Past screening

Dry Ground Burning

Directed by: Joana Pimenta, Adirley Queirós
Runtime: 2hr 33min Year: 2022
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Details

Directed by: Joana Pimenta, Adirley Queirós
Runtime: 2hr 33min Year: 2022
Country: Brazil, Portugal
Topics: Sociopolitical

Exploring the turbulence of contemporary Brazil through the prism of the Gasolineiras de Kebradas: fearless Chitara, her sister Léa and their all-female gang in the Sol Nascente favela on the edge of Brasília, hijack a pipeline in order to sell oil to their community.

Arid landscapes, hand-made machinery and meta-dimensional narratives combine to present an almost dreamlike reality. Lived-in locations, spontaneous protests against the Bolsonaro regime, non-professional actors playing versions of themselves – all help to form fictionalised layers interwoven with everyday struggles, exploring a reality that keeps burning beneath and above the earth.

Dry Ground Burning, a new Terratreme production directed by Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta, offers an unflinching contemporary – and, perhaps, futuristic – reflection on what it means to embrace communality with painful ardour.