Suellen needs some money. She is a single mother raising a teenage son on the salary of a toll booth worker in an industrial Brazilian town. Her son’s father is out of the picture, and her live-in boyfriend does nothing but take from what little she has. Her solution to her financial woes is to join a gang of thieves who steal wristwatches from wealthy motorists. With this money, Suellen can pay for the most important thing in her life: her son’s conversion therapy.
Director Carolina Markowicz presents a cinematic study of intolerance and hypocrisy. In a town where confession and prayer relieve you of the sins of infidelity, theft, and judgment, no sin is greater than a boy wearing makeup and learning English so he can lip-sync to his favourite American singers. The narrow-minded Suellen considers the perception of others before her son’s happiness, leading her to make a series of rash decisions that will have fateful consequences for the both of them.
Maeve Jinkings, Kauan Alvarenga, Thomás Aquino, Aline Marta Maia, Isac Graça
Brazil/Portugal
2023
Panorama
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
João Macedo, Chica Mendonça
Producer
Karen Castanho, Vega Luís, Urbano, Bianca Villar, Fernando Fraiha, Sandro Aguilar, Carolina Markowicz
Screenwriter
Carolina Markowicz
Cinematography
Luis Armando Arteaga
Editor
Lautaro Colace; Ricardo Saraiva
Production Design
Vicente Saldanha
Original Music
Filipe Derado
Director
Carolina Markowicz
Carolina Markowicz has written and directed six short films selected by more than 300 festivals and is the recipient of many awards. The Orphan premiered in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight in 2018 and won the Queer Palm. Since 2021, Her debut feature, Charcoal, premiered at Toronto and San Sebastian in 2022.
Filmography: Charcoal (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
A Bit of Light
A Bit of Light follows a doctor who plans to end his life following his arrest and the closure of his practice. The film ultimately asks what might reconnect a person to life when faith in institutions, work, and the future have been exhausted.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Having navigated every rite of passage together, five childhood friends now find themselves drifting apart. Clio Barnard conspires with a stellar ensemble to bring these richly detailed, fascinatingly flawed characters to life.
Image: © Chris Harris
Seventeen
Seventeen takes us through a rough day in the lives of three Indigenous sex workers, shining a light on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and telling a story of solidarity and love.
Where the River Begins
This immersive, hypnotic film follows an Indigenous mother and daughter on a journey from the slums of Bogotá to their true home in the jungle, joined by a young gang member with an especially urgent reason to flee.
Short Forum 1: The Scarier One
The return of scary: fear in all its chilling, suspenseful, and unsettling shades.
Flesh and Fuel
Étienne lives a solitary existence as a truck driver for French company, his love life consisting of anonymous sex with men in empty parking lots. But after a passionate encounter with a Polish truck driver, his steady routine is thrown out of gear.