Brazilian Documentary Movies

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, Saor, a young androgynous Indian, carries a coffin. He is taking Valentina, his lover, back to her native village to bury her. When Valentina left this village years ago, before becoming a transgender singer in a faraway city, people here knew her as Pol. Valentina's past and death remain an enigma. Yet bit by bit, through his encounters with the people of the village, Saor begins to perceive what connected them to Pol. Sensitive to the world around him, Saor, like a Shaman, enters their memories. Saor starts to understand that, like all homosexuals persecuted by Shining Path terrorists, Pol lived in terror. In the village cemetery, between rage and bitterness, Saor attends the burial of Valentina's body. A ceremony that is both a burial and an exhumation.

Fantasies and clichés about Brazil and Brazilians as reinforced by international films, even those actually shot in Brazil. This documentary features interviews with non-Brazilian directors, writers and stars who have been involved in some of those films.

A documentary about the 1979 workers strike.

Cássia Eller Rejane. Cássia Eller. Cássia. A powerful restless force on stage, shined herself out of it. One of the greats of Brazilian music, Cássia Eller marked the 1990s and shocked the country with her early death in 2001. A film about the singer, the mother, the woman who exposed her personal life and broke barriers, leaving a beautiful social and artistic legacy.

The expression of the idea through image, listening by way of seing.

Twenty years after his debut as an actor, Brazil's sweetheart Reynaldo Gianechini meets his mentor, legendary director José Celso Martinez Corrêa for a first reading of Plato's Phaedrus.

On the triple frontier between Brazil, Colombia and Peru, the twin towns of Letícia and Tabatinga form an urban island surrounded by the Amazon rain-forest. Following the ordinary events and the constant come and go of people along the border, Terras portrays the presence and the influence of the frontier on the lives of its inhabitants.

An intimate and revelatory portrait of one of the world’s most influential political figures, Lula explores the rise, fall and triumphant return of beloved Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, chronicling his extraordinary journey in 2022 to regain the Brazilian presidency after spending nineteen months in prison.

Based on the life of the player Afonsinho, who was banned from playing football for growing his beard and hair and refusing to cut them. Fighting for his rights, the player managed to become the owner of his own transfer rights, that is, he obtained a "free transfer". From this incident, the film examines labor relations in Brazilian football.

This first-person-narrated film explores the trajectory of the singer Clara Nunes, who conquered Brazil and several countries across the world.

In the prison yard, the prisoners play football, dance “capoeira” and talk about freedom.

Documentary wich tries to capture the iconoclastic spirit of the 1922 Week of Modern Art, to tell about the beginning of cinema made in the city of São Paulo.

Filmmaker Hare Brasil follows painter, public speaker and street artist Eduardo Marinho as they hit the road aboard Celestina, a worn-down and faulty Volkswagen van, for a trip across Brazil and Uruguay, where Marinho is set to give a lecture at a local University. They cross over 5000 kilometers and stop by numerous cities following an everything goes approach, with Marinho selling his work, talking to people and sharing his thoughts on life, society and everything else.

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Some people seem to have come into the world to confuse, annoy, swim against the current, like the guys from Gangrena Gasosa, the first and only Sarava Metal band of the universe. "Desagradável" covers all the 23 years of the band. A special reunion of people that stirred the underground scene of 90's until today. All the legends detailed in a film that will show the most shameful chapters in history of Brazilian Rock. Jello Biafra, Jão and João Gordo, BNegão, Marcelo D2, Anjo Caldas, Dado Villa-Lobos, Rafael Ramos, Fabio from Garage, Marcos Bragatto, Tom Leão, Pedro Só, Adilson Pereira, Larry Antha and the former members (more than 15!) recalls the regrettable moments that Sarava Metal happened in their lives. Archive images, photos and videos to prove, once for all, that "Home Saint makes miracles too".

This documentary accompanies the journey of artists who exalt and celebrate ancestry and the orishas in their work. It also offers a manifesto against one of the biggest problems facing Brazil: religious racism. The feature brings together stories from music, theater, fashion, dance and the visual arts to promote reflection on the power and importance of black representation, art and diversity

Large boats navigate the Amazon River daily, transporting people, animals and goods. This film portrays one of these trips.

