Christmas Goat(2016)

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.

No measure of hellfire preaching can quell the boisterous and bawdy passions of Maracatu, an Afro-Brazilian burlesque carnival tradition with roots in slavery that takes place in the northeast state of Pernambuco. As the Falstaffian character Tiao, Valmir do Coco leads a nonprofessional cast of authentic Maracatu practitioners in a tale told through dance, music, and the supernatural, set in the sugarcane fields outside Recife.

A small-scale romantic love story, shot with a digital camera in black & white and in a documentary style. We follow the conversation between two lovers, each on a different side of the world; he is in Recife, she is in Kyiv. On one side is dark, on the other light, but both experience the same emotions and hence feel nearness and contact.

Cecília, a successful young model, returns to Recife, her hometown, to spend Christmas with her mother. One night, a neighbour she hadn’t seen for a long time, João, shows her a bottle with a mysterious and intoxicating green substance. Cecília begins to fall in love with João, but also discovers he is involved in a secret cult around the figure of Salomé, the luxurious biblical princess.

In tropical Recife, in northeastern Brazil, temperatures drop to impossible lows and the inhabitants have to adapt. This 'mockumentary' gradually turns critical, looking at the climate, urban development and social interaction from every angle. Does a ray of sun pierce the clouds, after all?

Pelé, a retired nurse, revisits his memories as a performer in the Boi Tira-Teima group from Caruaru, Pernambuco. Between longing for the past and the impossibility of celebrating Carnival in the present, he imagines what it would be like to return to Carnival one last time.

Shortly after breaking up, Marcelo and Camila end up locked inside their apartment. The time they spend together after the breakup awakens a series of memories in each of them.

Amid the 2019 drought in Brazil’s Northeast, Madalena loses her mother in a tragic event that changes her life. Alone, she joins a rebellion at the Grajaú farm in Canudos, where a community rises against government neglect. A violent State response turns their hope into sorrow. Later, journalist Júlia returns to uncover the truth, hearing from people like Lúcia, a grieving mother. As Júlia investigates, hidden stories emerge: Madalena's forbidden love with rebel João and Pedro's thirst for revenge after losing his father to political violence. Their paths cross in a tale of justice, pain, and redemption. Inspired by Ariano Suassuna, famed for "A Dog’s Will", this short film is a prelude to "A Pena e a Lei", created by 9th-grade students from Escola SESI Cambona, in Maceió, Brazil. It was screened at the SESI Festival of Art and Culture in July 2023, touching audiences with its emotional and socially conscious narrative.

In Recife, Dr. Paulo is an important lawyer that has a daughter, Heloísa, with his paramour and living in the country. A few days before traveling to Europe, Dr. Paulo asks to a close friend to bring Heloísa to Recife. Meanwhile, his bohemian and irresponsible son Helvécio meets Heloísa, and without knowing that she is his sister, he tries to rape her, and she kills him. Heloísa is arrested and goes to trial without any evidence to prove that she self-defended her honor.

A strange figure from the night hires some prostitutes to fulfill their fantasies. In parallel, a hustler wanders through the night to perform a mysterious task. Not everything is what it seems to be in the underworld of Recife.

A young man sitting on his couch realizes that in one minute, things can happen in different ways.