At the Edge of the Earth

Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and Europe, based on his experience as a critic.

Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim (1927-1994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with "The Girl from Ipanema." This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album of songs by his friend Jobim, Frank Sinatra is reported to have said, "I haven't sung so quietly since I had laryngitis." Naturally, "The Girl from Ipanema" and Frank Sinatra are featured in this musical collage of countless seamlessly edited excerpts of concert footage that cover decades of events all over the world: from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, Paris, Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Montreal, New York and back to Rio.

Documentary in four parts on Latin American cinema. Second episode, evoking the border between fiction and documentary. With his film Tire dié (1960), the Argentinian Fernando Birri proposed this manifesto: to create a realistic and critical national cinema, closer to society without falling into populism.

A documentary that chronologically traces the presence of women in Brazilian cinema.

In 1930, the Brazilian filmmaker and poet Mario Peixoto produced a masterpiece of Brazilian film history, the two hour long silent film Limite, inspired by European expressionist and avant-garde cinema. In 2014, Joel Pizzini paid homage to the film, and in particular its filmmaker, by creating a film montage using images from Limite and additional documentary material of interviews from the 1970s and 1980s. Mario Peixoto never finished another film, even though he continued to work on diverse projects. Mar de Fogo also features a freely imagined new sequence for Peixoto’s next, but never completed film as envisaged by Joel Pizzini. He tries to invoke Peixoto’s vision while making Limite and to visually explore the feeling he had when he had the inspiration for the film.

Bacurau, a small town in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps.

Clara, a vibrant former music critic and widow with flowing tresses is the only remaining apartment owner in a beautiful older building targeted for demolition by ruthless luxury high-rise developers. Clara proves to be a force to be reckoned with as she thwarts the builders plans to kick her out of the apartment.

André is a young doctor who, after spending a year working in Africa, discovers that he has been exchanging letters not with his long-time girlfriend, but with someone very close to her.

Ana and Duda, a couple who's in the verge of taking a break from their marriage, throw a New Year's party at their house. The party gets overcrowded with all kinds of people, and it's in the bathroom that most things will happen between them both and many other guests.

Over a trio of summers, a caretaker for luxury condominiums relies on her resourcefulness and her eye for opportunity to take advantage of whatever comes her way.

The border between Brazil and Paraguay: living on opposite sides of a big river, Brazilian boy Joca falls in love with indigenous-Paraguayan girl Basano. A magical tale of impossible love and adventure in this land full of memories of colonial wars and indigenous genocide.

Eldorado, a fictitious country in America, is sparkling with the internal struggle for political power. In the eye of this social convulsion, the jaded journalist Paulo Martins opposes two equally corrupt political candidates: a pseudopopulist and a conservative. In this context, Paulo is torn between the madness of the elite and the blind submission of the masses. But, in this complex tropical reality, nothing really is what it seems to be.

The story of five generations of the Austrian-Brazilian Knieps family, from the inauguration of their family-owned Great Mystical Circus in the 1910s up to the early 21st century, following both the family and the circus from their prime through to their decadence.

The Caravana Rolidei rolls into town with the Gypsy Lord at the mike: he does magic tricks, the erotic Salomé dances, and the mute Swallow performs feats of strength. A young accordion player is completely enamored of Salomé, and he begs to come along. The Gypsy Lord shrugs, and the accordionist and his pregnant wife, Dasdô, join the troupe.

In 1594 Brazil, a frenchman becomes a prisoner of the Tupinambás. While waiting to be executed, the foreigner learns the habits of the indigenous people and joins a woman who tries to help him escape.

Adrift in the vast expanse of the ocean, a solitary boat carries three castaways—a man and two women. Stranded and devoid of any glimmer of rescue, they find solace in recounting the tales of their lives to one another. As they delve into their personal narratives, reminiscing about the circumstances that led them to this desolate predicament, they navigate through the depths of three distinct destinies. Bound by the confines of their shared space, every aspect of their existence becomes a boundary, underscoring their plight.

In the 1930s, novelist and politician Graciliano Ramos is accused of being a communist sympathizer. He is then arrested and sent to the Ilha Grande prison, where he experiences the disturbing treatment reserved for common prisoners.

Augusto Matraga is a violent agressive farmer who, after being betrayed by his wife and trapped by several enemies, is beaten up and left for dead, being rescued by a couple of humble small farmers who nurse him for a long time until he is well again. Influenced by the couple, Matraga starts a long penitent life while waiting for his hour and chance to payback, starting a fight between his violent nature, his hidden desire of vengeance and the mysticism and goodness which is also part of him.