CITY OF GOD/ CIDADE DE DEUS - 2002 BY FERNANDO MEIRELLES

This film is based on a true story. Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, know as City of God slum, take differents paths: one becomes a freelancer photographer, the other a drug dealer. This film shows how difficult is living in brazilian slums and the criminality that really exists.

OUR HOME - THE ASTRAL CITY / NOSSO LAR - 2010 BY WAGNER DE ASSIS

The movie The Astral City is a perfect adaptation of the book "Nosso Lar" ("Our Home" in English) which is one of the most important books written by Chico Xavier,

Brazil's most beloved medium and possibly the most famous psychic of the world. The book was psychographed, that is, authored by a spiritual entity named André Luiz who used Chico Xavier's body to write the book.

The Astral City was read by over 16 million people since it was first published in 1944 and remains one of the precious gems of the spiritist literature. In the movie The Astral City, André Luiz is also the main character. He tells the story of a place where people go after death and teaches lessons about love, peace and forgiveness.

PIXOTE - THE LAW OF THE WEAKEST - A LEI DO MAIS FRACO

1981 BY HECTOR BABENCO

Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of Sao Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old transvesite hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape where they make their living by the life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

THE PROMISE KEEPER - O PAGADOR DE PROMESSAS

1962 BY ANSELMO DUARTE

Zé do Burro (Leonardo Villar) is a landowner from Nordeste. His best friend is a donkey. When his donkey falls terminally ill, Zé promises to a Candomblé priestess that if his donkey recovers, he will give away his land to the poor and carry a cross all the way from his farm to the Saint Bárbara Church in Salvador, Bahia, where he will offer the cross to the local priest. Upon the recovery of his donkey, Zé leaves on his journey. The movie begins as Zé, followed by his wife Rosa (Glória Menezes), arrives outside the church. The local priest (Dionísio Azevedo) refuses to accept the cross once he hears about Zé's "pagan" pledge and the reasons behind it. Everyone attempts to manipulate the innocent and naïve Zé. The local Candomblé worshippers, for example, want to use him as a leader against the discrimination they suffer from the Roman Catholic Church. The sensationalist newspapers transform his promise to give away his land into a "communist" call for land reform (which still is a very controversial issue in Brazil). When Zé is shot by the police to prevent his way into the church, the Candomblé worshippers put his dead body on the cross and force their way into the church.