Fátima Serafim

The young film student Maria do Mar is working on a documentary about the old manor houses along the Douro River. It is the final project in her thesis on “Reality in Cinema”. Maria has an unlimited confidence in what is visible. Her candour and her naivety allow her to see the bright side of life – such as the beauty of the landscape and the authenticity of the place, or what’s left of it. But when Maria enters the final manor house on her list, she soon realises that something is going on in this house that is not as innocent as it first seemed. The manor is truly a house of horrors.

'Abolição' shows how much the liberation of the enslaved transformed the structures of Brazilian society, both in the countryside and in the city, and the changes generated in the lives of black people themselves. The narrative is centered on the period in which the Lei Áurea was about to be signed by Princess Isabel, on May 13, 1888. At that time, the abolitionist theme was widely discussed in urban centers, while in rural areas slavery relations were still established. The enslaved Iná Inerã, spiritual leader and warrior, represents the fight to maintain African identity at any price, paid with her own life, if necessary. Journalist Lucas, in turn, is a freed black man who believes in peaceful integration between whites and blacks.