Nico is a famous actor in Argentina, but in New York, nobody takes notice. He needs to juggle bartending, babysitting and odd jobs to keep himself afloat. But when old friends from Buenos Aires come to visit, he needs to juggle the image of his old life with the reality of the struggling actor in New York City.
Each citizen of Jotuomba plays an integral role in village life. Madalena is responsible for baking bread; each morning she stacks her rolls as Antonio prepares the coffee. The two share a morning ritual of arguments and insults, followed by an amicable cup of coffee on the bench outside Antonio's shop. At midday the church bells ring, summoning the villagers to mass. In the early evening, they all share a meal together. And so life proceeds in Jotuomba, the days languidly drifting into one another; the only variations seem to be in the weather. But, one day Rita arrives looking for a place to stay.
The trajectory of a romantic couple of contemporary artists reveals how the limits, contradictions and obsessions of a romantic relationship are reflected in each of their artistic endeavors.
Vera, imprisoned at a military fortress during the dictatorship, 1969, get to know a soldier, Armando, who, in the face of torture, decides to take messages from Vera to his family and establishes an affective relationship with D. Maria, Vera’s mother. Despite the horrors of the time, the film works on this possibility of a dialogue between two lonely and lost human beings: a high-middle-class lady and a young southerner of rural origin. Today, Vera, aged 70, is a professor at the university, and debates with her students about politics, forgiveness and Hannah Arendt.
Camila is a Portuguese therapist who works at Rio de Janeiro State University, where she attends Glória, the university's elevator operator. Throughout the sessions, Camila faces a very violent reality, since Glória was raped by her own father as a child and her brother Jonas is a dangerous bandit that is in prison. Increasingly frightened by the reports she hears, she feels threatened at the same time that Glória sees her as essential in her life.
Free adaptation of Romeo and Juliet translated to the harsh life in Favela da Maré, one of largest and most violent slums in Rio de Janeiro. Living in a slum divided between two rival gangs of drug traffickers, Analídia is the daughter of one of the gangs' leaders and Jonathan is a childhood friend of the other gang leader. Both study in a dance group situated exactly in the middle of the two territories, looking for solace in art.
Stela, a young Brazilian actress, decides to make a work on the letters exchanged between Latin American plastic artists in the 70s and 80s. She travels to Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Chile looking for her works and testimonies about the reality they lived during the dictatorships that most of these countries faced at the time. In the midst of the investigation, Stela discovers the existence of Ana, a young Brazilian artist who was part of this world, but disappeared. Ana went from southern Brazil, from a small town in the interior to Buenos Aires. Obsessed by the character, Stela decides to find her and find out what happened to her.
A group of friends, who resisted the military dictatorship, and their children will face the conflict between the daily life of today and the past when one of them is dying.
Brazilian short film, directed by Julia Murat.
The strange friendship between two men of opposite social classes. Miguel is a senator. His childhood friend Jorge is a major drug-dealer. In the 1970s, they meet in prison: Miguel was there for political reasons, and Jorge, as a common criminal.
Diogo is a cartographer and artist who is encharged to set the new frontiers of Portuguese Colonies in South America. When he reaches the center of the continent, finds apparently nothing but wilderness and ‘uncivilized’ natives with strange ways of living. But Captain Pedro, the rude scout who guides him through the jungle, involves Diogo in an involuntary act of violence which will tie him in an unusual way to that far away country. At the same time, the Portuguese colonists are trying to make peace with Guaicuru Indians (one of the few natives with horse-riding abilities). But peace doesn’t ever have a low price.
The documentary revolves around the Kadiwéu indigenous tribe that lives in Mato Grosso do Sul. The director visited a controlled tribute in 1999 to record another film and now nearly 15 years later, an electric light, a television and evangelical churches arrived at the site, in addition to the Kadiwéu land struggle against ranchers. The intention is to analyze the different paths of the tribe presented by the events
When an 80 year old intellectual is confronted with issues of old age and death, she reminisces the death of her mother that happened 30 years earlier. With dialogue inspired by Simone de Beauvoir mixed with contemporary dance, the cycle of life is exposed in a poetic manner.
Four years after a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government in 1964, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache.
Brazilian short film, directed by Julia Murat.
"A Long Journey" tells the story of three siblings who reach adolescence in the late 1960's. The documentary's storyline follows the youngest brother's travels around the world. Worried that he would enter the struggle for freedom against the Brazilian dictatorship, his family sent Heitor to London. There however, he dives head on into the "Swinging London" and, just like the European and American youth of the time period, he experiments with drugs and the mystic allure of India. In the nine years he has traveled around the world, from 1969 to 1978, he has regularly written to his family. The documentary features interviews with Heitor today, his letters and off-screen comments of Heitor's sister, Lúcia Murat, the director of the movie.
A journey between five towns whose former prosperity has waned; a surprise journey into a family history.
Brazilian short film, directed by Julia Murat.
The Nicaraguan Revolution and the US presence in the country since the 1930s, highlighting the overthrow of the Somoza regime in 1978–79.
Brazilian short film, directed by Julia Murat.
