Names That Matter

Since samba emerged in Rio de Janeiro, the presence of women has been fundamental to its creation, maintenance and perpetuation to this day. Muses, pastors, aunts, composers, dancers, godmothers, carnival dancers, mulatas, performers and even as workers, they form a panel of colors, feelings and sounds in the representation of this culture. This film takes a brief look at the history of some of these women, honoring and recognizing their strength.

Documents former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's visit to the the women's alley of Tiradentes Jail in the city of São Paulo, also known as "Torre das Donzelas" ("Damsels' Tower"). Alongside other women, Dilma was kept as prisoner in there during the 1970s, when Brazil was under a reign of terror during its military dictatorship years. They all meet again 45 years later to break the silence and the fear of speaking out the horrors they lived under a ruthless dictatorship.

The film gets into the underworld of crimes involving homophobia, soccer organized fans, and gangs in Sao Paulo city. It shows the team’s work routine of DECRADI, the only unit specialized in this field, as they search for people who have made hate speech into cruel murders.

"Levante" won Canal Futura's annual documentary competition in 2014 and was filmed in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Gaza and Hong Kong. It first aired at 22pm on the 25th June on Canal Futura. The film is about inspiring people around the world who use technology to speak out against injustice such as Filipe Peçanha from Midia Ninja who used the Japanese Twitcasting app to broadcast the Brazilian protests of 2013 from his smartphone, Noor Harazeen from Palestine who created the first English-speaking youtube news channel in Gaza, and Howard Kong from the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong who used a drone to film the conflicts between police and protesters in 2014.

Death stole her father; cinema gave her voice. Between silences and fabulations, a daughter dances with the shadows of memory, transforming paternal absence into a visual poem against forgetting.