Audiovisual
The Wind Blows the Border
Brazil / 2022 / 78 minutes / documentary
Research, script, direction, and editing:
Laura Faerman and Marina Weis
Produced by: VU, Laboratório Cisco, Algazarra
Synopsis: In the violent state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the heart of Brazil's agribusiness, Indigenous teacher Alenir Aquino Ximendes fights for her community's right to ancestral lands. On the other side of the dispute stands the heiress to those lands — a powerful lawyer.
Awards:
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Qualified for the 2023 Academy Award for Best Documentary
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Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, Canada – Special Jury Prize, 2022
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Durban International Film Festival, South Africa – Best International Documentary, 2022
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Terra di Tutti Film Festival, Italy – Benedetto Senne Award, 2022
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Filmambiente, Brazil – Best Direction Award, 2022
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Tenemos Que Ver – International Human Rights Film Festival of Uruguay, Uruguay – Best Film Award, 2022
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Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli, Italy – Honorable Mention, 2022
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Rome Independent Film Festival, Italy – Honorable Mention, 2022
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Mostra Ecofalante de Cinema, Brazil – Honorable Mention, Latin American Competition
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20th Independent Film and Human Rights Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina – Best Film, Official Latin American Documentary Competition, 2023
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Sole Luna Doc Film Festival, Italy – Sole Luna Award: A Bridge Between Cultures
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Brazilian Association of Cinematography – Best Cinematography in Brazilian Documentary, 2024
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FestiVali – Vale do Ivinhema Film Festival, Brazil – Best Cinematography, 2024
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FestiVali – Vale do Ivinhema Film Festival, Brazil – Best Editing, 2024
International Film Festivals
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – Canada
Durban International Film Festival – South Africa
Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival – Canada
Solidarity Film Festival – Israel
UK Green Film Festival – United Kingdom
EQUIS Feminist Film Festival – Ecuador
Terra di Tutti Film Festival – Italy
DOC NYC – USA
Tenemos Que Ver – International Film and Human Rights Festival of Uruguay – Uruguay
Utopia Film Festival – Germany
Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli – Italy
Rome Independent Film Festival – Italy
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival – South Korea
Wild & Scenic Film Festival – USA
San Diego Latino Film Festival – USA
Ojoloco – Iberian and Latin American Film Festival – France
Festival delle Terre – Italy
International Human Rights Film Festival of Buenos Aires – Argentina
Philadelphia Latino Film Festival – USA
Sole Luna Doc Film Festival – Italy
Globale Mittelhessen DOC Film Festival – Germany
GlobaLE Film Festival – Germany
Brésil en Mouvements – France
DocsMX – Mexico City International Documentary Film Festival – Mexico
EthnoKino Film Festival – Switzerland
Présence Autochtone – First Peoples Festival – Canada
Mostra Internacional de Films de Dones de Barcelona – Spain
Festival de Cinéma de Douarnenez – France
Muestra de Cine + Video Indígena – Chile
Credits:
Research, Script, Direction, and Editing
Laura Faerman and Marina Weis
Cinematography
Alziro Barbosa, ABC
Editing Consultant
Karen Akerman
Executive Producers
Luís Ludmer, Julio Matos Lima, Marcelo Félix, and Marcinho Zolà
Producers
Luís Ludmer and Rodrigo Díaz Díaz
Controllers
Marcelo Félix and Marcinho Zolà
Additional Photography
Marina Weis
Aerial Footage
Julio Matos
Camera Assistants
Leandro Lamezi and Vinicius Angotti Guissoni
Location Sound
Fernando Cavalcante, Paulo Seabra, and Ubiratan Guidio
