NCLAFF: Branco Sai, Preto Fica | White Out, Black In
Date: October 21, 2019
Time: 7:00pm
Address: Chelsea Theatre
Book launch (at 6:30pm) Documentary Filmmaking in Contemporary Brazil. Cinematic Archives of the Present (2019), and introduction to the film by author Professor Gustavo Furtado.
On March 5, 1986, in a run-down disco on the outskirts of Brasilia, a group of cops used a drug raid as an excuse to severely beat everyone present in the dive; all of those beaten were black. The policemen were heard shouting, “White out, black in.” Marquim and Sartana, two victims of the event, remember that terrible day; the former lost a leg and the latter remains paralyzed. However, remembrance is not all they want. Partially following the wishes of his protagonists, Adirley Queirós chooses to register the mysterious everyday life of these characters in the present instead of recreating their past while allowing them to stage a fantasy to exorcise this bygone event. The staging includes time travelling and an imaginary attack against the capital city, Distrito Federal. A potential historic and political documentary becomes a rebellious and therapeutic piece of fiction.
Preceded by short film: Mãtãnãg: The Enchanted Woman.
Dir. Charles Bicalho. Brazil. 2019. 12 min. Introduced by director Charles Bicalho. Mãtãnãg, an indigenous woman, follows the spirit of her husband, killed by a snake, to the village of the dead. Together they overcome the obstacles that separate the earthly world from the spirit world. Once in the land of the spirits, things are different: other ways govern the supernatural. But Mãtãnãg is not dead and her soul must return to the living ones. Back in the village, reunited with their relatives, new vicissitudes during a ritual will provide the opportunity for the living and the dead to reconnect once again. With the script based on research on the indigenous oral tradition, the film is spoken in the Maxakali language and subtitled. The illustrations for the film were made in a workshop at Aldeia Verde (Green Village), in the municipality of Ladainha, in Minas Gerais, Brazil.