Braço Armado das Empreiteiras

Ariel Kuaray Ortega returns to his hometown to visit his grandfather in a region of Brazil bordering Argentina. He wants to finally hear the full story of Canuto, a fellow villager who turned into a jaguar and then died a tragic death. A plan soon arises to make a film about the mysterious Canuto, with the villagers playing all the roles.

Penthouse residents of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Recife open up their homes to reveal their thoughts on social inequality, politics, and the world that surrounds them. As well as discussing more intimate subjects such as their desires, fears, insecurities, prejudices and personal histories. This is a film about height, status and power.

For the last 500 years, Edilson has been cutting sugar cane in Brazil. One day, the machines arrive and he leaves his job to engage in his first space mission. A small step for him, a giant leap for the nation.

Pacific, a documentary, is entirely constructed from images taken by passengers on a cruise ship which is bound for one of the most beautiful natural settings in Brazil, the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. The seven days of the voyage are recorded by the lenses of the tourists who film everything, all the time. By casting its eyes on how the characters see things, the film is revealed to be an essay on the production of images in contemporary society and their political implications. In addition it throws the spotlight on a reflection on Brazilian society, using a social group rarely seen and one that is well beyond the stereotypes commonly observed in documentaries.

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.

At the famous Carnival celebrations in Salvador, a veritable legion of young people invades the local VIP boxes with their selfie-sticks and their abadás to participate of a true alternative celebration. This is a deep analysis about the world of young parties and VIP boxes from Brazilian festivities.

The arrival of the Suape port and industrial complex brought business opportunities for large construction companies and their planned "high standard" neighborhoods in contrast to the life in the periphery and rural area of Cabo de Santo Agostinho (PE), the most vulnerable city for the young black men in Brazil.

Elias, in transit.

The film documents the creative partnership between musicians Mestre Zé Duda and Jorge Mautner.

Water is virtually omnipresent in the landscape of Recife, yet it disappears from the taps in most homes. In those very same households, people forgo sleep on rainy nights, fearing they might be buried alive in a landslide.

More than 500,000 deaths. A denial president who mocks the disease. Just over a year after the start of the pandemic, Brazil becomes the new epicenter of Covid-19 in the world. In hospitals across the country, health professionals struggle daily to save each patient. For the occupational therapist Poliana, the job is to maintain the fine line that links the lives of patients with that of their families.

I’ll be leaving soon. It’s so strange to think that this time is coming to an end; the people I met here feel almost like old friends now. I’ll probably never see them again. A sad thought, but - I suppose - a very realistic one. Australia is so far away from the rest of the world...