Cidade Floresta Film Series

In the July edition of the “Juntes na Cultura” project’s film series, 15 films that draw parallels between everyday life in cities and the democratization of forest resources will be screened, starting next Thursday (06/07), at Estação NET Rio, in Botafogo. The event is part of the Cidade Floresta 2023 residency program, which also includes an exhibition at the Federal Justice Cultural Centre and a new installation by French-Moroccan artist Chourouk Hriech at the Museum of Tomorrow. “Juntes na Cultura” is a partnership between the Goethe-Institut Rio de Janeiro and the Consulate General of France in the city.

In the cinematographic program of Cidade Floresta, the public will be able to watch eight Brazilian, four German and three French films. Tickets will be sold at a promotional price of R$14 – only the screening of the Brazilian film “The Territory” will be free of charge, with tickets distributed before the screening.

The series features titles that have rarely been screened in Brazil, such as the French documentary “The Time of Forests”, the recently released Brazilian documentary “Rio, Negro” and the German “The Wild Blue Yonder”, an apocalyptic sci-fi by award-winning filmmaker Werner Herzog, famous for “Fitzcarraldo” and “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser”. Another highlight of the program is the German made-for-TV film “Ökozid” (Ecocide). Directed by the also award-winning Andres Veiel, the production discusses the accountability of countries for environmental crimes. In the plot, Germany becomes a defendant in 2034 for policies that destroy the environment. The Brazilian documentary “The Territory”, made with the help of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau indigenous people, was acclaimed at various festivals, such as Sundance (USA), and even made the shortlist for the 2023 Oscars.

Day 1 – Thursday – 06/07

The Time of Forests

France, 2018

The heart of the world. Preserved forests are the symbol of authentic nature, of our world. But capitalism and intense industrialization have put the planet’s greenery in danger: mechanization, monocultures, fertilizers, pesticides, fires, and deforestation. On a journey through forest time, what are the alternatives to caring for the future of the Earth?
103 min. Documentary

Great Ladies

Brazil, 2022

Grandes Senhoras is a project based on the teachings spread by the traditional, metaphysical, and poetic knowledge of two great Candomblé thinkers called Ebomi Cici de Oxalá and Mãe Celina de Xangô. This film was developed as part of the first edition of the artistic residency Cidade Floresta in 2022.
14 min. Documentary

Rio, Negro

Brazil, 2023

The film Rio, Negro is a documentary that presents a possible look at the history of Rio de Janeiro, based on the presence and contribution of the black population of African origin in the formation of the city. Based on interviews and extensive archive material, the narrative seeks to reveal how the black population forged individual trajectories and community ties in a diasporic city marked by disputes over the civilizing project of the white elites. Rio, Negro gives centrality to this debate, articulating the racist ideology, the transfer of the capital to Brasília and its political-institutional consequences for Rio de Janeiro.
98 min. Documentary

The Wild Blue Yonder

Germany, France, 2005

An alien recounts his escape from a cooling planet in a distant galaxy; he tells of his attempts to settle on Earth and finally reveals his secret knowledge, also acquired from the CIA, about a journey in the opposite direction. In search of a new habitat, five astronauts travel into space and explore the abandoned planet “Wild Blue Yonder”. When they return after 820 years, the Earth is deserted.
81 min. Science fiction

Day 2 – Friday – 07/07

Gloria

Brazil, 2019

From tears to tsunamis, all water has the same origin and only one end.
6 min. short film

Carioca Was a River

Brazil, 2013

A documentary about the river that gave its name to the inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The main source of water supply for two centuries, the Carioca River guided the growth of this capital city, but today it is a large, submerged sewage channel that flows into Guanabara Bay. The history of this river is the history of urban development in Brazil.
74 min. Documentary

Ecocide

Germany, 2020

A courtroom drama about climate catastrophe that is as silent as it is spectacular. In the year 2034, 31 states file a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany to claim compensation for the consequences of climate change. ECOCIDIO moves virtuously between the past, the present and the future, between docudrama and fictional documentary.
90 min. Fictional documentary

Day 3 – Saturday – 08/07

The Territory

Brazil, 2022

In O Território, the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people have seen their population dwindle and their culture threatened since contact with white Brazilians. Although promised autonomy over their rainforest territory, they have faced illegal logging and environmentally destructive mining incursions and, more recently, land-grabbing invasions, encouraged by right-wing politicians such as President Jair Bolsonaro. With deforestation consequently the problem has become global. With unprecedented access and co-produced by the Uru-eu-wau-wau community, the documentary puts the public at the heart of this conflict. Young indigenous leaders and environmental activists risk their lives to defend the forest, setting up their own independent media team, using technology to expose the truth and fight back.
86 min. Documentary

A Little Big Plan

France, 2021

In A Little Big Plan, Abel and Marianne are the parents of Joseph, a 13-year-old boy. Thinking they know their son well, the two are surprised to discover that the boy is selling all his most valuable possessions to finance an ecological project in Africa. They quickly realize that Joseph is not the only one, there are hundreds of children around the world concerned about the future of the planet and committed to achieving a more sustainable destiny for humanity.

2038 Here is How

Germany, 2021

A fictional documentary as a message from the future. The audiovisual message in a bottle, recorded in the year 2038, tells us, like an instruction manual, that in a quarter of a century we will have mastered the planet’s major crises. It wasn’t easy and it was close, but we did it.
108 min. Fictional documentary

Day 4 – Sunday – 09/07

Lene and the Forest Spirits

Germany, 2020

Ten-year-old Lene’s initial reluctance to go on her planned summer vacation in the Bavarian Forest soon turns into a great thirst for adventure, as there are mythical figures, turtle races, luminescent mushrooms, and tree houses; and incidentally, big questions such as man’s obligations as part of nature are at stake.
99 min. Children’s fiction

A Movie for Ehuana

Brazil, 2018

Director Louise Botkay follows the daily life of Ehuana Yara Yanomami and her family in the Watorik community in Roraima.
27 min. Documentary

Resonate the Question: “What Is Txaísm?”

Brazil, 2022

Resonate the Question: “What Is Txaísm?” weaves a network of invisible dialogues based on the question in its title. Considering the mystery surrounding the word Txaism, proposed by Jaider Esbell, which seeks to designate the politics of alliances between indigenous and non-indigenous people, as well as between indigenous people from different ethnicities, the lecture-performance extends the question to a group of agents in this web, amplifying its ethical and aesthetic implications and contradictions. Resonate is a method of polyphonic transmutation of the question itself, which allows its echoes to be heard, as if they were answers.
36 min. short film

To Whom It May Concern

Brazil, 2017

A forest video-poem, created and performed by DANDDARA.
3 min. short film

Once Upon a Forest

France, 2012

Set within a dense forest and amidst natural wonders, the documentary reveals the flowering and growth of a tropical forest. The audience is invited to observe and marvel at the natural beauty, as well as reflect on the need for preservation.
78 min. Documentary