THE BURITI FLOWER
Film - CineVision Competition Filmfest 2023

THE BURITI FLOWER

Directed by João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora

Info

Director: João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora
Section: CineVision Competition
Country: Brazil
Year: 2023
PT: CROWRÃ
OT: CROWRÃ
Language: Krahô
Version: Original version with English subtitles
Cast: Francisco Hỳjnõ, Luzia Cruwakwỳj, Débora Sodré, Ilda Patpro, Solane Tehtikwỳj
18+ (no age rating)

Logline

Following THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS (FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2018), directing partners João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora have made another provocative film featuring the indigenous Krahô people.

Young Jotat has nightmares. Her uncle, a shaman of the Krahô people in the Amazon, believes she is haunted by the spirits of the past. There had been a massacre of the Krahô in 1940, and they suffered under the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1960s. But the spirits of the present won't rest either. During the Bolsonaro regime, their country once again became the focus of capitalist interests. The women of the village, who follow a women's rights activist on their smartphones, call for resistance. And in an event that is partly documented and part fiction, the whole village marches on the capital, Brasília. The film had its premiere at Cannes in the „Un certain regard“-section and was awarded a special Ensemble Prize for the entire cast and crew.

Meet the director

THE BURITI FLOWER THE BURITI FLOWER

João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora

João Salaviza, born in Lisbon in 1984, attended the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (National Film and Theater Academy) in Portugal and the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. His short film ARENA was awarded the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2009, while its successor, RAFA, was honored with the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2012. In 2015, Salaviza presented his first feature film, MOUNTAIN, at the Venice Film Festival.

Renée Nader Messora was born in São Paulo in 1979. She studied cinematography at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires and worked in the Brazilian film industry for 15 years. Since 2009, she has been working with the Krahô people, assisting the indigenous population in the formation of a filmmakers' collective. THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS (FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2018) is the first film she's directed. She collaborated with João Salaviza on that film as well.

Credits

Screenplay: João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora, Ilda Patpro Krahô, Francisco Hyjnõ Krahô, Henrique Ihjãc Krahô
Director of Photography: Renée Nader Messora
Film Editor: Edgar Feldman, João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora
Costume Design: Dayse Barreto, Centro Cultural Kajré
Sound: Diogo Goltara
Sound design: Pablo Lamar
Producer: João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora, Ricardo Alves Jr., Julia Alves
Production Company: KARO FILMES
World Sales: Films Boutique