Libelu: Down With The Dictatorship (2020)

The Trial

The impeachment and removal from office of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 was triggered by a corruption scandal involving, among others, her then vice-president Michel Temer. Director Maria Augusta Ramos follows the trial against Rousseff from the point of view of her defence team. This is a courtroom drama that unfolds slowly: the appearances of the various parties gradually turn the proceedings into something akin to theatre. Inside the courtroom, grand emotions are played to full effect whilst, on the other side of the doors, lobbyists and supporters pace the corridors. Meanwhile, outside, in front of Brasília’s modernist government buildings, demonstrators are chanting like a Greek chorus. Only the main character, Rousseff herself, remains professional and aloof.

Marighella

Afro-Brazilian poet and politician, the legendary Carlos Marighella. Driven to fight against the erosion of civil and human rights following the CIA-backed military coup of 1964 and the brutal, racist right-wing dictatorship that followed, the revolutionary leaves behind his wife and son to take up arms, becoming a notorious enemy to the power structure.

José do Egito - O Filme

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Match 64: The Maracanã

A documentary following the day life of fans in Brazil on July 13, 2014: the day when Germany and Argentina met up in the finals of FIFA World Cup.

Maria Bethânia: Música é Perfume

Brazilian singer Maria Bethania has a 40-year singing career. A documentary shows her concerts and famous family.

Saludos Amigos

A whimsical blend of live action and animation, "Saludos Amigos" is a colorful kaleidoscope of art, adventure and music set to a toe-tapping samba beat. From high Andes peaks and Argentina's pampas to the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro, your international traveling companions are none other than those famous funny friends, Donald Duck and Goofy. They keep things lively as Donald encounters a stubborn llama and "El Gaucho" Goofy tries on the cowboy way of life....South American-style.

The Other Side of Paradise

Nando, a 12 year old boy, narrates the adventures of his father Antonio, during the 60s in Brazil, who leaves the inland of the state of Minas to go to Brasília, a recently inaugurated city, but still with construction works in progress.

Our Indians

Yndio do Brasil is a collage of hundreds of Brazilian films and films from other countries - features, newsreels and documentaries - that show how the film industry has seen and heard Brazilian indigenous peoples since they were filmed in 1912 for the first time: idealised and prejudiced, religious and militaristic, cruel and magic.

Leon Trotsky - The Life of a Revolutionary

To mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the International Marxist Tendency and In Defence of October campaign present this original documentary celebrating the life and accomplishments of one of the revolution’s main leaders: Leon Trotsky.

Desarmados

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Sepultura Endurance

The long awaited documentary about Sepultura's incredible journey from Brazil to the world.

We Feed the World

A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.

Woodstock - Mais Que Uma Loja

"Woodstock - Mais Que Uma Loja" tells the story of the Woodstock Discos store, a stronghold considered ground zero for heavy metal in São Paulo and one of the pioneers of the style in Brazil.

Stalin

The life and career of the brutal Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin. Through the eyes and memories of Anna Aliluyeva, Stalin’s granddaughter, the film traces the rise of the Bolshevik tyrant from Lenin’s return from exile to his brutal struggle with Trotsky, the creation of his feared secret police and the merciless inner workings of his regime. As Anna recounts her grandfather’s life, viewers gain an intimate, personal perspective on the paranoia and purges that left even his closest circles living in constant fear.

Two Sons of Francisco

The story of Francisco, a very simple and poor man whose dream was to see his children become country music stars, and who made all the efforts to make it happen.

Wild Brazil

Go up-river and deep into the jungle far from Brazil's cities and stadiums, where families of giant otters, tufted capuchin monkeys and mischievous coati (South American raccoon cousins) rally their wits to survive in a breathtakingly beautiful yet dangerous land.

Surviving Progress

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

Traço Livre: O Quadrinho Independente no Brasil

Documentary about the universe of independent comics in Brazil.

Dzi Croquettes

A Brazilian theatre group that through talent, irony and humour confronted the Brazilian violent dictatorship in the 1970s revolutionising the gay movement worldwide and changing theatre and dance language to an entire generation.

Twenty Years Later

Eduardo Coutinho was filming a movie with the same name in the Northeast of Brazil, in 1964, when there came the military coup. He had to interrupt the project, and came back to it in 1981, looking for the same places and people, showing what had ocurred since then, and trying to gather a family whose patriarch, a political leader fighting for rights of country people, had been murdered.

