The Joy
(A Alegria)

Luiza, a teenager living in Rio de Janeiro, is visited by her cousin João’s ghost after he is shot in mysterious circumstances. She and her friends decide to set João’s ghost free. In this intriguing and lyrical film, Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande stage an angry younger generation of Brazilians, who are trying to expiate the waywardness and cynicism of their epoch by all means possible. An unabashed artificiality, a spirited tone and carefully constructed soundscapes lead The Joy towards a kind of ritual where poetry serves to keep the inevitable ambient violence at bay. MM

Participation in the 2007 Nantes Produire au Sud Workshop