This article aims at examining Brazilian documentary production of the silent period, focused in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This production follows thematic 'cuts' which transcend the classic historiography of the Brazilian cinema and which dialogue with the cultural history of the period. Two dominant traces of this production will be highlighted: (1) the representation of civic events and monumental spaces typical of a Brazilian metropolis of 20th century's first decades; (2) the representationof Carnival on the streets. A more comprehensive analysis of the film Caça à raposa (1913), by Antonio Campos, is carried out with the objective of verifying the filmic visual pattern established in relation to the proposed thematic 'cuts'.
Film and History; Brazilian documentary; Monument and cinema