Adirley Queirós
Disguised as dystopian science fiction, which crosses references of George Miller and JC Ballard, Once There Was Brazilia proposes a reflection on the current Brazilian political and social situation, concretely from the process of dismissal of President Dilma Rousseff, rehearsing an alternative future for Brazil. As the political capital of the country, and especially as one of the most symbolic utopias of the Brazilian twentieth century, the city of Brazilia shares the protagonism with a couple of renegades who survive by wandering marginally waiting for personal and collective redemption. To the fourth film, after the multi-award-winning White Out, Black In (2014), Adirley Queirós returns to explore the vicissitudes of Brazilian society.
Shots fired inside a club frequented by black Brazilians in the outskirts of Brasilia leave two men wounded. A third man arrives from the future in order to investigate the incident and prove that the fault lies in the repressive society.
During the passage of the World Cup of Brazil through Brasilia, we accompanied Maninho, a former professional football player who today works as a street walker, selling bottles of water and flags of the national teams.
The trajectory of Nelson Prudêncio, the black boy from Lins, who became an athlete only at the age of 20 and became one of the protagonists of the epic final of the triple jump at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, the biggest that the sport has ever seen.
The city of Brasilia hoped to become, from its very architecture, the expression of modern urban conception and an egalitarian society. However, neither the workers hired to pursue this project, nor the constant migratory flow that took place from the beginning, fitted in the government’s plan. In 1971, it began what was known as the “Campaign to Eradicate Invaders”. Together with other locals, the director reflects on the history, the transformations and the future of this place where the hypocritical official jingle “A cidade é uma só!” is no longer heard.
A documentary about football players in the low divisions of Brazilian football.
The struggle of a small group of blacksmiths trapped between keeping a long going strike with claims for better fees and the necessity of getting back to work when there's no money left for basic necessities.
The film deals with the process of globalization based on the thought of geographer Milton Santos, who through his ideas and practices, inspires the debate about Brazilian society and the construction of a new world. Santos discusses his views on the importance of respecting difference and his belief that an alternative globalisation model could wholly enfranchise all citizens of the world. An illustrious presence in 20th century social sciences, the man dubbed as ‘geography’s philosopher’ eloquently elucidates a developing world perspective on the global age.
A documentary about rap artists from Ceilândia, a satellite-city of Brazil capital, Brasilia. The film portrait the struggle of the lives of the rapers and makes a parallel with the violent building of the city designed to settle the outcast from Brasilia after its completion.
