(17 Jan 2009)
Sao Conrado – 16 January 2009
1. Various of woman painting masks of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama
2. Close up of masks
3. Medium of man placing ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) sheet used to make masks
4. Various of machine producing masks on EVA from mold
5. Medium of woman cutting mask from EVA sheet
6. Tilt up of Obama masks
7. Wide of wall of masks, which includes Obama masks among others
8. Various masks
9. Factory owner Olga Gilbert Valles holding up Obama mask
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Olga Gilbert Valles, Condal factory owner:
“We first came up with the idea of making the Obama mask before the elections in June (2007). So, we made the mask and had the mold done. Once he won, everyone starting ordering one.”
Rio de Janeiro – 16 January 2009
11. Pan of costume store Casa Turuna in central Rio de Janeiro
12. Medium of store clerk selling Obama masks at door way
13. Medium of sales woman displaying masks on glass
14. Medium of man trying mask on
15. Medium of woman holding mask
16. Set-up of Casa Turuna salesman Carlos Alberto Oliveira
17. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Carlos Alberto Oliveira, Casa Turuna costumes salesman:
“The masks arrived in the store after he won the (U.S. presidential) election, that is when he really became a celebrity here. We received roughly fifty masks and sold-out on them within the first week. We just received our second load of masks and they are selling very quickly. We have been selling lots and lots of them.”
18. Medium of female clerk showing mask and trying mask on
STORYLINE:
The new face of the White House is the hottest for this year’s Carnival in Brazil.
Thousands of masked “Obamas” are expected to take to the streets during the dozens of Carnival parades once the bawdy bacchanal begins late February.
In legendary mask factory Condal, which has been one of the country’s main manufacturers since 1959, thousands of masks of the American president-elect are already being produced.
Condal, which was created by late sculptor Armando Valles, has been a hit in the past with masks of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein among others.
Valles’ widow Olga Gilbert Valles said the Obama mask was conceptualised months before her husband’s death in 2007, when the presidential campaign was still ongoing.
The final design was created by 22-year-old Spanish sculptor Sergio Arbusa, a friend of Gilbert’s children.
Valles said the factory has sold and shipped nearly seven-thousand masks to stores throughout Brazil and abroad.
In Rio de Janeiro costume store Casa Turuna, dozens of masks have already been sold weeks before the height of the carnival season.
Salesman Carlos Alberto Oliveira said the store is already selling its second shipment of masks.
About half of Brazil’s 190 (m) million people are black and many were heartened by Obama’s election, hoping it might prompt racial advancement in the South American country.
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Post time: Jun-25-2017