Ricardo Pretti

Like any industrious coastal town or city, Rio de Janeiro's port region has always been a hub for the confluence of cultures, nationalities and identities. Since 2013, it has also formed the basis of a research project for filmmaker Julia De Simone. Her third feature-length film – which was supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund in 2014 – shifts away from straightforward documentary and towards a more fictionalised form as it presents the story of Muanza, a woman born in the Kingdom of Kongo in the early nineteenth century and trafficked to Brazil, who awakens to find herself in the present, roaming the streets of Rio’s rapidly changing port region, known as ‘Pequena Africa’, or Little Africa.

João, mounted on his horse Cruzeiro, and in the company of a wanderer named Tahiel, enters a large city in northeastern Brazil to face the one who took his lands and ended up with his family.

The night side of a modernist icon. The fauna and flora of Roberto Burle Marx's gardens inhabited by visitors to Parque do Flamengo while the city of Rio de Janeiro falls asleep.

The night side of a modernist icon. The fauna and flora of Roberto Burle Marx's gardens inhabited by visitors to Parque do Flamengo while the city of Rio de Janeiro falls asleep.

The guest finally knocks at the door. The couple Rafa e Matheus got to deal with the excitement and weirdness that a third person’s presence brings to their flat.

André is a broken man, who lives isolated in a forest. The forces of nature embrace his body as he drowns in his effervescent inner world. Between the insomnia and the dreams, André is haunted by his past. He wishes to deconstruct himself, heal his sorrow and take the responsibility from his acts. He puts himself before the abyss where he must embrace his ghosts and change his skin in order to survive.

Joana D'Arc, a former public school teacher in Rio de Janeiro, tries to recover her home, lost to the City Hall. The trajectory is shared by the pirate fisherman Pharaó, from Guanabara Bay.

Otavio and Gilda are a very wealthy couple of the Brazilian elite who have the habit of eating their employees. Otavio owns a private security company and is a notable member of The Cannibal Club. When Gilda accidentally discovers a secret from Borges, a powerful congressman and the Club’s leader, her and her husband’s lives are in grave danger.

Miguel —alias Tibars, alias “Djon África,” born and raised in Portugal— is a kindhearted Rastafarian who loves women and lives a carefree life. Until one day a stranger tells him he's the spitting image of his father, “a player and a crook.” His father, whom he never even knew! This intriguing discovery makes him change tack. Particularly when his grandmother, who always took care of him, finally tells him how his father was in prison; how sad Miguel was as a toddler when he couldn't see him; how his father was banished to Cape Verde. Miguel goes there to visit him. Who is this man?

A man caught in the verge of freedom. He penetrates a city where the boundaries between reality and dream disappear. He crosses the landscape without belonging to it anymore. A farewell before departing.

The living call for revenge. The dead minerals and vegetables demand revenge. It is the hour of general protest. It's time for the destroying flights. It's time for the barricades, the shootings. Famines, desires, cravings, lost dreams, miseries of all countries, unite.

The living call for revenge. The dead minerals and vegetables demand revenge. It is the hour of general protest. It's time for the destroying flights. It's time for the barricades, the shootings. Famines, desires, cravings, lost dreams, miseries of all countries, unite.

After the sudden death of his wife, Ezequiel lives sad and resigned in solitude. Until the day that an extra-terrestrial being appears in his life and changes the color of his destiny.

The mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro wants to go down in history. For this purpose, he decides to separate Rio from Brazil and create a new country.

The end of that land. The end of that time.

A lonely man wanders lost by a post-apocalyptic city.

They live, they act, they love. Today they remember, they relive, they live through cinema and life.

They live, they act, they love. Today they remember, they relive, they live through cinema and life.

They live, they act, they love. Today they remember, they relive, they live through cinema and life.

Shirley has left the big city to live in a small seaside town and look after her elderly grandmother. She drives a tractor on a local coconut plantation, loves rock music and wants to be a tattoo artist. She feels trapped in the tiny coastal village. She is involved with Jeison, who also works on the coconut farm and who free dives for lobster and octopus in his spare time.

