23° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL

500 Almas

500 Souls

Country: Brazil

Year: 2001

Duration: 109'

This film documents the millenary culture of the Guató Indians originating from the Insua Island, in the Southern Mato Grosso Pantanal (Swampland). The title reminds the current number of the Guató population, spread throughout different cities in the region. This number corresponds exactly to the result of the first survey carried out in the 19th century. At that time, the word "soul" was used as a synonym to "savage." At Insua Island, currently, only 20 people speak the Guató languagem.

"We will trace a metaphoric relationship between the language and the island, showing that both are isolated universes in the Brazilian cultural environment and show the precarious situation of the Indians outside their village in the outskirts of towns like Poconé, Corumbá and Cáceres." (J. Pizzini)

FILM DIRECTOR

Biography

film director

Joel Pizzini

Joel Pizzini (Rio de Janeiro, 1960), director and poet, has made numerous films that dialog with images and poetry. In 1990 he directed his first short film, Caramujo Flor, which won at the Festival di Huelva, in Spain. In 1992 the Spanish government awarded him a prize for his screenplay of A Pedra na Paisagem, based on a poem by the Brazilian poet João Cabral de Melo Neto. In 1996 O Enigma de um Dia won numerous prizes at various Brazilian Festivals and participated at the Festivals in Venice and Rotterdam. In 2002 he directed Glauces: Study of a Face, a documentary about the film career of the Brazilian actress Glauce Rocha, which won at the Festival in Brasilia.

FILMOGRAFIA

Caramujo Flor (Snail Flower, cm, 1990), Crystal Ball (1990), A Pedra na Paisagem (Stone in the Landscape, 1992), O Enigma de um Dia (The Enigma of a Day, cm, 1996), 500 Almas (doc., 2001), Glauces: Study of a Face (doc., 2002).