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Fogaréu film image, director Flávia Neves

Fogaréu

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Canadian Premiere

Fernanda (Bárbara Colen) has returned home to Goiás, Brazil in order to find herself, or rather, her origins. Arriving at the ranch belonging to her rich-but-distant adoptive family, this curious woman is intent on scattering the ashes of her deceased mother (the kin’s black sheep) and learning the truth about her conception. Instead, she uncovers her family’s dark history, much like Oedipus unwittingly learning the secrets of his birth upon his return to Thebes.

In the capable hands of director Flávia Neves, Goiás and its people are revealed to be full of mysteries. With the town home to a decades-old asylum, the locals trade the developmentally disabled like presents, forcing them to work as servants in their homes. These people, overlooked by most, have supernatural gifts like the seers and priests of the ancient world. Through a series of kind strangers with powers of their own, Fernanda learns of the disturbing source of her family’s wealth, her biological mother’s identity, and the limits of her own strength. Told through scenes of magical realism, Fogaréu forces us to question how much we really want to know about our own histories.

 

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Q&A Oct 7 & Oct 9

 

Supported by

Director
Cast

Bárbara Colen, Eucir de Souza, Allan Jacinto Santana, Eucir de Souza, Timothy Wilson, Kelly Crifer

Credits
Country of Origin

Brazil/France

Year

2022

Language

In Portuguese with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Sexual Violence

18+
100 min
Action Drama LGBTQIA2S+ Women Directors

Book Tickets

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Credits

Producer

Mayra Auad, Vania Catani, Thomas Sparfel, Nathalie Mesuret

Screenwriter

Melanie Dimantas, Flávia Neves

Cinematography

Luciana Baseggio, Glauco Firpo

Editor

Will Domingos, Waldir Xavier

Original Music

Fernando Aranha

Director

Flávia Neves headshot, Fogaréu director

Photo by Thomas Sparfel

Flávia Neves

Flávia Neves graduated in Cinema and Literature from the Fluminense Federal University and studied screenwriting and Meisner Technique at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in Cuba. At 16, she directed her first short film, Liberdade (1998), screened at Festival Internacional de Cinema Ambiental (International Environmental Film Festival). In 2019, she directed and scripted the series Amanajé, o mensageiro do futuro, aired by TV Cultura. Fogaréu is her narrative feature debut. Currently, Neves is developing her second feature film, Tempo do poder, with the support of Ibermedia.