Festival do Rio, Rio’s international film festival, celebrates its 20th anniversary and 21st edition in 2019 and for the first time takes place in December. It has been a year when Festival do Rio has had to turn to the support of its many collaborators, supporters, producers and friends from around the world to take place as sponsorship for cultural events friend up in Rio and Brazil.
For 2019 Festival do Rio offers a compact selection of around 100 top international productions that include many cinematographic highlights from 2019 as well as some of the most anticipated films set for release in 2020. The festival also offers its extensive window onto the most recent Brazilian productions that screen as part of Premiere Brasil.
Première Brasil is one of the most anticipated and popular sections of Festival do Rio, and the main competitive section of the festival, and in 2019 will screen nearly 90 features and shorts by new and established Brazilian directors, films that offer the most varied themes and stories from every region and corner of this vast country.
Première Brasil also gives audiences the chance to see the films and then meet and talk with the filmmakers and actors. The cinema going public also votes for the best film in the categories of fiction, documentary and short, while an official jury awards the festival’s Redentor trophy across a diverse range of categories from the films in official competition.
Part of Première Brasil is New Trends (Novos Rumos), another competitive section of the festival that has grown in popularity each year with Rio audiences, and screens nine features and seven shorts in 2019 from new and established directors.
Also part of Première Brasil, Musicals Portraits will present six films this year looking at personalities, facts and institutions relevant to the history of Brazilian music and Brazil. Due to the diversity of themes, other Brazilian films will be screened across Festival do Rio in sections as varied as Panorama, Première Latina, Unique Itineraries, Frontiers and Generations.
Arturo Ripstein, Ken Loach, Terrence Mallick, Serge Losnitza, Lav Diaz, Clint Eastwood, Celine Schiamma, Jim Jarmusch, Christoph Honoré, Abel Ferrara, Ira Sachs, Marco Bellocchio, the Dardenne Brothers, Pedro Costa, Xavier Dolan, Werner Herzog, Marielle Heller, Robert Eggers, Alain Cavalier, and many other great directors, will all be represented and have their films screen over 11 days in December at 15 theatres that stretch across the city.
Festival do Rio opens its 21st edition on 9 December with Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited Little Women at the traditional Cine Odeon – Luiz Severiano Ribeiro Cultural Center in downtown Rio. Other festival highlights will include Jay Roach’s critically acclaimed Bombshell, featuring Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman, about charges of sexual abuse filed against Fox News’ Roger Ailes. And the Toronto Festival-winning comedy JoJo Rabbit by Taika Waititi, with Scarlett Johansson, about a little boy who has Hitler as an imaginary friend.
The latest works of award-winning directors will be shown during the festival, such as Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell, Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, Abel Ferrara’s Tommaso, Christopher Honoré’s On A magical Night, Ira Sachs’s Frankie, with Isabelle Huppert, Rupert Goold’s Judy,with Renée Zellweger, Lav Diaz’s The Halt, Xavier Dolan’s Matthias & Maxime, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Marielle Heller, with Tom Hanks, The Traitor by Marco Bellocchio, Family Romance by Werner Herzog, Vitalina Varelaand In the bedroom of Vanda by Pedro Costa, Young Ahmed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, among others.
The festival will also offer:
- great documentaries such as Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral, Alain Cavalier’s Être vivant et le savoir, Alan Elliott and Sydney Pollack’s Amazing Grace, Diego Maradona by Asif Kapadia, Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwinby Werner Herzog, Citizen K by Alex Gibney, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Kim Longinotto’s Shooting the Mafia, Victor Kossakovsky’s Aquarela, The Capote Tapes by Ebs Burnough, The Kingmaker by Lauren Greenfield, and Memory – The Origins of Alie, by Alexandre O. Philippe
- the year’s discoveries such as Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, Oliver Laxe’s O que arde, Dylda, by Kantemir Balagov, And Then We Dance by Levan Akin, John Nicholau’s Technoboss, La virgen de agosto by Jonás Trueba, Sibyl by Justine Triet, Martin Eden by Pietro Marcello, Adam by Rhys Ernst, The Climb by Michael Covino, Campo by Tiago Hespanha, and Systemsprenger by Nora Fingscheidt;
- successes from the world’s great festivals, such as Portrait de la jeune fille en feu by Céline Sciamma, Zombie Child by Bertrand Bonello, Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, Tenki no ko by Makoto Shinkai, It Must Be Heaven by Elia Suleiman, Family Romance, LLC by Werner Herzog, Ang hupa by Lav Diaz, Little Joe by Jessica Hausner, Synonymes by Nadav Lapid, Judy by Rupert Goold, Wasp Network by Olivier Assayas, Late Night by Nisha Ganatra, Gospod postoi, imeto i ‘e Petrunija by Teona Strugar Mitevska and many others.
