Berlinale Opens with Brazilian Films that Evade Stereotypes

02/11/2016 - 11h04

A teenager belonging to the Ticuna tribe has to stick his hand in a glove full of tucandeira ants as part of the native ritual in the opening scene of "Time Was Endless" one of the three feature length films in the Berlin Film Festival panorama that begins this Thursday (11).

According to the directors, Sérgio Andrade and Fábio Baldo, the sequence could, however, disappoint the European looking for yet another glimpse of the exotic in Brazilian cinema.

	Eduardo Knapp/Folhapress
	Director Anna Muylaert returns to Berlin with an "adolescent tragedy".

"I didn't want to present the Amazonian stereotype", says Andrade, a native of Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. I wanted the middleman: the person who leaves the forest for the city, but doesn't stop being an Indian."

Anderson (Anderson Tikuna) is an indigenous youth who leaves the conventions of his village by moving to Manaus, seduced by the urban culture. And will end up at a factory in the industrial district.

In 2015, director Anna Muylaert won the audience award in Berlin with "The Second Mother". Now, she returns to the Panorama section (outside of the jury's competition) with an "adolescent tragedy".

"Mãe Só Há Uma" ("Don't Call Me Son", in the international market) is based on the story of Pedrinho, a baby who was stolen from a maternity ward in Brasília, in 1986, and found by his biological parents 16 years later living with his kidnapper.

Pierre (Naomi Nero) discovers that his name is Felipe-and also that his old new family will struggle to accept his erupting transexuality.

The third Brazilian film in Berlin is the documentary "Curumim", by Marcos Prado, which takes a look at the life of the Brazilian Marco Archer, who was executed last year in Indonesia on drug trafficking charges.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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