The boys in Brazil’s favelas

One of the preeminent figures of Brazil’s Cinema Novo, Nelson Pereira dos Santos credits an earlier movement for inspiring him and his peers. “My generation,” Pereira dos Santos told author Randal Johnson in the book “Cinema Novo X 5: Masters of Contemporary Brazilian Film,” “was profoundly concerned with the problems of our country.... . The synthesis between making films and discussing national reality was found in the model of Italian neorealism.”

The fresh-from-the-streets feel is evident as early as Pereira dos Santos’ 1955 drama “Rio 40 graus (Rio 40 Degrees),” screening Wednesday at the Orpheum as part of the L.A. Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats series. Co-presented by the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles, the film opens with panoramic shots from high above Rio de Janeiro, fueled by the beat of samba, that has the romantic feel of the beginning of Woody Allen’s “Manhattan.” But the film marked a departure from Brazilian films of the period -- mainly musical slapstick comedies.

Pereira dos Santos follows five young boys from Rio’s favelas who sell peanuts on the streets over the course of a hot day. The raw milieu feels like a documentary as the nonprofessional actors interact with a cross section of society reflecting the humor and pathos of the filmmakers’ observations.

Children’s ‘Rite’

“Rhythm Is It!” is this week’s entry in the Goethe-Institut’s Blockbusters series. A 2004 documentary by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch, the film covers the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s collaboration with 250 young people to perform Igor Stravinsky’s demanding “Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring).”

The children are taught dance by choreographer Royston Maldoom, who summons harmony from the innate dissonance of adolescence, as conductor Simon Rattle prepares the orchestra. That the film opens against a snowy Berlin winter with a German rap segueing into a classical piece perfectly evokes the joy exuded by the children. The passion exhibited by Rattle and Maldoom energizes this wonderfully inspiring film.

Tolerant town

Outfest Wednesdays presents “Juchitan Queer Paradise,” Patricio Henriquez’s documentary on this tolerant Mexican town in the country’s Oaxaca region. The women of Juchitan were previously chronicled in a 2000 film, “Blossoms of Fire,” but the focus here is on the area’s flourishing gay and transvestite community.

Henriquez profiles residents including a professor, a hairstylist and a city councilor who espouse the virtues of living in Juchitan. Some of the liberal values have been passed down from the native Zapotec Indians and gone uncorrupted by Western influences. The most fascinating aspect is how freely the gender-bending culture exists amid machismo in the country at large.

Enter: Ultraman

A new Ultraman makes his L.A. debut at the American Cinematheque’s Japanese Giant Monster Festival.

A popular superhero for nearly 40 years, the 100-foot-tall being has been a staple of Japanese TV and movies, but the franchise has been mostly dormant in the U.S. since the ‘80s. The silver-and-red giant with the bug eyes and a circa-1950s Chrysler fin jutting from his skull returns in “Ultraman the Next,” which premiered in Japan in December. Made with the cooperation of the Self-Defense Forces, it has a “Top Gun” quality when it comes to its weaponry and is less juvenile than some previous incarnations. “Ultraman the Next” is preceded on a separate program by the career compilation “Ultraman and More: Rarities From Tsuburaya Productions.”

Note: The Los Angeles Film Festival concludes Sunday with a 7 p.m. screening of “Happy Endings.” Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Tom Arnold head writer-director Don Roos’ cast of damaged characters and soul searchers. Mann National, 10925 Lindbrook Drive, Westwood, (866) 345-6337.

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Screenings

Last Remaining Seats

* “Rio, 40 graus (Rio 40 Degrees)”: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Orpheum, 842 S. Broadway, downtown Los Angeles

Info: laconservancy.org; (213) 430-4219

Blockbusters series

* “Rhythm Is It!”: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

Info: (323) 525-3388

Outfest Wednesdays

* “Juchitan Queer Paradise”: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Info: americancinematheque.com; (323) 466-FILM

The Japanese Giant Monster Festival

* “Ultraman and More: Rarities From Tsubaraya Productions”: 5 p.m. Saturday

* “Ultraman the Next”: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Info: americancinematheque.com; (323) 466-FILM