Cidade; Campo

Two stories – one involving a country-to-city move, the other in reverse – explore the place of women in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.

Displaced by severe flooding in her rural hometown, Joana relocates to São Paulo to reconnect with her sister and grandson, and ends up finding work – and collectivist struggle – with a cleaning company. In a second, distinct narrative, Flavia and Mara relocate to the far-flung farmland that once belonged to Flavia’s estranged, recently departed father, and are soon haunted by old memories, both personal and historical.

Screening direct from the Berlinale’s Encounters section, this cinematic diptych explores narratives of migration and deftly interrogates ingrained stereotypes of city and country living. As with her previous title, the queer werewolf musical Good Manners (MIFF 2018), Juliana Rojas’s self-described “existentialist supernatural film” – which features an eerie orchestral score by Rita Zart, along with a pulsing electronic song by Ema (MIFF 2020) composer Nicolas Jaar – uses elements of parable, fairytale and genre to critique the oppression of women and the spectre of class in contemporary Brazilian society.

“Meditative … Rojas never bends to simplistic dualities: neither the city nor the countryside is always stifling or always freeing. Rather, the existence of each in opposition to the other contributes to their union.” – Cineuropa