The Team

Documentary about the victorious German national football team - called "Die Mannschaft" - and their journey to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The Edge of Democracy

A cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis—the personal and political fuse to explore one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. With unprecedented access to Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, we witness their rise and fall and the tragically polarized nation that remains.

O Gringo

A documentary film about football career of Dejan Rambo Petković, who was a star of Brasileirão - Brasilian football league.

Hebe

Hebe Camargo is one of the most emblematic entertainments in Brazil. At her 60s, she went on to control her own career and, despite the criticism, the dreadful husband and the powerful and sexist bosses, she revealed herself to the public as an extraordinary woman, capable of overcoming any personal or professional crisis.

Chatô, The King of Brazil

The true story of Assis Chateaubriand, the first magnate of communications in Brazil. Due to his influence during the late 1930s up to the early 1960s, he has come to be called 'the Brazilian Citizen Kane'.

Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury

“Rio 2096 – A Story of Love and Fury” is an animated film that portrays the love between an immortal hero and Janaína, the woman he has been in love with for 600 years. As a backdrop to the romance, the feature highlights four phases of Brazilian history: colonization, slavery, the Military Regime and the future, in 2096, when there will be a war for water.

Vocacional: Uma Aventura Humana

The clash of a libertarian school with the military dictatorship in the 60s. An exciting and little-known page in the history of public education in Brazil.

Botinada: Origins of Brazilian Punk

Botinada chronicles the origins of punk rock in Brazil, its first phase (1976-1984) and the whereabouts of its protagonists. Were 4 years of research, interviewed 77 people, thousands of hours in editing rooms, 200 hours of video and many rare and unpublished images compiled for the first time. Botinada brings out this amazing story told by punks who experienced body, soul and leather jacket this chaotic journey.

Guidable: The Real History of Ratos de Porão

The uncensored history from the Brazilian band Ratos de Porão, one of the oldest Hardcore bands in the world. Almost three decades of drugs, madness and a lot of noise, told by the people who made and still make part of this institution of heavy rock.

Ganga Zumba

The life of a runaway slave who founded the Quilombo dos Palmares, an outlaw community of Brazilian slaves.

3 Champions

An intimate look at the history of Brazilian drivers from the '70s to the '90s, an era in which Brazil dominated Formula 1 racing, from the colorful point of view of its protagonists, especially Fittipaldi, Piquet and Senna, but without forgetting the drivers who failed to reach the profession's pinnacle, and the many behind-the-scenes helpers.

Triste Trópico

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.

Where Are You, João Gilberto?

Where are you, João Gilberto? sets out in the footsteps of German writer Marc Fischer who obsessively searched for the legendary founding father of Bossa Nova and last great musical legend of our time, Brazilian musician João Gilberto, who has not been seen in public for decades. Fischer described his journey in a book, Hobalala, but committed suicide one week before it was published. By taking up Marc Fischer's quest, following his steps one by one, thanks to all the clues he left us, we pursue João Gilberto to understand the history, the very soul and essence of Bossa Nova. But who can tell whether we will meet him or not?

A Farra do Circo

This documentary highlights the evolution of Brazil's Circo Voador venue from homespun artists' performance space to national cultural institution.

The Mighty Spirit

An overview of Brazilian spirituality and religions.

Jango

The story of João "Jango" Goulart, the Brazilian left-wing president deposed by the military.

The Scavengers

In this documentary Coutinho examines the plight of the people who live off the waste of the Brazilian cities. These people make their living by scavenging the immense urban garbage dumps searching for whatever they can find to sell as well as whatever they can find to eat.

Stories Our Cinema Did (Not) Tell

Filled with raunchy laughs, this documentary compiles outrageous scenes from sex-comedies that shaped Brazil's "pornochanchada" boom of the 1970s.

Hércules 56

Documentary featuring contemporary interviews with 5 of the revolutionary activists who kidnapped US ambassador Charles Embrick in August 1969 in Rio de Janeiro and some of the political prisoners who were freed from prison in exchange of the ambassador's liberty and flown out of Brazil to Mexico in an army cargo airplane "Hércules 56".

The Mission

When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.

GIG - A Uberização do Trabalho

The work mediated by digital apps and platforms is growing worldwide. But the advance of the “gig economy”, called in Brazil “uberization”, has aroused debates about the precariousness and intensification of work.