Juliana Carneiro da Cunha
Lili
Malu — a mercurial, unemployed actress living with her conservative mother in a precarious house in a Rio de Janeiro slum — tries to deal with her strained relationship with her own adult daughter while surviving on memories of her glorious artistic past.
Lara
On an unusual day, a series of coincidences lead Eduardo to meet Monica at a party. A curiosity is aroused between the two and, despite not being alike, they fall madly in love. In 1980s Brasília, their love needs to mature and learn to overcome differences.
Israël's Mother
The couple Laura and Israël have a five-year-old son, Lucas. They live together but seem to have lost interest in one another's thoughts and cares. Their relationship seems headed for the rocks, and the only one who seems to still be looking for something from life is Lucas.
Teodora
Maria, a virgin spinster, is trying magical superstitions to find a husband. In her dialogue with the marriage saint, she implores for a companion. Her father offered her as a bride to Saint Djalminha, if the saint saved her during her complicated birth which ended in the death of her mother. Since then Maria has lived this dilemma: revered and loved by the residents and pilgrims that believe she is a miracle worker; she is desperate to live a great love, with a flesh and blood prospect with real passionate desire. She asks for a sign from the heavens, a clue on how to find a crumb of love when a gypsy arrives on scene saying "someone who loves her very much, but she doesn't know will come from afar on an artists' caravan." Maria can't take the solitude she is living anymore and decides "to find Mr. Right," no matter how much it may cost.
Forty years separate Maria Eugênia, or Maê, a writer from Pernambuco based out of France, from the couple Miguel and Lúcia, who has just celebrated their 40-year anniversary. Maê's return uncovers old doubts and suspicions. Miguel, a sociology professor and former political prisoner, wants to face the truth, and Lúcia, his life partner who has dedicated herself to getting him out of prison, wants to escape from it. From the point of view of these three main characters we learn about political events.
Dona Zizinha
Brasil 1821. A su regreso a la imponente granja, Antonio, un rico ganadero, descubre que su esposa muere en pleno parto. Forzado a vivir en la propiedad con numerosos esclavos africanos, se casa con la sobrina de su esposa.
Bordadeira
Based on William Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Elias is a successful executive who works in the second largest private bank in Brazil. One day, Elias meets a mysterious woman who claims to be able to predict his future and says he will become vice president that day and the next day, he will become president of the Bank. The wheel of fortune is bound activated and a series of murders is committed by Elias and his wife Clara, leaving a trail of blood on his way to power and making them executioners and victims of their own destinies.
A film-crew in the early twentieth century, the cabaret known as ‘Le Fol Espoir’ has been transformed into an amateur soundstage. The motion picture tells the story of a ship and its passengers – from the famous opera singer down to the petty criminal. The film is an optimistic political fable intended to educate the masses. There’s comedy aplenty – slapstick punches, custard pies and gags reminiscent of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle; there’s adventure, high drama moments of great bravura , and passionate love stories. The filming begins on June 28th 1914, the day of the Archiduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo, the gunpowder that sets Europe alight. It ends with news of another assassination – that of Jean Jaures on July 31st followed by the general conscription of August 1st, heralded by church bells across France. The allegory of the shipwreck is filmed at breakneck pace during the last five weeks before war breaks out.
Suzana
Rodrigo and Suzana have started a relationship recently. He's seventy-two, she's sixty, and they are completely in love with each other. Together, they spend days in bed, talking, eating, laughing and making love.
Viúva Assis
En un pueblo aislado y agobiado por las lluvias torrenciales, los habitantes viven no solamente en la miseria, sino también hostigados por la represión política. Existe una guerra por el poder entre la familia que detenta el control económico de la región y el interventor enviado por el Gobierno central. Por si esto no fuera suficiente, aparecen panfletos anónimos pegados en las puertas de las casas, revelando las intimidades de sus moradores. En medio de este caos, surgen todo tipo de pasiones, traiciones y venganzas, sin que los implicados sepan dónde empieza la verdad y dónde acaba la mentira. Basada en la novela de Gabriel García Márquez La mala hora, la película cuenta una historia de amor y odio en la que el pasado y el futuro se confunden. (FILMAFFINITY)
Dinah Lévi-Strauss
Le seigneur Kang, Madame Li
Based on the play by Hélène Cixous, filmed in 2002, Tambours sur la Digue is a story written by Hélène Cixous based on an ancient Asian fable about who shall be saved during a flood and presented by live actors as puppets and puppeteers, evoking the theatrical traditions of Japanese Noh and bunraku.
Mother
En una atmósfera brasileña, pero dominada por un soplo de la tradición clásica mediterránea, es la versión al revés del hijo pródigo. Drama trágico de la eterna lucha entre la tradición y la libertad, bajo el escudo del tiempo. (FILMAFFINITY)
Bailarina
Fantasy comedy about Brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade, one of the most important icons of Modernism in Brazil. In the film, Oswald is played by two actors: Ítala Nandi, as his feminine anima, and Flávio Galvão, as the masculine half.