Léa Garcia

With his mom's salon on the brink of bankruptcy, a dedicated son rolls up his sleeves to help and discovers himself as the coolest barber on the block.

4.7/10

After his death, infamous Rio de Janeiro mob boss Golden Mouth (named after his all-golden teeth) gets multiple accounts of his life told to the press by his former lover.

"A Day with Jerusa" follows Silvia, a young, mediumic market researcher facing the hardships of underemployment while awaiting the result of a public exam, and Jerusa, a gracious 77-year-old lady, eyewitness to the daily life on Bixiga, a neighborhood filled with ancestral memories. On Jerusa's birthday, while she waits for her family's arrival, the encounter between her deepest memories and Silvia's mediumship allows them to travel through time and realities common to their ancestry.

Tati, an introspective 13 year old girl struggles to connect with her estranged father, Jaca, after he is released from prison in the turbulent wake of the Rio Olympics. As Brazilian Pacification Police battle to maintain a tenuous occupation of the surrounding Rio favelas, Tati and Jaca must navigate the clashing forces threatening to derail their hope for the future.

6.9/10
7.8%

The 43rd edition screens Neighbors, with five segments about the theme “neighbors”: not only about physical proximity, but also about relationships. In Brazil, Olga is a 90-year-old black woman who lost her husband one year ago; her neighbors, who come from different parts of the world, interrupt her grief. In Russia, an employee tries so hard to please his boss that he becomes inconvenient. An Indian woman, with the help of her male friend, decides to learn how to drive, an uncommon practice for women in the country. In China, an elderly, owner of an old and decadent barbershop, argues with his son, who wants to change the business. In South Africa, a group of homeless fights for the right to housing.

Based on the book of the same name by Solomon Polakiewicz, it tells the story of Maurício, a freshman from the prestigious Federal University of Medicine, son of Cida, a nursing assistant who works hard to see the young man enter college.

For Lete, only excess can bring back the memories she does not want to forget. But if you take away the illusion of a person, only emptiness remains.

The African deity that brought in Brazil Together with the blacks, Exu is known as the orixá of communication, the guard of the streets and the human behavior. The short film of black culture and its assimilation by Brazilian art. In its subtext, the film honors one of the greatest activists of the black cause - the actor, the poet, the playwright and the politician - Abdias do Nascimento. The positioning of the documentary seeks to incorporate the fighting spirit, expressive and restless of Abdias: present link between characters, images and children of the film.

This documentary investigates the aesthetic, political and existential trajectory of emblematic Black Brazilian actor Antônio Pitanga. He career spans over five decades, and he has worked with iconic Brazilian filmmakers Glauber Rocha, Cacá Diegues and Walter Lima Jr. He was a prominent figurehead and outspoken activist during the Brazilian dictatorship, a period of unrest in Brazilian cinema. Pitanga deep dives into the world of Antônio and the history of Brazil. The documentary was directed by his daughter Camila Pitanga, one of widely recognised faces in Brazilian television and cinema right now. The film is also a poem, and a tender ode to fatherhood.

6.7/10

In the heart of Rio de Janeiro, Maria da Graça (Léa Garcia), the devoted and hardworking mother of Pedro (Vinícius Patrício) lives in the highest and isolated spot of the Pedacinho do Céu favela, who works hard to maintain her son's studies. He, in turn, eagerly awaits the outcome of the college entrance examination and an eventual scholarship. In the context of a competitive and unequal society, Peter's failure can definitely seal his fate, but a victory and overcoming can also take its toll.

Antônio is an astrophysicist who has just found out he has an inoperable brain tumor. After decades living in the United States, he returns to Brazil and tries to learn more about his biological mother. His quest sends him off into the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

6.6/10

To celebrate the life and the work of a multifaceted creator – playwright, poet, partner of the most important names of Brazilian pop music and, above all, an enlightened character of the Brazilian cultural history - director Miguel Faria Jr. gathered an incomparable cast of partners, singers, friends and rare images from the archives recalling Vinícius’ genial simplicity, with the spontaneity, the humor, and the freedom of a person chatting over a bar table, exactly how the eternal Vinícius would enjoy.

