Clara Linhart

LA MANUELA is a movie about exile and self-reinvention. In august 2015, Manuela Lavinas Picq, a french-brazilian journalist and university professor, was arrested at a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador. That same night, her work visa was revoked and she was taken into custody. Manuela was forced to leave Ecuador, where she had lived for the last decade, losing her home, work and lover. This film tells the trajectory of an activist who defends the causes of indigenous peoples with a lot of identity.

January 1st, 2003. When Brazil celebrates President Lula′s historic investiture, two middle-class, provincial families gather in an old, poorly maintained house. As they prepare a big party, secrets, hidden desires and frustrations are revealed.

After a shooting assignment, Henrique is mugged by two armed motor-bikers who steal his camera and speed off. Seconds later, he watches both get hit by a pickup truck driven by a self-appointed avenger, someone weary of feeling defenseless against the urban violence, and who decided to take action. Henrique recovers his stolen equipment and leaves, feeling avenged. But he goes back to find the memory card, with the photos, lost during the crash. From that moment, he is trapped in a situation where he is now the criminal for failing to rescue a victim, who had been his aggressor. Going from the murder scene to the police station, and then to the emergency ward of the public hospital, he attempts to clear himself.

An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

One day and one night, in a rustic country house rented by Luciana and Marcelo, who—despite having been together for eight years—have never been openly serious about their relationship. Their neighbors and friends, Cláudio and Fabiana, are seemingly happy. But it only takes getting to know them better to realize they have a very toxic relationship. Paula, Marcelo’s friend since his teens, soon understands she is entering a minefield. She decides to have a fun weekend despite the conflicts she might spark.

Jonathas lives with his parents and his brother, Juliano, in a cottage in a rural area of the Amazon. The family harvests and sells local products at a roadside fruit stand, a place of contact with new friends and novelties from the rest of the world. They meet Milly, a visitor from Ukraine, and the native Kedassere. The group decides to spend the weekend at a campground in the jungle. Against his father's wishes, Jonathas will embark on this adventure. Seduced by Milly and the forest, he undertakes his most transforming journey.

As a privileged teenager living in an affluent suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Jean has little to worry about beyond games, grades and girls. But as his overbearing father drags the family into debt, Jean is forced into a change of lifestyle which opens his eyes to the world beyond his 'casa grande' - not least that of the feisty, mixed-race firecracker Luiza. Cultures, classes and generations collide in this engrossing coming-of-age drama from Brazil.

In Rio de Janeiro in 1963, the story of several characters is intertwined in the midst of the political scenario of the time. One of them is Troy, a CIA agent residing in Brazil who plans a trap for the President.