The dark side of the carnival

Brazil: and without fail, the mind travels to Copacabana and the statue of the Redeemer, amidst samba dancers and green and gold football jerseys, the mellow notes of bossa nova playing in the background.
Brazilian Blues doesn’t care for any of this. Instead, its six shorts portray a completely different country, languid and taciturn, ridden by desires and solitudes. It’s a Brazil where the colours of the night, vivid and artificial, disappear in the bright, far too bright morning light; where even the carnival is emptied of its joy, revealing its darkest, Dionysian side hidden behind feathers and sequins. A yearning Brazil that is constantly searching for something – happiness, love, wealth, or even just someone to spend the night with – and where the verve of Tropicalism seems to have completely given way to saudade. The girl from Ipanema is on Tinder, and she just swiped left.

PROGRAMAÇÃO NORMAL (NORMAL SCHEDULE)

Rodrigo Scheid
2017 / 7’40” / Fiction

One more normal day. One more normal night. One more normal Saturday. Arnaldo wants to do something to end the noise and the unbearable loneliness.

ADEUS À CARNE (FAREWELL TO FLESH)

Julia Anquier
2017 / 11’ / Fiction

During Carnival, in an unrestrained Rio de Janeiro, three girls revel in a drug-fueled street party. A man crosses their path, leading to terrible consequences.

SUBCUTÂNEO (SUBCUTANEOUS)

Carlos Segundo
2017 / 19’ / Fiction

The skin is not the limit.

DALVA (DALVA)

Guillermina Buzio
2017 / 03’ / Experimental

Dalva raised eight boys by herself in Arembepe, a place where the sea and music mark the rhythm.

ALMA BANDIDA (THE HOOLIGAN SOUL)

Marco Antonio Pereira
2018 / 15’ / Fiction

A film about passion that subtly points to the incompatibility between people. At the same time, it is metaphor for Brazil and its people.

ALGUM ROMANCE TRANSITÓRIO (SOME TRANSITORY ROMANCE)

Caio Casagrande
2017 / 18’ / Fiction

Bruno wanders through the city looking for an affection he has never known.