Pornochanchada (Pornoshanshada) - a genre of Brazilian sex-exploitation films, popular in the country from the beginning of the 1970s until the mid-1980s, that is, during the period of military dictatorship. The literal translation is “porn comedy” ( chanchada = light comedy ). In connection with censorship, most of these films at first were ordinary erotic comedies, but by the 1980s they had become much more frank, that is, softcore porn was replaced by hardcore, and comedy by Women In Prison by films.
With the advent of video recorders and underground video rental, the genre began to quickly lose popularity. The end of the dictatorial regime in the mid-80s put an end to censorship in film and television, and the "Pornochanchada" genre as such ceased to exist. Many popular actresses of these films ( Sonia Braga , Sandra Brie, Vera Fisher ) after the sunset of the pornochanchada era went into soap operas and mainstream films.
In 1985, documentary filmmaker Simon Arthog made the film Brazil: Cinema, Sex, and Generals. In it, he talked about Brazilian filmmakers who used the pornochanchada genre as a way to avoid censorship for their socially critical films during the dictatorship.