Heloísa Passos

In 1965 a VW Beetle is sold in São Paulo, Brazil. Forty years later, the car ends up in a Recife scrapyard in the northeast, with the license plate KFZ-1348. The documentary “The Beetle KFZ-1348” presents the stories of this car through its eight owners, whose lives show a unique portrait of a country.

Through deep examination, this documentary from Oscar nominee Petra Costa explores the profound impact of evangelism on Brazil's political landscape.

Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.

Dayse, a Brazilian playwright known as Cyclone, wants to study in Paris. Having a career in theater is unthinkable for a woman in São Paulo in 1918. But her director doesn’t want her to go, as he would lose his mistress and ghostwriter. When she becomes pregnant by him, her dream starts to fade. An artist’s struggle for self-determination in a patriarchal society, based on the true story of Daisy Pontes and modernist Oswald de Andrade.

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.

José Renato, a 35-year-old geologist, is sent out on a solitary expedition to the hinterlands of northeastern Brazil. The purpose of the trip is to assess possible routes for a canal that will connect the area with the only major river in the region. As the field trip progresses, it becomes clear that Renato shares with those places the same emptiness, sense of abandonment and isolation.

Rânia is a teenage girl who lives on Santa Teresinha hill in the city of Fortaleza. Her busy days are also occupied by the dream of being a dancer. Rânia's best friend, Zizi, introduces her to 'Sereia da Noite', a local joint where fun, dance, money and sex rock the night. When Rânia meets the choreographer Estela, she will be torn between the possibility to make money in the nightclub and the will to become a "real dancer".

Birdie used to live in the tree, but his nest’s been broken and he’s now living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro with all he needs to survive: two abandoned dogs and the cart from which he sells tropical fruits and a lot of dreams.

Hidden from public view, a war is raging inside the diamond industry. When filmmaker Jason Kohn infiltrates this highly secretive world, he uncovers a vast, far reaching crime that threatens the value of every diamond ever mined. At stake is nothing less than the universal symbol of love and commitment - the engagement ring.

In Bocaina, Minas Gerais, two sisters live peacefully and in isolation until the arrival of an outsider to the region. The plot follows in the footsteps of Zulma (Malu Gali), Musk (Ana Flavia) and Josevelt (Alejandro Claveaux). Josevelt is the mysterious fellow who, along with these two conflict-filled women, helps them free themselves from their restraints. Under the context of a pandemic, the narrative addresses the feeling of suspension and uncertainty, so present today.

Pilar, a young hotel maid, has her path crossed by Shin, a middle-aged South Korean guest. The plans of both go wrong and, despite everything that separates them, they end up getting closer and establishing a relationship of solidarity.

The square was created in 1874. Since 1879 it's name is Praça General Osório. It has a clock that displays the official time of Curitiba city, capital of the State of Paraná in Brazil. The busy square, people gathering together and being apart from each other. A reminder to the fact that each person may be noticeable.

Julia is a 35-year-old English Literature teacher struggling with depression as she tries to get her life back together again after her long, intense love affair with Antonia. Feeling totally abandoned after she and her enigmatic girlfriend broke up, Julia is thrown into a desperate, painful process. Her life and her values have been tinged with unbearable melancholy and her life's measure seems reduced to out-of-focus fragments of her memories. Her inner turmoil and conflicts hamper a process now made necessary - that of readapting to her new life. It is impossible for her to disguise her pain when she attempts to narrate emotions.

In 1908, Titoe leaves her home country of Japan to try her luck in Brazil. Her intention is just to get rich and return in five years, but life has other plans for her.

Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas is an award-winning series of 30 three-minute stories about innovators—people who are reshaping the world through act or invention—directed by the world's most celebrated documentary filmmakers.

Teenager Joana feeds her soul with literature and rock. In 1979, when amnesty is granted in Brazil, she's forced to move with her family from Paris back to the country she barely remembers. Back in the city she was born in, and where her father was forcedly disappeared, she recovers pieces of memory from a fragmented childhood in Rio de Janeiro. Not everything is real, not everything is imagination. And as she remembers, Joana must write her own story in the present tense.

In order to escape repression in his country, Latin American political militant takes refuge in the coast of Paraná, where he lives in the constant expectation of being discovered and eliminated.

Francisca and Carlos struggle to adapt to their new reality after the suicide of their only son, Felipe. Immersed in fantasies, fears and melancholy, the couple go through radical experiences. Carlos moves into Felipe's old apartment, alienating himself in the world of his dead son. Francisca, haunted by guilt, dedicates herself to unraveling the enigma of suicide.

Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) is a cinematic bullet into the cerebral cortex, a documentary that unflinchingly exploring the cycles of violence that plague Brazil's upper and lower economic classes in fits of rampant corruption and violent kidnappings. The film chronicles these cycles by utilizing highly personalized stories that reflect the growing truth about Brazil's huge economic disparities.

Five directors with five completely different cinematic styles go on an affectionate journey through each one of the five states bathed by the gigantic São Francisco River. Faith, passions, legends and the search for survival in the riverside communities of this river full of colors, which cuts through the dry hinterlands and flows into the exuberant sea of Northeastern Brazil.