- Star Wars fans are not left out and Festival do Rio will screen the two most recent episodes of the Star Wars saga: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, in collaboration with the numerous Jedi Council fans, as well as the premier of the latest Star Wars episode, J.J. Abrams’ Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.
- Watson Macedo’s classic Aviso aos Navegantes, the first film restored by the Brazilian Cinema Research Center (CPCB), has a special screening at MAM’s Cinematheque, which is followed by a panel discussing restoration.
The Brazilian films (and co-productions) that will screen at Festival do Rio from 9 to 19 December 2019 include:
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | FICTION | COMPETITION
- Acqua Movie (Acqua Movie), by Lírio Ferreira, 105 min – PE
- A Febre (The Fever), by Maya Da-Rin, 98 min – RJ
- Anna (Anna), by Heitor Dhalia, 106 min – SP
- Breve Miragem de Sol (Burning Night), by Eryk Rocha, 98 min – SP
- Fim de Festa (Party Over), by Hilton Lacerda, 94 min – PE
- M8 – Quando a Morte Socorre a Vida (M8), by Jeferson De, 88 min – RJ
- Macabro (Macabre), by Marcos Prado, 103 min – RJ
- Pureza (Pureza – The Movie), by Renato Barbieri, 102 min – DF
- Três Verões (Three Summers), by Sandra Kogut, 94 min – RJ
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | DOCUMENTARIES | COMPETITION
- Amazônia sociedade anônima (Amazon Uncovered), by Estevão Ciavatta, 80 min – RJ
- Favela É Moda (Favela is Fashion), by Emílio Domingos, 75 min – RJ
- Fé e Fúria (Faith and Fury), by Marcos Pimentel, 103 min – MG
- Flores do Cárcere (Prison Flowers ), by Paulo Caldas and Barbara Cunha, 70 min – SP
- Mangueira em 2 Tempos (Mangueira in 2 Beats), by Ana Maria Magalhães, 90 min – RJ
- Minha Fortaleza, os Filhos de Fulano (My Fortress), by Tatiana Lohmann, 84 min – SP
- Ressaca (Vertigo of Fall), by Vincent Rimbaux and Patrizia Landi, 86 min – RJ
- Sem Descanso (Restless), by Bernard Attal, 78min – BA
NEW TRENDS | FEATURES | COMPETITION
- 30 Anos Blues (30 Years Blues), by Andradina Azevedo and Dida Andrade, 91 min – SP
- A rosa azul de Novalis (The Blue Flower of Novalis), by Gustavo Vinagre and Rodrigo Carneiro, 70 min – SP
- Casa (Home), by Letícia Simões, 93 min – PE
- Chão (Landless), by Camila Freitas, 110 min – DF
- A Torre (The Tower), by Sergio Borges, 72 min – MG
- Sem Seu Sangue (Sick, Sick, Sick), by Alice Furtado, 100 min – RJ
- Sete Anos em Maio (Seven Years in May), by Affonso Uchôa, 42 min – MG
- Terminal Praia Grande (Terminal Station), by Mavi Simão, 74 min – MA
PREMIÈRE BRASIL |SHORTS | COMPETITION
- A Mentira (The Lie), by Klaus Diehl and Rafael Spínola, FIC, 10 min – RJ
- Apneia (Apnea), by Carol Sakura and Walkir Fernandes, FIC, 15 min – PR
- As Viajantes (The Travelers), by Davi Mello, FIC, 11 min – SP
- Bicha-bomba (Queer-Bomb), by Renan de Cillo, DOC, 8 min – PR
- Carne (Flesh), by Camila Kater, DOC, 12 min – SP
- Carvão (Coal), by Miguel Guimarães de Goes, FIC, 15 min – RJ
- Copacabana Madureira (Around Copacabana), by Leonardo Martinelli, DOC, 18 min – RJ
- Enraizada (Rooted), by Tiago Delácio, DOC, 8 min – PE
- Nosso Tempo (Our Time), by André Emidio, FIC, 15 min – RJ
- Quando a Chuva Vem? (When Will it Rain?), by Jefferson Batista, FIC, 8 min – PE
