One of them, Texas Hotel, served as an inspiration to Mango Yellow; Alessandro Giannini of O Estado de S. Paulo said Texas Hotel is "a kind of 'privileged test' of Mango Yellow", while TV Guides Ken Fox described Mango Yellow as an "expanded version" of Hotel Texas. Couto wrote that the "gratuitous series of aberrations" presented in Texas Hotel was turned into an "articulate narrative and full of meaning". The production cost was R$450,000. Assis was happy with this, noting that Brazilian films cost an average of R$3 million at the time. The filming took place in the suburbs of the cities of Recife and Olinda, both in the state of Pernambuco. It was shot with 35 mm cameras brought from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and filming took place in five weeks between September and October 2001. One of the first ideas Assis had for the film was to show the mons pubis of a waitress he knew. Though he was unsure how to include this element, the yellow-colored pubic hair matched the book Tempo Amarelo ("Yellow Time"), by sociologist Renato Carneiro Campos. The title of the film was borrowed from the book, in which the author describes the "rotten teeth of children, the color of poverty in the country". Assis wanted to create a film to show "the face of the Brazilian people. We are from the Third World and we need to look at ourselves". Release Mango Yellows premiere was held at the Festival do Rio on October 4, 2002, while it was released on domestic theaters on August 15, 2003. Despite receiving praise by film critics, it was moderately received by Brazilian audiences. Mango Yellow grossed R$769,750, with a viewership of 129,021 people in the sixteen Brazilian theaters in which it was shown, representing the twelfth largest audience for a domestic film in 2003. Accolades At the 35th Festival de Brasília, Mango Yellow was selected as Best Film by the official jury, the popular jury, and critics alike; it also received the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Cast, and Best Actor (Díaz). Assis won the award for Best Debut Film at the 25th Havana Film Festival, where the film also won the award for Best Cinematography. It also won for Best Cinematography at the Seventh Brazilian Film Festival of Miami. Mango Yellow won in every feature film category at the 13th Cine Ceará—Best