Portuguese with English subtitles
Quebrante, directed by Janaina Wagner, is a spell-breaking journey through the caves, ruins, and phantasmagorias of Brazil’s Trans-Amazonian BR-230 Highway. Set in Rurópolis, the first town built to house workers during the construction of the road, the film follows Ms. Erismar—known locally as “The Cave Woman.” A retired schoolteacher, she discovered and explored the region’s vast cave systems armed with nothing but a candle and a lighter tied to her waist.
At once personal and historical, the film intertwines Erismar’s story with the troubled legacy of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. Conceived as a monumental nationalist project under Brazil’s civic-military dictatorship (1964–1985), the road now stands as a haunting reminder of the fractured promises of progress and development.
Freely inspired by Robert Smithson’s The Truly Underground Cinema (1971) and Maya Deren’s The Very Eye of Night (1958), Quebrante is a meditation on landscape, memory, and the spectral forces embedded in stone. Blending documentary, experimental cinema, and critical reflection, it invites viewers and scholars alike to consider the intersections of ecology, politics, and myth in contemporary Brazilian cinema.
Press
“To my mind, the most striking feature of Quebrante is the way it combines the tools of contemporary documentary with more traditional techniques, harnessing the testimonial power of both images and sound.” – Pablo Gamba, Los Experimentos
