Denying Brazil
A documentary film about the taboos, stereotypes, and struggles of black actors in Brazilian television "soaps". Based on his own memories and on a sturdy body of research evidence, the director analyses race relations in Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to their likely influence on Brazilian African-Americans' identity-forming processes.
Joel Zito Araújo
Casts & Crew
Joel Zito Araújo
João Acaiabe
Ruth de Souza
Zezé Motta
Milton Gonçalves
Léa Garcia
Cléa Simões
Maria Ceiça
Tony Tornado
Maurício Gonçalves
Nelson Xavier
Herval Rossano
Walter Avancini
Also Directed by Joel Zito Araújo
Documentary about the daily life and struggle of workers from the 1930s generation in Brazil. Told through the memories of a feminist and four union members, the film shows the different faces of the workers' organization experience at that time, from Vargas' influence to communism, culminating in the common trait of their relationship with the workers' bases.
É uma lírica história de redenção amorosa entre irmãs, mães e filhas, em uma pequena cidade do interior de Minas Gerais, onde os fantasmas da escravidão e do racismo acentuam os dramas de forma sutil e poderosa.
The documentary is structured as a video letter from a black man denouncing the persistence of racism in Brazilian society and media, a century after the official end of slavery. Thus, it presents the contradictions between two images of racial relations in Brazil: the image disseminated abroad, which spreads the myth of racial democracy, and the internal image, presented in textbooks and on television, in which negative stereotypes are perpetuated against the black population.
Most often portrayed as an eccentric African pop idol of the ghetto, Fela is rarely presented as the strong political leader he was. Through the eyes his close friend and official biographer, the African-Cuban intellectual Carlos Moore, this documentary is devoted to unravel the complexity of Fela’s life. As the story unfolds, it reveals the glories and tragedies that shaped the lives of the pan-African generation as well as Fela's.
The film is close to the experiences of men and women forced to survive on the streets of São Paulo in the early 1990s, a time of deteriorating living conditions for workers, high unemployment and increasing urban poverty. Between approaching the problem as something structural and a sensitive look at the characters, the documentary portrays the lives of people who lost their work, distanced themselves from their affections and saw their identity disintegrate.
Rescue of the life story of feminist activist from the 1930s, Almerinda Farias Gama, participant in the struggle for the right to vote for women in the 1934 Constitution, and activist of the Brazilian Federation for Female Progress, together with Bertha Lutz.
Docudrama on labor mobilizations in the beginning of the 20th century in Brazil, led by union organizations with anarcho-socialist influence. Using fictional resources and historical archives, the film reconstructs an important part of the memory of Brazilian unionism and its biggest strikes, establishing a dialogue between different working generations.