Bertrand Duarte

The Man Who Couldn't Sleep

On a same night, five people from a small country town have the same nightmare. Upon the arrival of a pilgrim, the village is taken off its mediocre routine and the characters are thrown on the vortex of an uncommon situation. Each one’s truth will come to light, releasing them of the wicked hypocrisies, fears and diseases, compelling them to take control of their fate and rewrite their life.

Tropykaos

The film tells the saga of Guima, a young poet who believes he suffers from “solar ultra violence” during the hottest summer in 50 years in Salvador. The alleged disease is caused by the relentless heat that hits the city. Under the marginal eyes of Guima, in a mix of reality and fantasy, the film presents a tropical/chaotic Salvador, as opposed to the stereotypical city seen in postcards, on a journey of a search for a redemptive air conditioning that can rid this contemporary antihero of what suffocates his existence.

Embodied

Upon removing his father from his memories, Mauro is dematerialized.

My Uncle José

It begins in 1983 in Salvador city, with the attack against José, an ex-member of a left-wing political group. Meanwhile, his nephew Adonias is worried about an assignment his teacher has given him. Consequently, Adonias has to deal with his family's suffering, conflicts at school, and the anguish of having to write his school essay.

Os Filmes que Eu Não Fiz

A Finada Mãe da Madame

Lúcio comes back home drunk and tired after a party late into the night and has a fight with his wife, Terezinha. Then, a butler shows up at their door to inform them Terezinha's mother has died.

Far From Paradise

Kim is a hitman who commits a serious mistake and is about to be executed by the criminal organization he works for. His only chance to escape punishment is to assassinate the peasant leader Bel. She is his sister and the only person in the world that he truly loves.

Antônio Conselheiro: O Taumaturgo dos Sertões

The Man Who Couldn't Sleep

On a same night, five people from a small country town have the same nightmare. Upon the arrival of a pilgrim, the village is taken off its mediocre routine and the characters are thrown on the vortex of an uncommon situation. Each one’s truth will come to light, releasing them of the wicked hypocrisies, fears and diseases, compelling them to take control of their fate and rewrite their life.

Tropykaos

The film tells the saga of Guima, a young poet who believes he suffers from “solar ultra violence” during the hottest summer in 50 years in Salvador. The alleged disease is caused by the relentless heat that hits the city. Under the marginal eyes of Guima, in a mix of reality and fantasy, the film presents a tropical/chaotic Salvador, as opposed to the stereotypical city seen in postcards, on a journey of a search for a redemptive air conditioning that can rid this contemporary antihero of what suffocates his existence.

Embodied

Upon removing his father from his memories, Mauro is dematerialized.

My Uncle José

It begins in 1983 in Salvador city, with the attack against José, an ex-member of a left-wing political group. Meanwhile, his nephew Adonias is worried about an assignment his teacher has given him. Consequently, Adonias has to deal with his family's suffering, conflicts at school, and the anguish of having to write his school essay.

Os Filmes que Eu Não Fiz

A Finada Mãe da Madame

Lúcio comes back home drunk and tired after a party late into the night and has a fight with his wife, Terezinha. Then, a butler shows up at their door to inform them Terezinha's mother has died.

Far From Paradise

Kim is a hitman who commits a serious mistake and is about to be executed by the criminal organization he works for. His only chance to escape punishment is to assassinate the peasant leader Bel. She is his sister and the only person in the world that he truly loves.

Antônio Conselheiro: O Taumaturgo dos Sertões

SuperOutro

Schizophrenic tramp performs outrageous acts in the streets of Salvador, and in the end tries to fulfill his ultimate dream: to fly over the city, as a superhero would.

O Compadre de Ogum

O Outro Lado da Memória

In 1996, filmmaker André Luiz Oliveira started preproduction of Viva o Povo Brasileiro, a film adaptation of the novel by João Ubaldo Ribeiro. Principal photography went on for nine years, but the production was shut down after a series of unfortunate events. This documentary retells that story, repurposing the fictional footage and chronicling the work both in front and behind the scenes.

Fake Blonde

Silmara, an industrial worker and a woman of exuberant beauty, supports her arsonist father and gets involved with two different pop stars, from whom she learns traumatic life lessons.

Captains of the Sands

About the life and adventures of a gang of abandoned street kids known as "Capitães da Areia" (Captains of the Sands), in Salvador, Bahia, during the 1950s.

Buccaneer Soul

50 years of Brazilian history seen from the point of view of a friendship among two intellectuals.

Dawson Isla 10

After the 1973 coup that deposed Allende and brought Pinochet to power in Chile, the former members of his cabinet are imprisoned on Dawson Island, the world's southernmost concentration camp. Here these men are determined to survive and provide history with their testimony.

Abaixo a Gravidade

Bené spent many years looking for his spiritual evolution in a small country town. He has made great progress and is fully integrated into the community, but will be put to the test when he meets Letícia and is brought into the underworld of the big city.

Pau Brasil

In Pau Brasil, a small, lost village in the heart of Brazil, the families of Joaquim and Nives live side by side. Despite living in the same perverse structure of social oppression, they deal with life in radically different ways.

Dekalog

Dekalog consists of 10 short films accomplished in the period (2009-2021) plus an unpublished manifest and epilogue. This film is dedicated to all the friends, artists and technicians who helped me to put the decalogue on the screen.

O Crime de Aristóteles

A Favorita

Donatela and Flora, two friends who became rivals. One of them committed a homicide and pretends to be innocent. There are two versions for the same story. Who, after all, is telling the truth? Donatela or Flora?

Old River

A great love story, a family rivalry that spans generations: the telenovela narrates the love for the São Francisco River, which is revealed in the feelings between Maria Tereza and Santo.

Jequitibá

Jose Inocencio had innocence only as part of his name, but only those who new him well could notice this. But nobody knew him. He was a storyteller, and he was always the main character in the stories he told. He managed not only to create stories about himself, he managed to create a legend. The story of this powerful cacao farmer; Maria Santa, the beloved wife who died; and their four children is the main theme of 'Renascer'.

Gabriela

Naïve and provocative Gabriela is a raggedy migrant worker who arrives in town to mesmerize all with her playful and simple, yet raw sensuality. Set in 1925, the story unravels in Ilhéus, a quiet northeastern coastal city thriving with cocoa crops and aspirations for progress, even though the traditional ways still rule.

Memorial de Maria Moura

Maria Moura loses her father in childhood and at the age of 17 finds her mother dead at home. Believing her stepfather to be the killer, Maria seeks revenge for her mother's death.