(Thaia Perez, Agyei Augusto, Mawusi Tulani, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)

By Lindsay R. Bellinger

Two Brazilians living in Berlin praised Competition film Todos os mortos (All The Dead Ones/All die Toten), a Brazilian-French co-production, at Berlinale 2020. Dimas Souza, living here for the past 17 years, and classically trained guitarist Victor Santana shared their impressions of Marco Dutra and Caetano Gotardo's film after its final screening at Friedrichstadt Palast on Monday at 4:45pm. Todos os mortos had its world premiere at Berlinale Palast last Sunday, February 23, 2020. 

(Carolina Bianchi, Mawusi Tulani, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)

The 70th anniversary edition of the Berlin International Film Festival had a very strong presence of Brazilian cinema, in all sections of the festival with 19 films in total, 13 of which were feature films. It makes one wonder what exactly has changed from the previous years, whether it has more to do with the change in leadership for this year's Berlinale and section heads or if Brazil is making stronger films overall. This would be an interesting topic to research. Personally, out of all the Brazilian films that I saw at this year's festival it's hard to remember one of them being at all misplaced or undeserving of a place at the festival, this is counter to one particular black and white French film that somehow made it into the Competition section. Hopefully, the presence of more Brazilian films at international film festivals like Berlinale will shine a light on this strong filmmaking community and open doors to a wider non-Portuguese speaking audience.  

(Carolina Bianchi, Thaia Perez, Clarissa Kiste, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)

The story unfolds in late 1899. Slavery was only abolished in Brazil in 1888, making it the last country to abolish slavery in the Western Hemisphere. The three women of the Soares family are struggling with how to cope after the passing of their last housemaid. The city of São Paulo is constantly evolving and expanding. The Soares family, who formerly owned coffee plantations, is having major financial difficulty adapting to the ever-changing Brazilian society. On the other hand, the former slave family who worked their plantation, the Nascimento family, have problems finding their place in a post-slavery world which has no plan and very little assistance for freed black Brazilians. 

(Mawusi Tulani, Agyei Augusto, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)

Crew

Written and directed by: Caetano Gotardo, Marco Dutra
Cinematography: Hélène Louvart
Editing: Juliana Rojas, Caetano Gotardo, Marco Dutra
Music: Salloma Salomão
Sound Design: Rubén Valdes, Christophe Vingtrinier
Sound: Gabriela Cunha
Production Design: Juliana Lobo
Costumes: Gabriella Marra
Make-up: Vanessa Barone, Jane Santiago
Assistant Director: Carol Araujo
Casting: Gabriel Domingues
Production Manager: Helena Botelho
Producers: Maria Ionescu, Sara Silveira, Clément Duboin, Florence Cohen

(Marco Dutra, Caetano Gotardo, © Beth Gotardo)

Cast

Mawusi Tulani (Iná)
Clarissa Kiste (Maria)
Carolina Bianchi (Ana)
Thaia Perez (Isabel)
Agyei Augusto (João)
Alaíde Costa (Josefina)
Leonor Silveira (Dona Romilda)
Rogério Brito (Antônio)
Thomás Aquino (Eduardo)
Andrea Marquee (Carolina)
Gilda Nomacce (Sister Flora)
Luciano Chirolli (Jorge)
Teca Pereira (Doca)

Produced by

Dezenove Som e Imagens
São Paulo, Brazil
+55 11 30313017
dezenove@uol.com.br

Good Fortune Films
Paris, France
+33 1 42463605
contact@goodfortunefilms.com

World sales

Indie Sales
Paris, France
+33 144 830227
info@indiesales.eu
indiesales.eu indiesales.eu