About Chasing Bohemia

news feed

20th September 2010. Chasing Bohemia is to be published in Russia this coming year.

29th August 2009. Riofilme announces R$79 million investment in films up to 2010. Chasing Bohemia is one of their principal projects.

14th May 2009. Brazil film business weathers downturn- Hopkins plans to direct Carmen Michael's English-language romantic comedy "Chasing Bohemia" in Rio by the end of the year read more about the book

28th September 2008. Carmen Michael's Chasing Bohemia to be made into a film by Hollywood Director Stephen Hopkins. Read the Variety article here..

reviews

"Carmen Michael's memoirs remind you of a way of life that makes you want to relive the golden years of European Bohemia, but is set in modern downtown Rio with the inevitable Brazilian twist. Once into that world its hard to leave, either metaphorically or physically" - Stephen Hopkins. Director (24 hours, Californication, Life and Death of Peter Sellers).

Chasing Bohemia is the memoir of an Australian woman who went to Rio de Janeiro for a week’s holiday — and ended up living there.

Carmen’s story winds its way through the anarchic backstreets of bohemian Rio and looks at the extraordinary musical culture, unapologetic hedonism, and rampant infidelity that govern this far-flung paradise of the Latin tropics.

Chasing Bohemia is a story about living recklessly and the surprising little truths about yourself you can discover through being immersed in poverty, isolation, and a culture that is not your own.

“An outstanding book about bohemian life in Rio.. Always insightful, never self-indulgent, this is travel writing at its best’ – Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald

Rain fell on the city of Rio de Janeiro in apocalyptic proportions that night. Enormous tropical drops smashed at the pavements, thunder cracked around our ears, and lightning streaked across the blackened sky. The city filled up like a swimming pool, entire streets disappeared, and shanties slid down cliff faces. I thought it might have lessened crowd numbers, but the water only made them wilder. As the procession moved down Avenida Rio Branco, men climbed up and down trees beating and tearing at their chests like savages, shook the corrugated-iron doors of newspaper stands, and jumped on roofs; women ran wild down the centre of the avenue; and elderly women in white made fervent prayers to the sky. In some parts, people were fighting and wrestling. In others, it was an orgy of embraces and passionate kisses, sometimes with three, four, or more people at the same time. Fabio had said that the people always went rabid at the Slaves of Mauá. It was the first Carnaval street party after another year of corruption scandals, poverty, suburban massacres, currency problems, and marital disasters. By the time the people got to the port of Mauá, they were dying to forget.