Viva o Cinema! Uma História da Mostra de São Paulo 2024

The series tells the story of the São Paulo International Film Festival, one of the most traditional cultural events in Latin America. For 48 years, the festival has showcased hundreds of films from all over the world, bringing vibrancy to the city. Filmmaker Marina Person provides an irreverent perspective, highlighting the exciting and unusual stories that have marked the festival’s journey of resistance. The series reveals the individuals who have embraced the challenge of organizing this significant cultural event in Brazil every year, despite often challenging conditions. We also delves into how the Mostra has grown to become one of the main festivals globally, shedding light on the changes in cinema, Brazil, and the world over the years.

I'm Still Here 2024

In 1971, military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva family — Rubens, Eunice, and their five children — live in a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.

Diamonds 2024

Three women from São João da Chapada, district of Diamantina, Minas Gerais, narrate themselves in the small town that was one of the largest producers of diamonds in Brazil.

Tuã Ingugu (Water Eyes) 2019

In the Kalapalo cosmogony (an ethnic group that lives in the Xingú Indigenous Park), water is as old as humans and is the source of life. That is where all their sustenance comes from, their food, their drink, their joy. The idea of using water as a dumpster, of poisoning water is a dystopia. In this documentary Chief Faremá —from Caramujo village on the banks of the Kuluene River— tells us about the birth of water and warns us about the consequences of disrespecting it.

Interdependence 2019

Started in 2018, the project – comprised of 11 segments by filmmakers from all around the world – reflects on the intertwined relationship between human society and nature that is aggravated by climate change on multiple scales, hinting at possible solutions.

O Banquete 2018

An elegant dinner, which takes place in real time, brings together a group of intellectuals in the early 90s in São Paulo, Brazil: the hosts are the editor of the country's top news magazine and her husband, the company's lawyer, and the occasion is the wedding anniversary of the magazine publisher and his wife, a famous theater actress. The publisher has written an open letter to the president of the country, with serious denunciations, which will run in the upcoming issue. He risks being arrested this very evening. As tensions increase with the imminence of prison, secrets come to light revealing the conflict between the ethics sought in public life and the ethics practiced in private life.

Vazante 2017

Brazil 1821. Upon his return to the imposing farmhouse, Antonio, a rich cattle herder, finds out that his wife dies in labor. Forced to live in the property with numerous African slaves, he marries his wife's niece. A restless soul, he returns to droving, leaving his young wife behind alone with the slaves.

VIVA - The opening Ceremony Documentary of Rio 2016 2017

For the first time ever, experience the work of a nation as it host the world and puts on a show like never before.

Sunstroke 2010

In an empty city, scorched by the sun, the young and old confuse the fever of sunstroke with the delicate birth of passion. Like ghosts, they hover around buildings and endless flatlands in search of the ever elusive love. Inspired by 19th century Russian short stories, the plots weave and unravel together in the improbable city of Brasilia – a distorted mirror-image of the Soviet utopia – located in the heart of the Brazilian desert.

Stories on Human Rights 2008

20 short films about human rights.

Linha de Passe 2008

In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.

Paris Je T'aime 2006

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to chose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Uma Pequena Mensagem do Brasil ou (A Saga de Castanha e Caju Contra o Encouraçado Titanic) 2002

The six-minute film is shot in just two locations: an old movie theater in the city of Miguel Pereira (RJ) and a multiplex in the New York City Center, in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. In front of the old movie theater, the embolistas Castanha and Caju (actually Cajuzinho, the replacement for the original Caju, who died in June 2001) unravel an extremely biting and funny "embolada", which spares no Hollywood idols: from Stallone to Leonardo DiCaprio.

A Linguagem do Cinema 2001

Adão ou Somos Todos Filhos da Terra 1999

A resident of the Cantagalo favela in Rio de Janeiro, Adão Xalebaradã is the composer of more than 500 songs and has never been recorded in Brazil.

Midnight 1998

On December 31st 1999, destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.

The Nutty Boy 2 1998

In this new adventure, Maluquinho is spending the holidays at the home of his grandfather Tônico (Stênio Garcia), an inventor who lives in a small community in the interior of Minas Gerais. His friends Junim (Samuel Brandão), Lucio (Cauã Bernard Souza), Bocão (João Romeu Filho) and Nina (Fernanda Guimarães) are coming to the city to help Maluquinho organize the circus for the centenary of the city. On this trip, they meet Tatá-Mirim, a small flame that ends up making the city believe that they are being invaded by the Capeta. So they end up living many adventures.

Foreign Land 1996

During a time of political upheaval in Brazil, two strangers meet by coincidence in a foreign land and end up caught in the middle of a gem smuggling ring.

João & Antônio 1992

A documentary about the fathers of Bossa Nova: João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.