É Tudo Verdade (It’s All True) festival serves up 22 worldwide debuts

Sponsored by Petrobras, the event is the only in one in South America in which short films are qualified to compete at the Oscars. This year’s edition presents 85 titles from 26 countries

At the start of April, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo began collating the 21^st edition of the ‘It’s All True – International Documentary Festival’. This year, it will include 85 films from 26 countries, with 22 world debuts. It is the only festival in all of South America which qualifies winning short films to take part in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ‘Best Short Subject Documentary’ category. Running parallel to the festival will be the ‘15^th International Documentary Conference’, which aims to reflect upon the role played by documentaries in the current audio-visual scenario.

21^st edition
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro welcomed the best of Brazilian and international documentary cinema first. The opening night in São Paulo had Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare), by Gianfranco Rosi, winner at Berlin 2016, about the humanitarian crisis of the refugees in Europe. In Rio, the opening night was taken care of with The Amazing Artricks of the Gypsy Cloud (As Incríveis Artimanhas da Nuvem Cigana), by Paola Vieira and Claudio Lobato, about the artists collective Nuvem Cigana (Gypsy Cloud), which joined together graphic poet artists, photographers and musicians in Rio during the 70s.

With all sessions having free-entry, É Tudo Verdade will this year have a special showcase retrospective of the work of the documentary maker Carlos Nader, director of O beijoqueiro (Serial Kisser) (1992), about the folkloric character from Rio who used to kiss celebrities. There will also be a showcase of sports documentaries and special sessions paying homage to filmmakers Ruy Guerra, Claude Lanzmann, Haskell Wexler and Chantal Akerman, a Belgian director who passed away last October. After Rio and São Paulo, the festival continues, with prize-winners and highlights, to Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Recife and Santos.

The full schedule is available on the website www.etudoverdade.com.br.