Manda Bala (Documentary)
SBS 2: Wednesday June 25, 11pm
American filmmaker Jason Kohn has described his film as "a non-fiction RoboCop depicting a very real, broken, and violent society". It’s a tough film that explores the cycle of violence that plagues Brazil, specifically corruption in Sao Paulo. Manda Bala (translation: Send a Bullet) premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary and the Excellence in Cinematography award.
Bald Mountain
SBS 2: Thursday June 26, 11pm
Bald Mountain is a modern-day gangster film set during a famous gold rush. Made famous by the black-and-white images taken by photographer Sebastiao Salgado, Bald Mountain represents the highest concentration of manual labour since the pyramids of Egypt. The mine was located in the south of Pará, a state in the Amazon region. When news about the discovery of gold spread it attracted people from all over the country and it quickly became the biggest open mine on the planet, with over 120,000 diggers working under precarious to chase their dreams. This epic feature follows two friends who leave Rio de Janeiro in search of gold: one, an ex-boxer turned gangster, corrupted by greed and power; the other, a man whose simple ambition is to provide for his pregnant wife and their future.
I'd Receive the Worst News From Your Beautiful Lips
SBS 2: Friday June 27, 11pm
An intensely steamy love triangle plays out in the wilds of the Amazon in this ambitious melodrama that features a provocative central performance by Camila Pitanga. Cauby (Gustavo Machado), a photographer, is an outsider travelling through the Amazon region whose love for Lavinia (Pitanga) is nothing short of obsessive. She returns his affection and desire – though seemingly not enough to leave her husband, the much-older preacher Ernani (ZeCarlos Machado).
