“All the cinemas went extinct,” observes a street vendor who used to sell movie posters and lobby cards behind the film distribution centre in downtown Recife, Brazil, before the bottom dropped out of the market. The kicker: this interview was recorded 30 years ago.

By Aaron Cutler A young man guides a few people through a large, white, empty apartment. The room stretches wide from one bare wall to another. It’s morning on a hot day, and dust hangs in the air. The man, João (Gustavo Jahn), works leasing his grandfather’s buildings. It turns out a woman died recently…