Production Management
Bruna Schroeder, Carol Alberini, and Jean Fichefeux
Local Production – Brasília (2017)
Gustavo Vieira
Production Assistant
Bruna Prado
Editing Assistant
Augusta Gui
Post-Production Coordinator
Lucas Lazarini
Color Grading
Leandro Lamezi
Sound Editing and Mixing
Effects Films Studio (Miriam Biderman, Ricardo Reis)
Post-Production Producer
Bárbara Sodré
Transcription
Julia Mattos
Guarani Translation
Maria E. Avalos, Leidy Recalde, and Derlis Cañiza
English Version
Thaís Teixeira
LIBRAS Translator and Interpreter
Rafaella Sessenta
Audio Description
Bell Machado (script and narration)
Emmanuelle Alkmin (consultant)
Graphic Design and Visual Identity
Lokomotiv Studio and Victor Gorino
Material de Apoio:
Credits
Text and Educational Proposal Author:
Alice Villela
Text Collaboration:
Laura Faerman and Juliana Bombrim
Layout and Graphic Design:
Babi Sonnewend
Illustrations:
Adriana Alves
Impact Strategy Design and Supervision:
Rodrigo Días Días
Campaign Coordination:
Juliana Bombrim
Outreach and Mobilization:
Paula Costa Vaz
download the film's educational toolkit
The material above was produced as part of the theatrical release strategy and impact campaign for the film The Wind Blows the Border, through Spcine Call for Proposals 02/21 – Small and Medium-Scale Distribution of Feature Films.
Campaign for the 2023 Academy Awards
Joenia Wapichana, Célia Xakriabá, Ariene Susui, Maial Kaiapó,Takumã Kuikuro, Lucélia Santos
The documentary presents powerful images that tell a story of land appropriation and the compelling struggle for reoccupation. The Guarani people assert their right to live on their own land and the right to exist in opposition to the interests of colonizers and large agribusiness corporations.
Festival Terra di Tutti 2022 - Itália
Dangerous Memory
documentary series
Brazil / 2022 / 6 episodes / 26 min / documentary
Research, Script, Direction, and Editing: Laura Faerman and Marina Weis
produção: VU, Laboratório Cisco, Algazarra
exhibited on CineBrasil TV
Synopsis: Documentary series that investigates the extermination policies of the Brazilian state against Indigenous populations during the military dictatorship, as well as Indigenous resistance. Co-written, directed, and edited by Laura Faerman, Dangerous Memory presents footage from dozens of villages, previously unseen archival material, and testimonies from anthropologists, Indigenous rights activists, journalists, Indigenous leaders, and elders who survived the years of repression.
Credits
direção: Laura Faerman e Marina Weis
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ideia original: Laura Faerman e Marina Weis
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roteiro e montagem: Marina Weis e Laura Faerman
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produção executiva: Julio Matos, Marcelo Félix Marcinhò Zola
direção de produção: Julio Matos
direção de fotografia: Marina Weis e Leonardo Barboza Feliciano
câmera adicional: Alziro Barbosa ABC, Leonardo Barboza Feliciano, Fernanda Rappa, André Luis de Luis
técnico de som: Arthur Egydio de Sousa Santos, Leandro Lefa, Jean Fichefeux, Silvio Luiz Cordeiro, Alexandre Machado, Célio Dutra, Laura Faerman
trilha sonora original: João Arruda​
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produção de campo: Bruna Schroeder, Jean Fichefeux, Alexandre Machado
pesquisa: Laura Faerman e Marina Weis
consultoria: Luiz Eloy Terena, Marcelo Zelic, Daniela Batista de Lima, Karen Shiratori, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha
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controller: Marcinhò Zola, Marcelo Félix
Indigenous Peoples and the Military Dictatorship
2015 / 15 minutes / documentary
Synopsis: The National Truth Commission on Indigenous Peoples investigated, for the first time, the violence committed against Indigenous peoples during Brazil’s military dictatorship, revealing a reality largely unknown to Brazilian society: Indigenous peoples were the most affected group under the military regime. Massacres, enslavement, clandestine imprisonment, and torture are among the documented abuses. These revelations raise fundamental questions about how the Brazilian democratic state can uphold the principles of Truth, Memory, Justice, and Reparation for Indigenous peoples.