- Sangro (I Bleed), by Tiago Minamisawa, Bruno H. Castro e Guto BR, DOC, 7 min – SP
NEW DIRECTIONS | SHORTS | COMPETITION
- Baile (Summer Ball), by Cíntia Domit Bittar, FIC, 15 min – SC
- Bonde (Bonde), by Asaph Luccas, FIC, 18 min – SP
- Codinome Breno (Code Name Breno), by Manoel Batista, DOC, 20 min – RN
- Entre (Between), by Ana Carolina Marinho and Bárbara Santos, FIC, 15 min – SP
- Histórias para Contar (Breaking the Silence), by Julia Lemos Lima, DOC, 25 min – RJ
- Revoada (Take Wing), by Victor Costa Lopes, FIC, 14 min – CE
- Sem Asas (Wingless), by Renata Martins , FIC, 20 min – SP
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | FICTION | HORS CONCOURS
- Abe (Abe), by Fernando Grostein Andrade, 85 min – SP
- A Divisão (The Division), by Vicente Amorim, 134 min – RJ
- Aos Nossos Filhos (Our Children), by Maria de Medeiros, 105 min – SP
- Boca do Ouro (Golden Mouth), by Daniel Filho, 93 min – RJ
- Carlinhos e Carlão (Macho Man), by Pedro Amorim, 93 min – RJ
- Depois a Louca Sou Eu (Losing My Marbles), by Julia Rezende, 86 min – RJ
- Intervenção (Intervention), by Caio Cobra, 90 min – RJ
- O Traidor (Il Traditore), by Marco Bellocchio, 145 min – Itály, France, Brazil, Germany
- Pacarrete (Pacarrete), by Allan Deberton, 97 min – CE
- Pacificado (Pacified), by Paxton Winters, 120 min – SP
- Piedade (Mercy), by Cláudio Assis, 98 min – RJ
- Veneza (Venice), by Miguel Falabella, 93 min – RJ
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | DOCUMENTARIES | HORS CONCOURS
- Babenco – Alguém tem que ouvir o coração e dizer: Parou (Babenco – Tell Me When I Die), by Bárbara Paz, 75 min – SP
- Barretão (Barretão), by Marcelo Santiago, 85 min – RJ
- Encarcerados (Jailers.doc), by Claudia Calbri, Fernando G. Andrade and Pedro Bial, 72 min – SP
NEW DIRECTIONS | HORS CONCOURS
- Sofá (Firefly), by Bruno Safadi, 71 min – RJ
- Segundo Tempo (Second Half), by Rubens Rewald, 107 min – SP
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | SHORTS | HORS CONCOURS
- Alfredinho (Alfredinho), by Roberto Berliner, DOC, 15 min – RJ
- Amnestia (Amnestia), by Susanna Lira, DOC, 15 min – RJ
- Tuã Ingugu [Olhos d’Água] (Water Eyes), by Daniela Thomas, DOC, 9 min – RJ
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | MUSICAL PORTRAITS
- 30 Dias – Um carnaval entre a alegria e a desilusão (30 Days), by Valmir Moratelli, 72 min – RJ
- A Maldita (A Maldita), by Tetê Mattos, 80 min – RJ
- Arto Lindsay 4D (Arto Lindsay 4D), by André Lavaquial, 74 min – RJ
- Blitz, O Filme (Blitz, The Movie), by Paulo Fontenelle, 90 min – RJ
- Chorão: Marginal Alado (Outcast Rockstar), by Felipe Novaes, 75 min – SP
- Gilberto Gil Antologia Vol.1 (1968/87) (Gilberto Gil Anthology Vol.1 (1968/87), by Lula Buarque de Hollanda, 73 min – RJ
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | UNIQUE ITINERARIES
- A Mulher da Luz Própria (The Woman With Her Own Light), by Sinai Sganzerla, 74 min – SP
- A Última Gravação (The Last Audition), by Isabel Cavalcanti and Celia Freitas, 71 min – RJ
- Banquete Coutinho (A Treat of Coutinho), by Josafá Veloso, 74 min – SP
- Madame (Madam), by André da Costa Pinto and Nathan Cirino, 80 min – RJ
- Movimentos do Invisível (Movements of the Invisible), by Flávia Guayer and Letícia Monte, 75 min – RJ
- Quatro Dias com Eduardo (Four Days with Eduardo), by Victor Hugo Fiuza, 76 min – RJ
