Kleber Mendonça Filho’s O Som ao Redor (Neighbouring Sounds), which was chosen by the official jury at Festival do Rio as the best feature film of Première Brasil 2012, has also been chosen by the New York Times as one of the ten best  films of 2012.

The New York Times’ A.O.Scott noted: In his first feature, Mr Mendonça a former film critic, chronicles the daily rhythms of life in an affluent apartment complex in the Brazilian coastal city of Recife. What emerges is a subtle portrait of a society in the throes of rapid social transformation, still haunted by the cruelties of its feudal past.

New York Times Top 10 Films of 2012

1. Amour, Michael Haneke
2. Lincoln, Steven Spielberg
3. Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin
4. Footnote, Joseph Cedar
5. The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson
6. Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow
7. Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
8. Goodbye, First Love, Mia Hansen-Love
9. Neighbouring Sounds (O Som ao redor) Kleber Mendonça Filho
10. The Grey, Joe Carnahan