Supermemórias

"O Filho Único do Pai" tells the story of Lucas, a frustrated logistics analyst who tries to pull himself together after being betrayed by his fiancee. And when everything looked bad enough, Antônio, his father, an eccentric retired actor, reappears after a long time and forces his son to make decisions that will change the direction of his life.

In this visual essay, Ana Costa Ribeiro uses personal archives to delve into the adventurous, relatively short life of her grandfather Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro, a pioneer in experimental physics in Brazil in the middle of the last century. He was the discoverer of the thermodielectric effect: “something to do with lightning,” as it was explained in a child’s terms to his granddaughter.

For more than 50 years, Durvinha and Moreno hid their real identity even to their own children, who grew up thinking their parents' names were Jovina Maria and Jose Antonio Souto. They had belonged to the gang of the most famous Brazilian bandit's leader. The truth was revealed when Moreno, at the age of 95, decided to share the weight of memories with his children and meet alive relatives, including his first child. The 'cangaceirismo' was a form of 'social banditry' born in northeastern Brazil in the early XX century in a scenario of extreme poverty, violence and anarchy.

Paulete, the star of a daring theater group, is visited by his military brother-in-law, the young Fininha. A torrid relationship arises between the two, and now the soldier must deal with the prevailing repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship.

After taking in an abandoned child, Teresa meets Antônio and the two begin a journey on the roads. The common past, for them, is the memories of a city submerged at the bottom of a dam. Life is a dream, but the future is uncertainty.

The elderly Perpetua, feeling the approach of death, decides to prepare Zeca, her beloved grandson, to the inevitable. She tells him the story of a king and a queen, a wealthy and powerful couple who lost their only child but wishes to bring him back to life. Meanwhile, Damião e Josefa work hard to support their family and to prepare their daughter Fátima's wedding. At the end, the tale told by Perpétua and the destiny of that family will cross.

Donato fails in his attempt to save a drowning man, and meets one of the man's friends. He decides to start his life over, but pieces of his past keep coming after him.

A five-year-old girl enjoys learning to write her name, but she is forced by her mother to drop out of school and start taking care of household chores and working on the farm.

Paralysed by fear of the future, a middle aged French bureaucrat escapes to Brazil where a destructive affair with a boy forces her to learn to live in the present.

Elias is a handsome young deputy manager in a garment factory in São Paulo. When he’s not working, he enjoys casual encounters in the big city. The arrival of a young African, Fernando, on the production line piques his interest and Elias finds himself increasingly drawn into socialising with his work colleagues.

Otavio and Gilda are a very wealthy couple of the Brazilian elite who have the habit of eating their employees. Otavio owns a private security company and is a notable member of The Cannibal Club. When Gilda accidentally discovers a secret from Borges, a powerful congressman and the Club’s leader, her and her husband’s lives are in grave danger.

Alice dos Anjos is a smart girl who lives in the northeastern hinterland, and who, after running after a running black goat, is transported to a magical place, full of crazy characters. She finds herself, then, in the middle of a war against an influential colonel who wants to discard as traditional communities' land to build a hydroelectric plant. As Alice joins her friends to fight an oppression, she finds herself on a journey of self-knowledge and social awareness.

In a bleak future, the inseparable Batman and Robin live in a remote trailer. As punk-rock reenactors, they realize that planet Earth has become too small for their perfection, genius and power, and decide to find their place in the galaxies.

Ten years after the end of the dance music duo Verona, Elias come back to Brazil to meet his former partner, Walter, who is going to marry the young and talented Filipe. Walter lives in a countryside house, where he celebrates the end of his youth and the beginning of a new moment in his life.

Let the most distracted of men delve into his deepest dreams: put him on his feet, move his legs, and he will infallibly lead you to water.