Stories Our Cinema Did (Not) Tell

(Histórias que nosso cinema (nāo) contava)

Fernanda Pessoa / Brazil / 2017 / 80 min
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  • Doclisboa Int'l Film Festival

  • Tiradentes Film Festival

  • Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma

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Synopsis

Portuguese with English subtitles

Award-winning filmmaker Fernanda Pessoa presents a notable revision of 1970s Brazil, a period of deep social transformation that saw the country open up to international investment, rapid urban modernization, and increased tensions resulting from the sexual revolution, all happening as a military dictatorship ruled in power for over 21 years.

A widely popular and vastly produced film genre emerged during this period: the pornochanchadas. Mostly a mix of urban comedy and erotic cinema, these low-budget films oscillate between voyeuristic exploration and raw visual exploitation. Made through a formidable montage from a selection of pornochanchada films, Pessoa’s experimental documentary renders a most pleasurable audiovisual essay of urgent political and cultural implications.

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About the Director
Fernanda Pessoa is a Brazilian filmmaker and visual artist, working primarily on documentary, experimental cinema, and video installations. A Ph.D. candidate at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), she holds an MFA in Film Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, under Philippe Dubois’ direction.

Fernanda Pessoa - Stories our Cinema Did Not Tell

Available for Q&As, Masterclasses, panels, and workshops upon request, in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or French.
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In 2017, Pessoa released her first feature documentary, Stories Our Cinema Did (not) Tell (Histórias que nosso cinema (não) contava, 2017), which participated in over 25 film festivals around the globe. She has directed several short films, music videos, and has participated in solo and group exhibitions internationally.

In 2019, her second feature documentary film Arid Zone received an Honorable Mention at DOK Leipzig. She’s currently working on a new video-art piece called Order Prevails, which has already been selected for competition in the Videoarte Award of Fundação Joaquim Nabuco. Her film Swing and Sway (2022), screened at Sheffield DocFest, DokLeipzig, and Olhar de Cinema, RIDM.

She has also directed several short films Same/Different/Both/Neither (2020, IDFA, IDA Shortlisted, DOC NYC), Order Prevails (2022, It’s All True, BIENALSUR), and Solidarity (2022, Oberhausen).

She’s currently working on the pre-production of her 4th documentary, Roofless, and on the development of Frame, her first fiction feature, selected for the Berlinale EFM Fiction Toolbox and PAS Nantes.

Pessoa is a Berlinale Talents Alumni and part of the Paradiso Talent Network.

Press

“One of the most significant events in the art world this year.” – Inácio Araújo, Folha de São Paulo

“A brilliant editing work.” – Quentin Papapietro, Cahiers du cinéma

“What Pessoa managed to exhume reflects a breakthrough into collective but forgotten memory, shedding light on female exploitation and human inequalities during that period.” – Georgia Korossi, International Documentary Association

“What is most impressive about the film is its exercise in contrasts […] there is a willingness to approach a largely disavowed archive of conservative genre films in order to discover something – a scene, a look, a gesture, a line – that is worth redeeming.” – Stefan Solomon, Senses of Cinema

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