Luiz Lepchak

Summer comes to an end in the tropics and twilight begins in the City of the Sun. The turn of the decade is a trance of nostalgia, light and darkness.

From a peculiar narrative, “Esperanza” builds a subtle and simple allegory about the phenomenon of immigration of people from other South American countries to Brazil, in a relationship that reveals places of approximation, but also historical and dramaturgical spaces that point to the effects of a certain imperialism that surrounds such processes. All this concentrated in the suffocated atmosphere of the protagonist.

A pioneering neurosurgeon volunteers in his own experimental procedure to surgically remove the fear of death. This short has bizarre storytelling, body horror visuals and an eerie beauty that gets under your skin.

Adam is a lonely boy who tries to play with other kids... However, the only real friend Adam has seems to belong to his imagination.

In the encounter between different peoples, there's a clash. Those who were already on the land, living their common world, come face to face with a people from across the sea, decrepit, who claim to have found paradise in these lands. They find it strange. Freely inspired by the work of the anthropologist and sociologist Darcy Ribeiro, this animated short brings a poetic view of colonization and the Brazilian people, both verbally and visually.

It's the second wave of the COVID pandemic in Rio de Janeiro. There's no water in Madá's old mansion, a sewing cooperative where sheltered LGBTQI+ young people live and work. Renê, one of the residents, paints the anguish of a mysterious spirit that haunts the shelter through the plumbing. Across town, a loner middle-aged plumber, Ismael, is tormented by the same curse.

Tomatoes are expensive.

Alessandro and Adriana run a musical group at a public school whose activities were interrupted due to the pandemic. In an attempt to maintain a connection with children during the worst crisis in the country's recent history, they discover in the circus a new way of reinventing their craft and prepare for a great show.

A drama with touches of suspense, where a mother and daughter get lost in a cave.

Maycon is a boxer who trains to return to the ring while sharing his time with two underemployees. Malu's father, the result of a casual relationship he had with Michele, he has his life overturned when he finds himself in the situation of having to take care of his daughter alone. Between the exhausting routine of training and training to survive Maycon's biggest fight has yet to be won: becoming a father.

Nuca, one of the world’s leading bee specialists, celebrates her birthday surrounded by family traditions. As the family matriarch, time is relentless in its toll on her memory loss. In an attempt to remember, she revisits family photographs, and as the past and present intertwine, secrets begin to surface. At this celebration, it won't just be the photos that are revealed.

A group of passengers cross a river on a small ferry. Fog, laughter, whispers and faces inhabit a floating, suspended space. Time passes, the shore is now closer and people prepare for another part of their journey. Aqueronte summons the essence of cinema to transport us to unreal spaces where life is crystallised in a changing landscape of light and shadow. In this cinematic trip, Manuel Muñoz Rivas reaffirms the fabulating power of moving images.

Cássio is a young transgender person undergoing hormone therapy and determined to have a conversation with their elderly father about it, when the COVID-19 pandemic derails their plans. Amidst social isolation, a lockdown inside a small apartment, a virtual social life, and a severe political crisis in his country, Cássio tries to build up the courage to follow through with the plan. Living and recording this context becomes an attempt to bring these two people together.

In prison, visits are sacred. Antônio is anxious to see his wife, Vera. However, as he walks towards the visiting yard, his world begins to crumble when he sees Rodrigo, his son, coming out of one of the cells.

Working as a TV host of an important political campaign for mayor, Luisa suffers with the professional relations with her co-workers. It’s the last week before the first round of local elections and Luisa, away from her hometown and family, discovers a serious scandal that could jeopardize the entire election. Not only must she now decide her fate, but that of an entire city.

On her final day working in a greenhouse, Romanian migrant worker Ana is followed by a documentary crew manipulating her story. Under pressure from her father and boss, tensions escalate. As she realizes she’s losing control, a turning point at work forces her to attempt an escape.

After visiting his father and brother in prison, Gabriel (06) and his mother, Vera (45), return home weighed down by questions, fears, and an uncertain future. Vera tries to hold herself together when her son asks if, when he grows up, he too will share the same fate as the men in their family: incarceration.

Thammy is Dereck’s mother. Bruna, Chiva, and Ana too. Together they raise their child. Together they make music and together they build their own house.