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

Documentary about samba musician from Bahia Clementino Rodrigues, aka Riachão.

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Director João Batista de Andrade was filming a documentary about migrants coming from Northeast Brazil to São Paulo in search of a better living. His intention was to give voice to these underprivileged and homeless people. While preparing to interview a man who lived under a bridge, a passer-by interfered, starting an argument about the role of people from other states in the development of São Paulo and the rural problem in the Northeast.

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What is a travesti?

Vini Jr. has it all: talent, resilience and boldness. Follow his dancing, unpredictable feet on his inspiring journey to becoming a global soccer star.

Documentary about the painter Ismael Nery, which intersperses daily street scenes with paintings by the artist, under the narration of his 1931 Post-Essencialista poem.

There are limits to jokes? What is the politically incorrect humor? A joke has the power to offend? It is these issues that 'Laughter of Others' discusses interviewing personalities such as comedians Danilo Gentili and Rafinha Bastos, cartoonist Laerte and Congressman Jean Wyllys, among others. The documentary delves into the world of Stand Up Comedy to discuss the fine line between comedy and offense, between legal and what creates endless lawsuits.

Unknown Language is an investigation into our unconscious and all the social vulnerability it brings. The documentary features 15 interviewees, including musicians Marcelo Yuka and Otto, actor and comedian Gregório Duvivier, artist Eduardo Marinho, writer and cartoonist Lourenço Mutarelli, psychologist and hypnologist Gilda Moura, and psychoanalyst Pedro de Santi.

A mutant prank improvised by Arnaldo Baptista, Sérgio Dias, and Rita Lee. Os Mutantes on a unique day in the streets of São Paulo.

Yesterday, the inhabitants of the Nordeste had to abandon their land for lack of water. Today, floods are driving them out... Deprived of their roots, the people continue to remain faithful to their traditions and beliefs, while progress is imposed by the power of money.

A documentary that explores the myth behind the truth. Different people around the globe reinterpret the legend of Che Guevara at will: from the rebel living in Hong Kong fighting Chinese domination, to the German neonazi preaching revolution and the Castro-hating Cuban. Their testimonies prove that the Argentinian revolutionary's historical impact reverberates still. But like with all legends, each sees what he will, in often contradictory perspectives.

A documentary about the creative process of Arrigo Barnabé

For seven years Aly Muritiba worked in a prison in Brazil. There, he was part of the Alpha team. After studying film and making some shorts, Aly returns to his old job to be reunited with his former colleagues and make a film about the Alpha Team. The Team consists of 28 people, men and women of different origins and backgrounds, that work as caretakers and custodians for over a thousand criminals in a Brazilian prison. Walkiu becomes the leader of the team and hopes to do a good job. But as time goes by he realizes that his hands are tied.

The travel of the ambientalist Ernesto Galiotto throught the São Francisco River in Brazil, with his monomotor plane.

Reconstruction of the life of Wilsinho, who was a dangerous criminal by the time he was 14. After getting arrested multiple times, he finally was killed by the police at the home of his girlfriend Geni.

The lives of Luhli and Lucina, two especially important artists in the alternative cultural scene during the 1970s. In a time when transgression, love and peace guided behavior, we discover the love of two women for art, their spiritual universe, their lives in community and their three-way relationship with photographer Luiz Fernando Borges da Fonseca.

In this "fake documentary", a doctor returns to Brazil after his studies in Paris. Setting out to practice Medicine, he becomes an indigenous messiah and, in time, a cannibal.

No overview available

This revealing documentary offers an insider's view of Lula da Silva's 2002 presidential campaign, showing political dynamics alongside intimate moments.

Ecology - the eco system, a nature reserve in the south of the country - RS (between the Mirim lagoons) shows the harmony between nature and animals.

An albino boy named Sanã lives on the island of Lençóis, an untouched paradise in northeastern Maranhão state. Surrounded by dunes, he is mimicked in a very white landscape, under a scalding sun from which he cannot escape. In this microcosm ruled by wind and the tides, Sanã builds his own private world.