After many years of working in and around the music industry in New York City and Brazil, journalist Guto Barra and music producer Béco Dranoff found themselves more and more intrigued by the effect that Brazilian music has on people from foreign countries and cultures. After researching the trajectory of Brazilian music in the United States, they decided to explore their findings on a documentary film. Guto's background as a music journalist was a perfect match to Béco's music expertise.

Two years, thousands of miles and hundreds of tapes later, they are still getting surprised by how deep Brazilian music touches people's lives and how it became a global cultural phenomenon in the new millennium. It became clear that this is not about fads or a single artist's popularity or even number of records sold. It's about people connecting with a distant culture through the power of music.

For many years Brazilian music has been sweeping America, Europe and Asia off their feet. Artists and audiences around the world got struck by the magic of Brazilian music like a lightning and never recovered, incorporating elements from this music into their art and daily lives. In several cases it went way beyond a new wave of inspiration: falling in love with Brazilian music has been a life-changing experience for many international musicians since Carmen Miranda's heyday in the 1940's.

What is it about Brazilian music that translates into such a powerful force? Why does Bossa Nova still lure DJ's and electronic music producers, 50 years after it was created? Why does the late 60's Tropicália movement resonate so deeply with the alternative rock crowd and names like Beck and Devendra Banhart? How could Samba take over a public school in Harlem in 2008?

"Beyond Ipanema" explores these and many other questions about the Brazilian music experience outside of Brazil. Rather than telling the complete history of specific artists, the film is a personal journey about connection, discovery and life-long love affairs fueled by this music.

Directed by Guto Barra ("Clash of Cultures") and with music direction by Béco Dranoff ("Red Hot + Rio", "Last Stop Wonderland", Ziriguiboom), "Beyond Ipanema" features some of the most important names in Brazilian music, as well as their international fans and counter-parts. Bossa Nova pioneers Marcos Valle, Roberto Menescal and Carlos Lyra share the spotlight with Tropicália creators Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé and Os Mutantes. David Byrne, Milton Nascimento, Bebel Gilberto, Devendra Banhart, M.I.A., Diplo, Thievery Corporation and Arto Lindsay also appear to discuss how Brazilian music changed the way people create and produce music.