Country: Brazil
Year: 2006
Duration: 135'
Carapirú is a nomadic Brazilian Indian who escapes from an attack conducted by farmers against his group. For years he wanders off on his own in the Brazilian sierras until he is captured and taken to Brasília. He then becomes a national star and protagonist of a central dilemma created by anthropologists and linguists trying to find out his origin and identity. His identification as a Guajá Indian happens with the meeting of an 18 year-old young Indian who is there to serve as an interpreter; destiny surprises all once more when Carapirú and the young Indian recognize themselves as father and son. Young Indian takes his father back to the Indian village where he lives with his family. But after all the years of interaction with the white people, Carapirú’s new life doesn’t correspond to the nomadic life style anymore. “The film is a sort of documented fiction story about the overlapping of two worlds and two different groups of people who co-exist with and depend upon each other. It’s an attempt to look at ourselves like human beings who are essentially alike, stripped of our cultural armor and our ethical-moral image.” (A. Tonacci)
Biography
film director
Andrea Tonacci
Andrea Tonacci (Rome, 1944) moved to São Paulo, Brazil, in 1953, and still lives there with his family. From 1963 to 1967 he studied first Civil Engineering and then Architecture, without completing his degree. From 1969 to 1970 he taught Film Directing at the University of San Luis in Spain. Starting in 1965 he wrote and directed various short films before debuting with his first feature film, Bang bang, in 1970. He was one of the first directors in Brazil to experiment with unconventional digital formats and between 1977 and 1984 he filmed documentaries about the indigenous cultures of the Americas. He now teaches audiovisual language and, with the company ExtremArt, is involved in the support and financing of independent productions and art films.
FILMOGRAFIA
Ôlho por ôlho (cm, 1965), Bla bla bla (cm, 1968), Bang bang (1970), Jouez encore, payez ancore (1975), Conversas no Maranhão (1977), Arara (TV, 1980), A Visão dos Vencidos (doc., 1985), Oculos para Ver Pensamentos (cm, 1994), Bienal Brasil Século XX (doc., 1994), Paixões (1996), Biblioteca Nacional (doc., 1997), Teatro Municipal (doc., 1998), P/ Ver TV tem que ficar ligado (cm, 2000), Serras da Desordem (2006)