Sou Carnaval de São Salvador

Filhos de João, O Admirável Mundo Novo Baiano

July 2011 •Portuguese

A panorama of Brazilian popular music from the 60s and 70s through the musical group Novos Baianos. A retrospective of the community lifestyle adopted by its members and the influence inherited from singer João Gilberto.

Carnaval Claudia Leitte: We Can Do It!

March 2021 •Portuguese

A Vida é da Cor que Pintamos

December 2023 •Portuguese

Perpetuating art was the main objective in the life of visual artist, filmmaker and cultural manager Chico Liberato, who died in January, 2023. A pioneer of animation cinema in Bahia, he left a legacy for the area, and even in his family.

Dorival Caymmi - Um Homem de Afetos

April 2024 •Portuguese

An irresistible journey through the universe of the singer and composer that revolutionized the song in Brazil and influenced generations of musicians, paving the way for movements such as Bossa Nova and Tropicália.

A Última Vanguarda

March 2024 •Portuguese

70 years ago, a visionary management in education and culture as a political strategy for the dissemination and development of Bahia gave rise to an artistic vanguard that still impacts Brazilian culture today.

É d'Oxum: a Força que Mora N'água

May 2023 •Portuguese

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.

Ijó Dudu: Memórias da Dança Negra na Bahia

October 2022 •Portuguese

Carnaval 65

January 1965 •Portuguese

O Carnaval é de Pelé

December 2024 •Portuguese

This short film follows Pelé, a retired nurse who looks back on his time as a Mateus in the century-old Bumba Meu Boi group, Boi Tira-Teima. As he builds a new boi for the festival, he revisits the defining moments of his journey as a performer, carnival artist, and son of Mestre Gerson, the group’s former patriarch. The film explores how the way we carry our memories of the past shapes who we become in the present.

Cuceteiras VII: "Cucexeira?"

May 2025 •Portuguese

A documentary about Olinda Carnival 2025 that everyone was asking for but that's it, right? Cinema fernanda torres oscar we're going to smile smile

Dr. Ocride

September 2018 •Portuguese

Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê

January 2010 •English

Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê follows three women competing to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê, a prominent and controversial Afro-Brazilian group with an all-black membership. The selection is based on Afro-centric notions of beauty, in counterpoint to prevailing standards of beauty in Brazil, a country famous for slim supermodels and plastic surgery. Contestants for the title of Ebony Goddess dress in flowing African-style garments, gracefully performing traditional Afro-Brazilian dances to songs praising the beauty of black women.

Lament to Waters

November 2023 •Portuguese

May our smiles not be forced for your enjoyment and may our pains no longer be hidden. May my mother Yemanja help me. A short film about the pain we carry alone and that we only confess to the sea, which is life, but for us, black people from the diaspora, it's also a memory of a past of sadness and death.

1798 - Revolta dos Búzios

May 2024 •Portuguese

One of the most important events in Brazilian history, the Búzios Revolt of 1798 was led by dozens of black men who rose up to overthrow the colonial government, proclaim independence and establish a democratic Republic, free from slavery. The boldness of these men called on the people to make the Revolution and the conspiracy spread to the city of Bahia. The seizure of power is near. But the movement is denounced, the government sets up a Devassa against hundreds of people and four of them are hanged and quartered.

Los pueblos dormidos (por la Quebrada de Humahuaca)

June 1947 •Spanish

Documentary about the kolla people living in North Western Argentina.

É o Boi

February 2024 •Portuguese

"É o Boi" is a documentary that narrates the origins, portrays the present and discusses the perspectives of carnival in the city of Porto Ferreira/SP. Celebrating a tradition that already is already 90 years old, the film is mainly made up of images taken during the Porto Ferreira's carnival and interviews with people who fight daily to keep this unique and at the same time typically Brazilian cultural manifestation alive. Made over almost a decade, "É o Boi" also portrays critical moments of this carnival in the countryside of São Paulo, including disagreements with public authorities that almost led to the carnival being banned and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the organization of celebrations.

Batatinha, Poeta do Samba

March 2009 •Portuguese

A portrayal of the life of one of the most important samba musicians in Brazil, Bahian sambista Oscar da Penha, popularly known as Batatinha (1924 -1997). Through memories of their father, his nine children share their perspectives, as well as interviews with family, friends and musicians, to tell the story of Batatinha’s life, history and work.

The Man Who Drank the Universe

January 2005 •English

It is late 2004, and 34-year-old Englishman Alistair Appleton is about to fly from London to the Brazilian coast, where he will drink ayahuasca for the first time. With wit, insight, and sensitivity, Alistair shares this experience with us, and chats with some fellow participants before and after the ayahuasca ceremonies. For the past few years, Alistair had been working as a television presenter. In 2000, he started making trips to the Centre for World Peace and Health in Scotland to learn how to meditate. When clinical psychologist Silvia Polivoy opened an ayahuasca healing center in Bahia in 2004, Alistair faced his fears and seized the opportunity to attend.

Ocupar e Resistir - O coração do Centro Histórico

August 2023 •Portuguese