Research, Script, Direction, and Editing:
Laura Faerman and Marina Weis
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Produced by: VU, Algazarra
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Documentary produced through the Sala de Notícias grant by TV Futura
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Broadcast on the Sala de Notícias program by TV Futura
Images from the Figueiredo Report, a document that remained missing for 45 years and exposes atrocities committed against Indigenous populations during the early years of the dictatorship.
National Truth Commission on Indigenous Peoples
2015 / Spcine Series Development Grant
produced by: VU
Through the Spcine Series Development Grant, Laura Faerman followed and documented the work of the National Truth Commission on Indigenous Peoples, which investigated for the first time the human rights violations committed by the Brazilian state against Indigenous communities of various ethnicities during the civil-military dictatorship (1964–1985). She traveled across the country recording previously unknown stories: forced removals, enslavement, rape, torture, assassinations, illegal imprisonment, among other violations. It is estimated that over 8,300 Indigenous people were killed during the dictatorship in Brazil.Based on this research, she wrote the script for the series A Memória Perigosa (Dangerous Memory).
Vlado and Birri: Encounters
2012 / 11 minutes / documentary
Research, Script, Direction, and Editing:
Laura Faerman and Marina Weis
Produced by: VU, Algazarra
Synopsis: Narrated by filmmaker and theorist Fernando Birri—one of the pioneers of New Latin American Cinema—this documentary explores the relationship between journalist Vladimir Herzog and cinema. Vlado and Birri: Encounters was screened as part of the program Memory and Transformation – Political Documentary in Latin America, Then and Now at the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, at the Tiradentes Film Festival (2012), on TV Cultura, and on Sesc TV.
On the Order of the Invented:
A Mathematical Gaze at Art
2023 / 16 minutes / documentary
Production: VU
Synopsis: What do Mathematics and Art have in common? This film invites viewers to reflect on that question. Using works from the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo (USP), three mathematics professors from USP share what these artworks evoke about the connections between Art and Mathematics.
Script and Direction:
Christina Brech and Deborah Raphael
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Director of Photography:
Alziro Barbosa, ABC
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Art Direction and Editing:
Laura Faerman
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Camera Assistants:
Luiza Tomaz da Silva and Wesley Yamaguchi
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Interviewed Professors:
Christina Brech (IME-USP)
Pedro Tonelli (IME-USP)
Rogério Monteiro (EACH – USP)
Support: Institute of Mathematics and Statistics – USP, Museum of Contemporary Art – USP, Office of Culture and University Extension – USP, Santander Universidades
Trojan Horse Operation
2004 / 30 minutes / documentary
written, directed, and edited by: Axel Weisz, Laura Faerman, Thiago Villas Boas
produced by: VU
Synopsis: The documentary follows groups of young people from the outskirts of São Paulo as they attempt to sneak into an open-air rave without paying. With no money, they navigate through forests, dodge security guards and dogs, all in pursuit of a place on the dance floor.
Screened at the 15th It's All True – International Documentary Film Festival (2005), the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre (2005), the 15th Videobrasil (2005, São Paulo), FILE Cuba (2006, Cuba), FILE (2005, São Paulo), the 28th São Paulo Biennial (2008, São Paulo), Serpentine Gallery (2009, London), Brésil en Mouvements (2011, Paris), on Sesc TV, among others.
Credits
script and editing
Laura Faerman, Martin Cobelo, and Thiago Villas Boas
cinematography
André Luiz de Luiz, Bernardo Spinelli, Carolina Gonçalves, Chica San Martin, Laura Tafarel, Marília Cabral, Thiago Villas Boas
production
Zoi Filmes
sound editing
Ricardo Gonçalves and Thiago Costa Behrndt
sound mixing
Ricardo Gonçalves
post-production
André Luiz de Luiz
design
amatraca
support
School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, and MegAvonts