Synopsis

A spell breaking, Quebrante traverses the caves, ruins and phantasmagorias of the Transamazon BR230 Highway, portraying its stones and its ghosts.
Set in the tiny town of Rurópolis (Pará) - the very first one ever built on the Highway, to serve as a base for the workers constructing the road - Quebrante follows Ms. Erismar, known in the region as The Cave Woman. A retired elementary school teacher, Ms. Erismar was the one who discovered the region's caves: she would enter the dark unknown holes till their ends, with only a candle in her hands and a lighter tied to her pants.
A huge nationalistic propaganda, part of the progress and development project of Brazil, the Transamazônica Highway was implemented during the civic-military dictatorship that took place at the moment - and it is still today a warm scar of the wrecked dream of the country’s history
A conversation between the moon and the stones, Quebrante is freely inspired by Robert Smithson’s project The Truly Underground Cinema (1971) and the film The Very Eye of the Night (1958) by Maya Deren.

Screenings

Cast and crew

Director's bio:
Artist and filmmaker Janaina Wagner (São Paulo, 1989) works across video, drawing and installations. Currently a Phd fellow at Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains (FR), her work aims to present a critical understanding of the ways in which humans impose systems of order and control upon their surroundings.
Her last short film, Curupira and the machine of the destiny (2021), screened in over 50 festivals and exhibitions worldwide. Janaina participated in several artistic residencies, such as Gasworks (UK), FID Campus - Festival International de Cinéma de Marseille (FR), Bolsa Pampulha (BR), Festival Mondes Possibles - Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers (FR), Casa Tomada (BR), Anarcademia W139 (NL) and NES Skagaströnd (IS). Among the main exhibitions, highlights are Baleia Fantasma - Pivô Arte e Pesquisa (BR), Ensaio de Tração - Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (BR), Garganta - CIAJG - Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães (PT), Aliens are temporary - Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien (DE), Casa Carioca – MAR Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro (BR) and Cuando no hay sombra es mediodía, Nube (BO).

 

https://squareeyesfilm.com/shorts/quebrante/

Gallery

Links