Oeste Outra Vez / Same Old West
For all its dry humour, Erico Rassi’s absurdist modern western is a consummate study in male companionship, loneliness, ego and hopelessness, set in the backlands of central-western Brazil.
Social commentary
Iracema – Uma Transa Amazónica
Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna’s once-banned film is an unusual proposition: half social drama, half documentary. The journey of an indigenous, teenage sex worker along the developing Trans-Amazónica Highway is a window into the extractive misery forced on Amazonian communities by the military regime.
Cidade Baixa / Lower City
Lower City’s toxic love triangle peers into the murky world of three young adults, muddling their way through life on the underside of Salvador, Bahia, who are wildly in love with each other; increasingly willing to betray each other; and completely unable to walk away from each other.
Propriedade
Daniel Bandeira’s unusual hostage thriller asks necessary and uncomfortable questions about class, labour and inequality in Brazil, exploring what he calls ‘the fear machine’ of heightening, mutual societal mistrust and polarisation.
Medida Provisoria / Executive Order
Lázaro Ramos’ 2020 dystopian speculative thriller unpacks the racist past and present with a nightmare scenario in which Brazil tries to excise its Black population with a mass deportation order.