In Fortaleza, Brazil, Eugenio, Joaquim and João use a clandestine radio to scream their hunger for freedom and revolution. They hack the traditional radio stations, overwhelming them with poetry, rebel music, quotes, sound archives and provocations, attacking the bourgeois and capitalistic society. But one day, Salomé, a mysterious and beautiful listener, crashes into their lives, transforming their destiny.

In Fortaleza, Brazil, Eugenio, Joaquim and João use a clandestine radio to scream their hunger for freedom and revolution. They hack the traditional radio stations, overwhelming them with poetry, rebel music, quotes, sound archives and provocations, attacking the bourgeois and capitalistic society. But one day, Salomé, a mysterious and beautiful listener, crashes into their lives, transforming their destiny.

In Fortaleza, Brazil, Eugenio, Joaquim and João use a clandestine radio to scream their hunger for freedom and revolution. They hack the traditional radio stations, overwhelming them with poetry, rebel music, quotes, sound archives and provocations, attacking the bourgeois and capitalistic society. But one day, Salomé, a mysterious and beautiful listener, crashes into their lives, transforming their destiny.

In Fortaleza, Brazil, Eugenio, Joaquim and João use a clandestine radio to scream their hunger for freedom and revolution. They hack the traditional radio stations, overwhelming them with poetry, rebel music, quotes, sound archives and provocations, attacking the bourgeois and capitalistic society. But one day, Salomé, a mysterious and beautiful listener, crashes into their lives, transforming their destiny.

Valongo's quay - Empress quay - Rio de Janeiro port - Porto Maravilha (wonder port): layers of a city haunted by progress. One port on top of the other.

Valongo's quay - Empress quay - Rio de Janeiro port - Porto Maravilha (wonder port): layers of a city haunted by progress. One port on top of the other.

Pilo, Panda and Isaac are childhood friends. One of them decides to ask his girlfriend to marry him at sameday the other two learn she is cheating on him with her gym instructor

After receiving a strange picture postcard, Marina knows there’s nothing else to it but to return to Rio de Janeiro, the beautiful city that here seems threatening and almost enchanting.

After receiving a strange picture postcard, Marina knows there’s nothing else to it but to return to Rio de Janeiro, the beautiful city that here seems threatening and almost enchanting.

Gatto and Barbot are lifelong companions for more then 40 years and have just moved to a big decayed and abandoned building downtown Rio de Janeiro, where they start to live and promote their dance company rehearsals. The difficulties of everyday life are merged to artistic creation and to their belief in the Orishas gods. Through dance they spread through the city, occupying their territories.

An omen, a shred of time only. Suddenly the huge-bellied man jumps into the pool holding a glass of whiskey.

A film about the city. A film about people. We are living at the beginning of the era of urban society. A new field still ignored and unknown. And the scenario for the future is not yet established.

Four friends are reunited in a night that is moved by a game of lies and truth with unexpected consequences. This movie is based on the theatrical play “Eutro” directed by Rodrigo Fischer.

No man is a failure when he has friends.

No man is a failure when he has friends.

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

“Always keep Ythaca on your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ythaca will offer you riches. Ythaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ythaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ythaca mean.” Konstantínos Kaváfis

Paris - an American who recently arrived in Brazil - and the Brazilian Thais begin a simple friendship sharing feelings and sensations, even if they do not understand a single word each othar says.

Paris - an American who recently arrived in Brazil - and the Brazilian Thais begin a simple friendship sharing feelings and sensations, even if they do not understand a single word each othar says.

Paris - an American who recently arrived in Brazil - and the Brazilian Thais begin a simple friendship sharing feelings and sensations, even if they do not understand a single word each othar says.

Paris - an American who recently arrived in Brazil - and the Brazilian Thais begin a simple friendship sharing feelings and sensations, even if they do not understand a single word each othar says.

A documentary following random people at a Saturday night in Fortaleza.

I am a breather.