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | FRONTIERS
- A Nossa Bandeira Jamais Será Vermelha (Our Flag Will Never Be Red), by Pablo Lopez Guelli, 72 min – SP
- O Mês Que Não Terminou (Endless June – Brazil’s New Political Culture), by Francisco Bosco e Raul Mourão, 90 min – RJ
- O Paradoxo da Democracia (The Paradox of Democracy), by Belisário Franca, 71 min – RJ
- Outubro (October), by Maria Ribeiro and Loiro Cunha, 79 min – SP
- Partida (Departure), by Caco Ciocler, 93 min – SP
PREMIÈRE BRASIL | GENERATIONS
- Alice Júnior (Alice Júnior), by Gil Baroni, 86 min – PR
- Lugar de Fala (Place of Speech), by Felipe Nepomuceno, 74 min – RJ
- Que os Olhos Ruins Não te Enxerguem (May The Evil Eyes Not See You), by Roberto Maty, 76 min – SPJ
- Raia 4 (Lane 4), by Emiliano Cunha, 96 min – RS
PREMIÈRE LATINA
- Aos Olhos de Ernesto (Through Ernesto’s Eyes), by Ana Luiza Azevedo, 123 min – RS
- Breve historia del planeta verde (Brief Story From the Green Planet), by Santiago Loza, 75 min – Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Spain
- La Arrancada (On the Starting Line), by Aldemar Matias, 63 min – France, Cuba, Brazil
- Nona. Si me mojan, yo los quemo (Nona. If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them), by Camila José Donoso, 86 min – Chile, Brazil, France, South Korea
- Poetas del Cielo (Sky Poets), by Emilio Maillé, 101 min – Brazil, México
PANORAMA
- Doidos de Pedra (Crazy in Stone), by Luiz Eduardo Ozório, 80 min – RJ
- Família de Axé (Axé family), by Tetê Moraes, 76 min – RJ
Some of the international films screening between 9 and 19 December 2019 at Festival do Rio include:
PANORAMA 2019
- Amundsen by Espen Sandberg
- Ang hupa by Lav Diaz
- Aspromonte – La terra degli ultimi by Mimmo Calopresti
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Marielle Heller
- Bombshell by Jay Roach
- Chambre 212 by Christophe Honoré
- The Current War by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
- Der Boden unter den Füßen by Marie Kreutze
- Dernier amour by Benoît Jacquot
- Diego Maradona by Asif Kapadia
- Doidos de Pedra by Luiz Eduardo Ozório
- Dolce Fine Giornata by Jacek Borcuch
- Être vivant et le savoir by Alain Cavalier
- Família de Axé by Tetê Moraes
- Family Romance, LLC by Werner Herzog
- La fille au bracelet by Stéphane Demoustier
- Frankie by Ira Sachs
- Gospod postoi, imeto i’ e Petrunija by Teona Strugar Mitevska
- A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick
- Les hirondelles de Kaboul by Zabou Breitman, Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec
- Honey Boy by Alma Har’el
- It Must Be Heaven by Elia Suleiman
- Le jeune Ahmed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
- Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi
- Judy by Rupert Goold
- Just Mercy by Destin Daniel Cretton
- Late Night by Nisha Ganatra
- Little Joe by Jessica Hausner
- Madre by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
- Martin Eden by Pietro Marcello
- Matthias et Maxime by Xavier Dolan
- Les misérables by Ladj Ly
- Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin by Werner Herzog
- Nur eine Frau by Sherry Hormann
- Persona non grata, by Roschdy Zem
- Portrait de la jeune fille en feu by Céline Sciamma
- Répertoire des villes disparues by Denis Côté
- Richard Jewell by Clint Eastwood
