VAZANTE
Daniela Thomas / Brazil, Portugal / 2017 / 116 min / Black and white
Italian premiere
In 1821 in the Brazilian Diamantina Mountains, shortly before independence, the loutish Antonio has left the mines behind him to devote himself to breeding and selling livestock. He lives in his grand house in the forest, with slaves whose language and habits are markedly different from his. After learning that his wife has died in childbirth, he decides to marry her twelve-year-old niece. Departing again for his business travels, he leaves his child bride with the slaves, in the desolate solitude of the great house in the forest, to face prejudices and violence. The young girl finds comfort in the love of a peer, which leads to a dramatic and inevitable ending.
Daniela Thomas
Born in Brazil in 1959, she is a screenwriter and director for cinema and theatre. With the director and producer Walter Salles she made Terra Estrangeira (1995) and Linha de Passe (2008), the latter screened at the Cannes Film Festival and with which the co-protagonist Sandra Corveloni won the award for best actress. The film Vazante debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Credits
Screenplay Daniela Thomas, Beto AmaralCinematography Inti BrionesSound Vasco PimentelEditing Estevan Schilling, Tiago MarinhoProducer Beto Amaral, Maria Ionescu, Sara SilveiraProduction company Pandora da Cunha Teles, Pablo Iraola