A mãe (en)

A mãe

Selection: 

Director: 

Cristiano Burlan

Country: 

  • Brazil

Format: 

Feature film

Type: 

Fiction

Script writer(s): 

Cristiano Burlan, Ana Carolina Marinho

Synopsis: 

Maria, a 53-year-old woman living in the outskirts of São Paulo, returns home at night and does not find her 16-year-old son. She discovers that Vado was killed by the police and that his body is missing. It begins a dizzying journey of a mother struggling for the right to bury her son. The Brazilian dictatorship ended more than 30 years ago. But the military police are one of the last remnants of this black period of national history. Impunity, inequality, violence, social apartheid, prejudice are some of the issues that persist in our history, which ends up promoting a contemporary genocide of young people from the peripheries. And this hatred has only grown in recent times.

Visual concept: 

A mãe is a mixture between drama and investigative thriller. Merging documentary and fiction, at the beginning what prevails is a look at the daily attitudes and routines. But, when the mother begins her struggle for her son’s body, we enter a harrowing and desperate atmosphere, that permeates all gestures and places, all relations. The visible and invisible barriers that this mother faces eventually create a powerful, captivating and explosive character.