"It was a hard day to be filming" - Capturing Brazil's social turmoil on election day

At this year's International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), we sat down with directors Rica Saito and Caio Castor to discuss their short film "Batalha" or "Battle".

The one-shot film captures an unlikely street-battle between supporters of the right wing Jair Bolsonaro and those of the incumbent Labour party on the day of Brazil's second round of its last General Election. Tensions were at an all-time high and "Battle" successfully captures the state of social crisis currently permeating Brazilian society.

Since then, social problems new and old have deepened in Brazil. Discrimination and violence against minorities, workers’ loss of labour rights and the deadly corporate raiding of the Amazon have increased and sped up since the election.

Rica and Caio teamed up with Clara Lazarim and Guilherme Cerqueira César in the making of “Battle”. Now, Rica, Caio and Guilherme are working on a feature film that explores the same themes and are looking for support. Please get in touch to be involved.

“Battle” will be released later in 2020, stay tuned to be updated.