- Sibyl by Justine Triet
- Skin by Guy Nattiv
- Sorry We Missed You by Ken Loach
- State Funeral by Sergei Loznitsa
- Synonymes by Nadav Lapid
- Technoboss by João Nicolau
- Il testimone invisibile by Stefano Mordini
- Tommaso by Abel Ferrara
- La virgen de agosto by Jonás Trueba
- Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa
- Wasp Network by Olivier Assayas
- White Lie by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas
- Zombi Child by Bertrand Bonello
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
- Hyenes by Djibril Diop Mambéty
- In Vanda’s Room by Pedro Costa
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, by J.J. Abrams
- Star Wars, The Last Jedi by Rian Johnson
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens by J.J. Abrams
- Touki Bouki, by Djibril Diop Mambety
EXPECTATIONS 2019
- 100 kilos d’étoiles by Marie-Sophie Chambon
- Adam by Rhys Ernst
- Akik maradtak by Barnabás Tóth
- Alice by Josephine Mackerras
- Alva by Ico Costa
- And Then We Danced by Levan Akin
- Bajkonur, Terra by Andrea Sorini
- Campo by Tiago Hespanha
- The Climb by Michael Covino
- Deux by Filippo Meneghetti
- Di yi ci de li bie by Lina Wang
- Dylda by Kantemir Balagov
- Huo zhe chang zhe by Johnny Ma
- Hva vil folk si by Iram Haq
- On ment toujours à ceux qu’on aime by Sandrine Dumas
- O que arde by Oliver Laxe
- Pesar-Madar by Mahnaz Mohammadi
- Pupille by Jeanne Herry
- Savovi by Miroslav Terzic
- Systemsprenger by Nora Fingscheidt
- Les traducteurs by Régis Roinsard
- Una ventana al mar by Miguel Ángel Jiménez
- Vif-argent by Stéphane Batut
LATIN PREMIERE
- Alelí by Leticia Jorge Romero
- Aos Olhos de Ernesto by Ana Luiza Azevedo
- La Arrancada by Aldemar Matias
- Así Habló el Cambista by Federico Veiroj
- Breve historia del planeta verde by Santiago Loza
- Canción Sin Nombre by Melina León
- Ceniza Negra by Sofía Quirós Ubeda
- El Diablo entre las Piernas by Arturo Ripstein
- Litigante by Franco Lolli
- Mano de obra by David Zonana
- Nona. Si me mojan, yo los quemo by Camila José Donoso
- Poetas del Cielo by Emilio Maillé
MIDNIGHT MOVIES
- Amazing Grace by Alan Elliott, Sydney Pollack
- Aquarela by Victor Kossakovsky
- Countdown by Justin Dec
- Le Daim by Quentin Dupieux
- The Dead Don’t Die by Jim Jarmusch
- O Filme do Bruno Aleixo by João Moreira, Pedro Santo
- Hatsukoi by Takashi Miike
- The Kingmaker by Lauren Greenfield
- Lemebel by Joanna Reposi Garibaldi
- The Lodge by Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
- Memory: The Origins of Alien by Alexandre O. Philippe
- Nan Fang Che Zhan De Ju Hui, by Diao Yinan
- Pelikanblut by Katrin Gebbe
- Shooting the Mafia by Kim Longinotto
- Tenki no ko by Makoto Shinkai
UNIQUE ITINERARIES
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Justin Pemberton
- Citizen K by Alex Gibney
- Cunningham by Alla Kovgan
- Said: The Art of Pauline Kael by Rob Garver Storia di B, a scomparsa di mia madre by Beniamino Barrese
- Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders What She
- Unstoppable: Sean Scully and the Art of Everything by Nick Willing
- XY Chelsea by Tim Travers Hawkins
The three most viewed art shows in the world in 2019, by the number of visitors a day, were all organised by the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil.
Rio the Guide 