul movement, Hirszman, Paulinho da Viola, and the other sambistas behind Partido Alto presented samba and its cultural world as a homegrown, intergenerational, anti-commercial, and playful form of Afro-descended cultural resistance.