FROM BRAZIL and UNITED STATES

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In March 2018, Marielle Franco, a Brazilian councilwoman, and activist, was brutally assassinated along with her driver, Anderson Gomes, in Rio de Janeiro. Survived by her widow, daughter, sister, and many of those she’d empowered, Marielle will be remembered in Brazil for the many years to come. Her legacy includes her relentless advocacy for women, the indigenous citizens, the black population, the queer people, and the residents of favelas, as well as the opposition to police brutality and extrajudicial killings. The film follows the events taking place one year after the assassination. Rio’s samba school Mangueira wins the carnival while waving flags with Marielle’s face on them, and the activists gather to honor Marielle’s legacy and to demand justice.

WHO MADE IT: Director Leonard Cortana is a Ph.D. student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he teaches some very enticing cinema studies courses: for instance, this semester, it’s a class on Agnès Varda. He has lived all over the world and has a career as a social worker. Now Cortana seeks to dedicate his time in academia and film to shedding light on intersectional, marginalized figures that often get erased from history textbooks. Marielle, who first inspired Cortana after her election as he was doing fieldwork in Rio, is one such figure, whose hard-earned heritage he wants to help preserve. So Cortana joined forces with Ethel Oliveira, Carmen Luz and Pilar Rodriguez to make this film He’s now looking to bring the activists continuing Marielle’s work to the US to help spread their message. All the participants in the film are real activists, including Monica Benicio, Marielle’s widow, Luyara Santos, her daughter, and Anielle Franco, her sister. Manguiera, the Rio samba school from the eponymous neighborhood, is one of the most prominent schools in the Rio carnival. Led in the last few years by Leandro Vieira, Manguiera focuses on the intersection of politics and Brazilian heritage and won the 2019 Carnival with a staunch anti-Bolsonaro program that memorialized Marielle.

WHY DO WE CARE: We love a good protest documentary, but a lot of them tend to fall apart because there’s just too much ground to cover. It’s hard to create a cohesive picture when different agents are pulling the blanket towards themselves. The unity of the members of the Brazilian left, as represented in the film, makes space for a cohesive narrative. And it also allows to patiently, but energetically explain why Marielle was so important, why the void she’s left is so profoundly felt, and why her murder has become such a defining case of Brazil’s tragic shift to the far right. Bolsonaro’s regime, now in its second year, threatens the liberties of women, the LGBTQIA, the people of color, and the indigenous Brazilians, and has proven to be catastrophic for the Amazon. It also stands in direct opposition to what Marielle fought for. And to see unity, a movement that has bonded together over their shared struggle for the inclusion of the liminal identities into any issue of governance is very heartening. Despite its tragic premise, Leonard Cortana’s work is a hope-inspiring film with a big human heart at its core. It’s also a timely reminder that politics are shaped by the people as long as they stay together and find leaders interested in the common good, not quick gains or power.