Brasil, 2027. A deeply religious woman uses her position in a notary’s office to try to prevent couples from divorcing. Whilst waiting for a divine sign in recognition of her efforts, she’s confronted with a crisis that ultimately brings her closer to God.
A sensitive and fun film, where the most complicated issues are adressed with the mastery of simplicity. Rodrigo is deaf, but installs sound systems in cars. His t-shirt visually shows the variations of the frequencies of the sound waves. In an ambivalent duality between what goes and comes, Mascaro builds one of the most delicate narratives of this festival. (MV)
Neon bull is the story of a cowboy on the road that aspires to realise his dream of becoming a fashion designer. This is the second fiction film by Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro.
What does it mean to own a penthouse apartment in poverty-plagued Brazil? “High-Rise” examines this topic in a hypnotic and revealing examination, blending interviews with nine penthouse residents, owners of enviable killer views of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Recife, and a look from below, an overcrowded world that seems to be building on every square inch of land, with nowhere to go but up.
What happens when a filmmaker delivers seven cameras to seven children so they can film their maids for a week? Is the proximity space the same with all family members? What is the place of each member in a family structure? When are the boundaries of friendship outpaced and the roles mingled? Of all the possible answers, Gabriel Mascaro’s film brings some of the less common. The innocence with which the daily routines are filmed leads to a staging of intimacy and a result far less naive than its beginning, with genuinely funny moments. Housemaids is a mirror of Brazil, the walls between classes made of Leblon cement and Rocinha bricks. Images shot by children in five different cities were delivered raw to the director for a final editing. (M. M.)