7.9/10

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.

6.3/10

A light-hearted and high-spirited story, full of spice, sensuality and romance, Viva Zapato tells the tale of Dolores, a beautiful Cuban dancer who decides to leave her failing marriage and open a restaurant by the beach with her aunt from Brazil. When her aunt sends her a pair of shoes instead of the money to start up the restaurant, she angrily sells the useless gift for spare change. Her dream fades away - until she discovers that the money was hidden in the heel. The zany search for the shoes begins, as she follows the footsteps through the lively streets of Havana, running into the quirky, colorful characters that bring Viva Zapato and Dolores' dream.

4.7/10

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.

7.3/10

Suave Veneno is a Brazilian telenovela produced and aired on TV Globo in January 18 to September 18, 1999, in time from 21 hours, a total of 209 chapters. It was written by Aguinaldo Silva with help of Angela Carneiro, Maria Helena Nascimento, Felipe Miguez, Fernando Rebello and Marilia Garcia. The telenovela was directed by Marcos Schechtman, Alexandre Avancini and Moacyr Goes with the general direction of Ricardo Waddington, Marcos Schechtman and core Ricardo Waddington and Daniel Filho. It was played by TV Globo International in 2007 with a total of 140 chapters. There were 130 episodes of the version shown on Portuguese television. Featured José Wilker, Glória Pires, Irene Ravache, Letícia Spiller, Patrícia França, Ângelo Antônio, Luana Piovani, Tarcísio Filho, Vanessa Lóes, Nívea Maria, Betty Faria and Rodrigo Santoro in lead roles in the plot.

5.7/10

Orfeu is a popular composer from a samba school. He lives in the favela and falls madly in love when he meets Euridice, a newcomer to the neighborhood. But the local drug boss Lucinho stands between them and will drastically change both their lives.

5.4/10
3.6%

"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema."

Quilombo dos Palmares was a real-life democratic society, created in Brazil in the 17th century. This incredibly elaborate (and surprisingly little-known) film traces the origins of Quilombo, which began as a community of freed slaves. The colony becomes a safe harbor for other outcasts of the world, including Indians and Jews. Ganga Zumba (Toni Tornado) becomes president of Quilombo, the first freely elected leader in the Western Hemisphere. Naturally, the ruling Portuguese want to subjugate Zumba and his followers, but the Quilombians are ready for their would-be oppressors. The end of this Brave New World is not pleasant, but the followers of Zumba and his ideals take to the hills, where they honor his memory to this day. Writer/director Carlos Diegues takes every available opportunity to compare the rise and fall of Quilombo with the state of affairs in modern-day Brazil.

6.3/10

When Daniela, a famous actress, decides to return to her hometown to reconnect with a simpler lifestyle, local politicians decide to exploit her influence in order to get ambiguous deeds done.

5.8/10

A Deusa Negra is a love story that spans two centuries. In 18th century Yorubaland, Prince Oluyole is taken prisoner in the course of internecine warfare fanned by overseas slave traders. He is sold into slavery in Brazil. In present day Nigeria, at his father's deathbed, the young Babatunde promises to go to Brazil and search for traces of their once-enslaved ancestors. Beginning with a Candomblé ritual, his journey takes him ever deeper into this culture and, in a dream-like sequence, affords him a deeper understanding of his ancestors' suffering and powers of resistance. Balogun effortlessly links present with past, real with magical worlds and discourse with trance. The hypnotic atmosphere is also heightened by the music of the Nigerian drummer Remi Kabaka, which plays with repetitive patterns and distortions.

5.9/10

After assaulting a Hollywood film crew, a group of residents of a community in Rio de Janeiro decided to produce a film that would express the reality of Brazil - with the theme of Inconfidência Mineira.

7.3/10

Jorge de Oliveira is an Afro-Brazilian poet who works in a publicity agency in São Paulo. Torn between his rich white lovers and his black family and friends, Jorge's situation serves as a springboard to a discussion about racial issues in Brazil.

7.9/10

The life of a runaway slave who founded the Quilombo dos Palmares, an outlaw community of Brazilian slaves.

6.6/10

Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

7.5/10
9%