Asphalt Reds

Just released from prison, Léa returns home to the Brasilia favela of Sol Nascente and joins up with her half-sister Chitara, the fearless leader of an all-female gang that steals and refines oil from underground pipes and sells gasoline to a clandestine network of motorcyclists. Living in constant opposition to Jair Bolsonaro’s fiercely authoritarian and militarized government, Chitara’s women claim the streets for themselves as a declaration of radical political resistance on behalf of ex-cons and the oppressed.

On a night like so many others, indistinguishable from the previous or the next, Carlos sees himself thrown out of his bedroom. Beyond his own door, a rat has taken over his belongings, without a courtesy call or warning. This is the second work by João Niza Ribeiro screened at Curtas.

Issa, a footballer from Guinea-Bissau who plays in Portugal, is contacted by two filmmakers who want to know more about his life and make a documentary. Exposing the voices behind the camera, Nha Sunhu is a reflection on the gaze, bias, and representation of the other.

In a slightly dystopian version of our reality, the Fontainhas neighborhood - Porto - is at the center of a dark plot of real estate speculation. Disappearances and other disturbing elements arouse the suspicions of one of the neighbors.

"I've been on this cliff for almost a year, here on the lookout. Always aware of the sea and the enemy, even though I've never seen him. The man riding a horse gave me a new order, to be even more on alert, waiting for a mirage, for a ghost that will not come."