Straight to the Point

Favela Government

Invalid date •English

Brazil's "Red Command" drug cartel is considered a plague by the government. But for the people of the favelas they control, Red Command *is* the government. They’re the de facto leadership of the area. The gang has taken over the role of the authorities in their shanty towns, where the state has long abandoned them. Away Days got special access to the Rio favelas, hanging out out with young foot-soldiers, speaking to commanders, and seeing how civilians live between the gangs and the equally violent police militias.

Complexo: Parallel Universe

January 2011 •Portuguese

No Rio de Janeiro, a 13 km do Cristo Redentor, dois portugueses aventuraram-se na mais temida favela do Brasil, onde moram mais de 300.000 pessoas - o Complexo do Alemão. Em 2007, no período de maior tensão e violência no Rio de Janeiro, viveram a maior operação policial já realizada no estado, sentiram na pele como é a vida de um simples morador. O filme retrata este perigoso e complexo mundo, um universo paralelo inserido dentro de uma ordem maior, um mundo à parte, que segue uma ordem diferente da ordem global.

The Miracle of Candeal

September 2004 •Spanish

The story of the Candeal favela in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, where musician Carlinhos Brown carries out social and cultural initiatives that protect and enrich the lives of its inhabitants every day.

Our Stories, Ourselves

April 2013 •Portuguese

Sixty-six adolescents, residents of Favela da Maré, were selected to participate in a dance show led by the choreographer Ivaldo Bertazzo, which incorporated their own daily experiences. Ten years later, directors David Meyer and Helena Soldberg search for some of the participants of this experience.

Inside the Mind of Favela Funk

February 2016 •English

Set in Rio de Janeiro's most notorious favelas, the underprivileged youth share their perspective on the extremely popular, pornographic favela funk music with respect to their personal (love) lives, situated in a lawless subculture of drug gangs, machismo, violence and sex.

L'Homme de Rio - A vida loca

July 2022 •French

Favela no Ar

January 2002 •Portuguese

The documentary shows the awakening of the poor youth to social consciousness in the identification of life that imitates art with art that imitates life. It is the São Paulo chapter of the cultural history of national rap in the voice of its main exponents.

Dancing with the Devil

January 2009 •English

Rio de Janeiro. September, 2008. Three men stalk the gloomy back-alleys of the city's notorious slums. Spiderman, a 28-year-old drug lord, embarks on a routine patrol through the shadowy streets of Coréia, the sprawling slum he controls. Inspector Leonardo Torres, a muscle-bound operative from Rio's drug squad, inches through the alleys of another shantytown, shots ringing out around him. And Pastor Dione, an evangelical preacher intent on ending Rio's drug conflict, trawls the slums for lost souls. With unprecedented access to some of Rio's most wanted men, Dancing with the Devil in the City of God tells the story of Rio's drug war through the eyes of three men locked into one of the bloodiest urban conflicts on earth. Written by Jon Blair and Tom Phillips

Black I Am

November 2020 •Spanish

The women of the first Garífuna community in Honduras work hard for the future of their daughters. Surrounded by a dazzling landscape, they celebrate their identity and the importance of maternal figures.

São Paulo: Uma Cidade Segregada

November 2020 •Portuguese

Chega de Demanda

January 1973 •Portuguese

Documentary addressing the composer Cartola and the transformations that took place in Morro Carioca and in Samba during his life. Founder of the Escola de Samba Estação Primeira de Mangueira, Cartola has his life and his music marked by his community and his School, far from the city His school, created as a playful and expressive center for the mangueirense, has now become a point of tourist attraction. This made work possible for the inhabitants of the hill, but it transformed the spirit of samba and its aesthetics.

Complexes

October 2020 •Portuguese

The short documentary ‘Complexos‘ features intimate and emotional views on how residents of favelas in Rio de Janeiro use media and arts to raise their voices and act for justice, dignity and respect. ‘Complexos’ is part of a collaborative process between the Finland-based Anti-Racism Media activism Alliance (ARMA Alliance) and the favela-based audiovisual collective Cafuné na Laje.

Public Domain

June 2014 •Portuguese

Between 2011 and 2014, the documentary investigated the changes in Rio de Janeiro on behalf of mega-events: UPPs in slums, forced evictions, public spaces privatization and popular uprisings.

Quando a parede cai

January 2009 •Portuguese

The Other Side of the Postcard

December 2016 •Portuguese

The Favela Pacification Program was launched in 2008 to reduce crime and drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In April 2015 however, police shot and killed 10-year old Eduardo in Complexo do Alemão, causing uproar in that community. Alemão and other pacified communities began to realise that the program had become the very thing it was designed to destroy. Taking place in the build to the 2016 Olympic Games, this is the side of Rio that you have never seen before.

The Good Fight

October 2017 •Portuguese

A boxer in Rio's favelas opens a club to help keep kids out of the burgeoning drug trade.

Grafite é do Morro

February 2023 •Portuguese

Gringo on the Slum

July 2015 •Portuguese

Documentary about the foreign tourism in Rocinha, the biggest Latin America's favela, which receives about 3.000 foreign tourists per month. They come to Rocinha looking for the most varied aspects, from the poorness to the violence, from the geography to the architecture, from the viewing to the atmosphere, from the curiosity to the welfarism.

Zé Barriga

January 2007 •Portuguese

Streets of Rio

January 2008 •Portuguese

Rio de Janeiro. Confronted with the violence that exists in the favela where he lives, Tiago sees the only way out to become a soccer player and, in this way, help his family to have a better life. Although he is the best player in his neighborhood and the chances of being discovered by a scout are good, he faces a number of problems. One of them is Tubarão, the leader of the most powerful gang in the favela, who wants Tiago to work for him as a drug dealer. To complicate matters even more, Tiago falls in love with Juliana, Tubarão's sister.