A Street Made Of Movies: Paulista Avenue, São Paulo

Located just around the corner from Paulista Avenue, Caixa Belas Artes first opened in 1956. It has been through a fire, and several renovations and reopenings with different names, until it was closed in 2011. After a popular mobilization that included protests and petitions, it was reopened three years later as Caixa Belas Artes. Each of its six screens is named after an important Brazilian artist – composer Villa-Lobos, painter Candido Portinari, architect Oscar Niemeyer, sculptor Aleijadinho, writer Mario de Andrade and actress Carmen Miranda – and it is dedicated mainly to classic films and art movies from all over the world. The first floor offers an unparalleled panoramic view of Rua da Consolação, another central street of this global city.

Mixing foreign movies, classic films and commercial hits, Espaço Itaú de Cinema is located two blocks down from Paulista Avenue in Rua Augusta, famous for its bohemian nightlife. It includes two buildings, one on each side of the street. The main building has three screens, a café and a bookshop. Across the street you’ll find an annex with two other screens and another café. Itaú, one of Brazil’s biggest banks, has two other movie theaters in São Paulo, and more can be found in five other Brazilian cities (Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Salvador).

Cine Gazeta opened its doors in 1966, changing to Reserva Cultural in 2005, and has since been dedicated to art movies and foreign titles. Located on the ground floor of an iconic building of São Paulo called Edifício Gazeta, it known for a mural on its façade with a 45-degree inclination. The movie theater has four screens and also a bookstore, a boulangerie and a bistro with a wide glass window that gives you a great view of Paulista Avenue’s buzz while you enjoy a meal.