100 Melhores Curtas Brasileiros - ABRACCINE

The ironic, heartbreaking and acid "saga" of a spoiled tomato: from the plantation of a "Nisei" (Brazilian with Japanese origins); to a supermarket; to a consumer's kitchen to become sauce of a pork meat; to the garbage can since it is spoiled for the consumption; to a garbage truck to be dumped in a garbage dump in "Ilha das Flores"; to the selection of nutriment for pigs by the employees of a pigs breeder; to become food for poor Brazilian people.

Glauber Rocha films the funeral of his friend Di Cavalcanti, one of the most important Brazilian painters and artists of all time. The director/writer pays his tribute to Di by narrating an eloquent speech, referencing poets such as Augusto dos Anjos e Vinicius de Moraes, along with images of Cavalcanti's work and the funeral as well - with the latter event being a spur of the moment to the director who rushed with his camera to the place when he heard the news.

The tensions experienced by three different people during the military dictatorship in Brazil: a politician, a revolutionary and a common citizen.

The short illustrates a Brazilian folk song in which a being or entity is always predating another being, but is in its turn predated by some other animal, until the circle closes. It begins like this: an old woman is quietly weaving and a fly disturbs her; a spider eats the fly; a mouse eats the spider; a cat chases the mouse and so on...

A few weeks before Carnival, slum boys organize huntings for stray cats, whose leather can be used in Samba percussion instruments, like the Tamborim, a small drum.

The real story of Quilombo Olho d'Água da Serra do Talhado, in the State of Paraíba, Brazil, which became institutionally isolated from the rest of the country. Quilombos were runaway slave communities in colonial Brazil.

Schizophrenic tramp performs outrageous acts in the streets of Salvador, and in the end tries to fulfill his ultimate dream: to fly over the city, as a superhero would.

Statistics, interviews and historical information on illiteracy and inequality in land distribution in Brazil's countryside.

A critique of the social values of upper middle class women in Rio de Janeiro.

In the brazilian city of Arraial do Cabo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, fishermen struggle to sustain their community. A big industry installs in town, changing the way and the culture of this small village.

Metaphor about slavery and the search for freedom through the internal transformation of being, in a game of images of concretist inspiration.

Geraldo Sarno tries to understand, in this documentary, why people leave the Northeastern region in Brazil way to São Paulo.

Mother gives Daughter a box full of old, colored little vinyl records. Daughter may listen to them, but she should never, ever, play the green one.

Two teens decide to go to the movies. However, since their tastes are very strict, they end up not seeing any film.

Comedy in 4 segments. In "Arroz e Feijão" (Rice and Beans), owner of a boarding-house seduces her young countryboy tenant. In "As Três Virgens" (The Three Virgins) three spinsters are influenced by the behaviour of their teenager niece, whom they are lodging. In "O Arremate" (The Purchase) a colonist turns his virgin daughter in to a landowner, to have his debts forgiven. And, finally, in "Vereda Tropical" (Tropical Trail), a man becomes sexually obsessed by a watermelon, to the point of having sexual intercourse with it. The stories are based on prize-winner short stories, from a Status Magazine contest.

In tropical Recife, in northeastern Brazil, temperatures drop to impossible lows and the inhabitants have to adapt. This 'mockumentary' gradually turns critical, looking at the climate, urban development and social interaction from every angle. Does a ray of sun pierce the clouds, after all?

Nelson Cavaquinho is caught rambling his impressions of music and life in his home in Bangu's quiet day-to-day life, walking through the simple neighborhood and, mainly, singing with his choked voice.

Man leaves the country and heads for the big city, where he wins a lottery.

One of the first Brazilian movies to conjecture about contraculture and its reflexes on the behaviour of a generation. A tribute to the late poet and friend Orlando Parolini.

Dorival, a man in jail, has only one wish: to take a bath. To achieve his objective, he defies the private, the corporal, the sargeant and, finally, the lieutenant in charge of the prison.

The camera follows an ordinary morning of famous Brazilian poet Manuel Bandeira in his small apartment, making breakfast, typewriting in bed, walking through the streets of Castelo, in downtown Rio de Janeiro.

Images of Brasilia in its sixth year and interviews with different categories of people living in the capital. One question structures the documentary: could a fully planned city, created in the name of national development and the democratization of society, reproduce the inequalities and oppression that exist in other regions of the country?

In 1966, José Sarney was elected governor of Maranhão for the first time. To register his inauguration speech and his political pledge to the population of the state, the politician invited the main figure of the Cinema Novo, the great filmmaker Glauber Rocha, to capture everything and turn into a great event. However, Rocha's nervous camera and combative spirit end up capturing a lot more than what Sarney had expected, by showing the contrast between the eloquent words spoken about progress and the harsh reality faced by the poor people.

[The Sound, or Treatise on Harmony] (1984) - 35mm - 16 min. A film about the desire of listening. An intermingling of voices from childhood, dreams, history, sex and politics. A visual essay about the universe of sounds. What is sound? What is the sound experience? Sound placed and replaced as Energy. Nothing more should be said. The final conclusion, while the spectator flies over an infinite sea, talks about spreading fragility open. That is the Sound.

In the wide world of sports, soccer is a passion for Brazilians and in this documentary viewers are presented with testimonies from players Vavá, Pelé and Zózimo the great accomplishments of the sport and also the dream of young and poor boys who dream of a better social status.