On the rise in recent years, Brazilian cinema will have another premiere in Portugal in the coming days. The documentary Explode São Paulo, Gilby Brazilian filmmaker Maria Clara Escobar, arrives in Portuguese theaters this Thursday (12).
The film follows the story of Gil, a Brazilian woman who moved to São Paulo at age 20 with the dream of becoming a singer. Decades later, works as a cleaning lady when she accepts to participate in a film project proposed by the director herself.
From this meeting, the film builds a portrait in which reality and staging mix. The film follows the dialogue between the two women and revisits the dreams that took Gil to the largest city in Brazil, also reflecting on work, fame, invisibility and the possible paths for those trying to make a living from art.
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Maria Clara Escobar will be in Lisbon this week, where she will participate in a special screening of the film at Cinema Ideal, at 9:15 pm. The artist’s cinema “crosses intimacy, politics and language, exploring the limits between reality and staging”.
Before its commercial debut, the documentary went to several international festivals, where it was awarded. At the Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Festival, he received the awards for Best Direction and Best Acting. In Portugal, it was shown at Doclisboa – International Film Festival, where it received an Honorable Mention from the Jury of the Portuguese Society of Authors and the Escola Award – ETIC for best film in the Portuguese competition.
The production was also part of the programming of the São Paulo International Film Festival, Lumen – Rio de Janeiro Independent Film Festival, the Laceno d’Oro Film Festival, in Italy, and Entre Olhares – Curitiba International Film Festival.
Maria Clara Escobar is a filmmaker, screenwriter and poet. His first fiction feature, Exile (2020), premiered in the Tiger competition at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and was shown at events such as the Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal. In the documentary, he also directed The Days with Himwinner of the Best Film award at Doclisboa in 2013.
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