O Arco e a Lira

This is the story of Dona Virginia, an elderly woman who awaits the expropriation of her house. Year after year, the government threatens to destroy the place, her past and her memories.

The Fall of Womenland is a fascinating documentary on the unique sexual culture of the Mosuo people — a small minority situated in the southwest of China — and one of the last remaining matriarchal societies in the world. Without a formal marriage contract, the Mosuo traditionally build relationships based on free love and sexual satisfaction (‘walking marriages'). But can the sexual liberty and power of the Mosuo women survive as modern Chinese society slowly encroaches their ancestral land? The film explores the present reality for the Mosuo people as well as the dangers that threaten their inherited way of life.

The history of Amos, a town in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Quebec).

Double Barrel follows surf and travel journalist Angie Takanami’s journey to Peru to document Peruvian surf guide Harold Koechlin’s dream of protecting Peru’s world-class surf breaks. After a chance meeting, the two compared tales of living through natural and human-inflicted disasters, and their dreams for sustainable surf development and tourism. Focussed in the oil-dominated town of Lobitos, Harold is working together with the local and international community and is determined to preserve the locals’ right to a clean ocean and environment to give towns like Lobitos a more sustainable future.

A deep dive into contemporary Brazilian music. Guided by the composer, anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Kilza Setti and the Hésperides Música das Américas nucleus, the documentary takes us to a world where contemporary music, the Guarani and Timbira peoples, the colonization of America and poetic professions meet.

Raised in one of the most violent outskirts of Fortaleza, the Cruz brothers had their lives shaped by music to the point that their parents turned the house where they live into a school.

Do animals have feelings? Empathy even? A documentary with some insights due to advancing technology.

Marco ‘Curumim’ Archer’s life changed abruptly when police at Jakarta airport seize 13.5 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in his hang-glider. At first he manages to escape, hiding out in Indonesia for sixteen days before being arrested and sentenced to death. Eleven years later, on 17 January 2015, he was executed for drug dealing.

The real estate industry has destabilized the natural surroundings of the city of Concón, on the Chilean coast, forcing the inhabitants and landscapes of the region to find new ways to adapt and survive. “Nidal” depicts the cohabitating of species and the accelerated transformation of the landscapes due to human occupation.

Séfar (in Arabic: سيفار) is an ancient city in the heart of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountain range in Algeria, more than 2,400 km south of Algiers and very close to the Libyan border. Séfar is the largest troglodyte city in the world, with several thousand fossilized houses. Very few travelers go there given its geographical remoteness and especially because of the difficulties of access to the site. The site is full of several paintings, some of which date back more than 12,000 years, mostly depicting animals and scenes of hunting or daily life which testify that this hostile place has not always been an inhabited desert. Local superstition suggests that the site is inhabited by djins, no doubt in connection with the strange paintings found on the site.

Her difficult career beginning in her hometown, Porto Alegre, was not different from her friends' stories. Elis belonged to a group of people born to win. She had the talent, she knew her potential and she just needed to face the world with courage and determination. That is exactly what she did. The result is known by everybody and it is in this film, a unique register of memorable interpretations by Elis, including the song which Elis learned with Tom Jobim and entitles the film.

She mesmerised the crowd. The first sight would rapidly disappear and anyone who would get closer would also be surprised. It is not known if she did it for "beauty or precision", as Guimarães Rosa used to say. But the truth is that stereotypes would be destroyed as soon as she would fetch her followers. And revelations would unfold. Behind her suavely acute and toned voice, there was a deep tone that only few could reach. Behind her humble upbringing, there was an uncommon sensibility and intelligence. Her disguise was her irrepressible technique. Elis was pure emotion. And singing was not her final objective, she really wanted to make people happy. This film honours Elis and creates a singular portrait of Brazil's biggest star.

Brazil is perhaps the best of the handful of US films made by Brazilian singing sensation Tito Guizar. In typical screwball-comedy fashion, the plot is set in motion by authoress Nicky Henderson, who has hit the best-seller charts with her latest tome, Why Marry a Latin? While researching her next book in Rio De Janeiro, she finds out "why" when she meets handsome songwriter Miguel Soares. Upon learning about Nicky's book, Miguel decides to teach her a few lessons in the affairs of the heart. Edward Everett Horton is also on hand, twittering his way through the role of a well-meaning buttinsky. Thanks to the "Good Neighbor" policy of the 1940s, South American musicals were a glut on the market, but Brazil was good enough on its own merits to pay its way at the box office.

Mauss, segundo suas alunas

The directors take five old VHS tapes documenting the Ãwas customs back to the tribe.

Laerte, a talented violinist who after failing to be admitted into the OSESP Orchestra is forced to give music classes to teenagers in a public school at Heliopolis. His path is full of difficulties, but the transforming power of music and the friendship arising between the teacher and the students open the door into a new world.

Brazilian singer Maria Bethania has a 40-year singing career. A documentary shows her concerts and famous family.

Raymundo Gleyzer's documentary on o community of Pottery Makers in the west of Cordoba province in Argentina who create pieces to sell to the tourists.

An anthropological documentary that gives voice to the Orokavia women in Papua New Guinea and shows their daily lives.

"Heart of the Country" is the story of Shinichi Yasutomo, the extraordinary principal of a rural elementary school in Kanayama, central Hokkaido, Northern Japan. Yasutomo is a man driven by his vision for learning and his passion for educating the heart as well as the mind. The film follows Yasutomo, his teachers and staff, students and their families over the course of one entire school year. The film is also the story of the families of Kanayama. Parents and elders of this once impoverished town embrace Yasutomo's vision, but not without wary glances back to the past. This small community, bound together by love for its children, is also defined by its journey through the cultural upheavals of postwar Japan.