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.
On Sunday, October 9, please join us for a free community event: Making Movies in the Americas
Q&A Oct 7 & Oct 9
Supported by
Bárbara Colen, Eucir de Souza, Allan Jacinto Santana, Eucir de Souza, Timothy Wilson, Kelly Crifer
Brazil/France
2022
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Sexual Violence
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story
Judging by this candid, funny, passionate biographical documentary, it would have been a wild ride to have been Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, or even to have been in her circle of friends and lovers. Well, for an hour and a half we can pretend we were.
Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other
This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.
Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real
Erupcja
Charli xcx headlines this indie gem about a young English couple coming unmoored over a few days in Warsaw. Will means to propose. Beth has cold feet -- and an escape hatch she has barely admitted to herself... Think Before Sunrise 2025.
Tony Wilson's The Homeless Project
Combining music, text, still photography, and film to shine a sympathetic light on Canada's urban dispossessed, The Homeless Project is the third in composer, guitarist Tony Wilson's series of multimedia projects addressing pressing social issues.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
VIFF Kids Club is our monthly family series with films, crafts and more! Doors at 11 am for activities, film at 12. FernGully is a magical adventure where fairy Crysta and her friends seek to protect their rainforest home.
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
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
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.
