Firebrand

Brooke Dammkoehler’s meditation on the rise to stardom of a glamorous movie idol (modelled after Greta Garbo), draped in gorgeous black & white photography and a tone of delirious grandeur.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.

In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.

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.

In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.

1942, in the middle of Northeastern Brazil, two very different men meet along the road: Johan, an aspirin salesman avoiding the German draft, and Ranulpho, a rural Brazilian seeking escape from the drought.

Filmmaker Karim Aïnouz decides to take a boat, cross the Mediterranean, and embark on his first journey to Algeria. Accompanied by the memory of his mother, Iracema, and his camera, Aïnouz gives a detailed account of the journey to his father’s homeland, interweaving present, past, and future.

Motel Destino, a sex hotel in Northern Brazil, is run by the hot-headed Elias and his restless wife, Dayana. When a young gang member on the run named Heraldo stays at the motel, Dayana becomes intrigued with him. As the two navigate a dance of power and desire, a dangerous plan for freedom emerges.

On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!

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.

Best friends Deco and Naldinho co-own a cargo boat in Brazil's Salvador da Bahia. They give a ride to a sultry prostitute named Karinna, and soon both men fall prey to her considerable sexual charms, pushing the bounds of their friendship to the limit.

Alice is a 26-year old woman, who moves to São Paulo after her father's unexpected death. In this intense and eclectic city, she starts to live life to the fullest, discover pleasures, chalk up successes and fearlessly face her failures.

A trio of interweaved transgressive tales, telling a bizarre stories of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice, a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague, and the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.

When an American heir living in a luxurious Spanish villa decides to move in with his girlfriend, his departure triggers a family collapse as his brother uncovers the truth behind their mother's tragic death.

In 1997 New York City, filmmaker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a one-night fling. As their relationship evolves through dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself.