Castanha

Documentary about popular art manifestations in Northeast Brazil: the "cordel" literature (popular literature, small stories sold in markets); "repente", kind of musical challenge between two singers, who have to improvise the verses, in strict rhyme; and the interaction between these and local popular song.

This short film was part of the feature film "Chacun Son Cinéma (Each One With His Own Cinema)", in which 36 directors celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.

A religious cult with fake possession rituals spirals into darkness when the pastor's daughter is truly taken by an entity.

The six-minute film is shot in just two locations: an old movie theater in the city of Miguel Pereira (RJ) and a multiplex in the New York City Center, in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. In front of the old movie theater, the embolistas Castanha and Caju (actually Cajuzinho, the replacement for the original Caju, who died in June 2001) unravel an extremely biting and funny "embolada", which spares no Hollywood idols: from Stallone to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Mika Kaurismaki's documentary Moro No Brasil features performances by a variety of Brazilian musical artists, intertwined with interviews of every day Brazilians in order to give the viewer a portrait of Brazilian culture. The film includes performances by Silberio Pessoa, Darue Malungo, and Antonio Nobrega. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi