GIRIMUNHO

Bastu is in her eighties and lives on the Rio São Francisco in the Sertão of Minas Gerais. Her husband has just died; she mourns without tears, keeps talking to him, clears out his belongings and finds her footing in the day’s tasks, with her friend Maria and with her grandchildren. Dreams come at night, and by day the water, the music, the village’s festivities. In “Girimunho” (Brazil 2011), Helvécio Marins Jr. and Clarissa Campolina let the inhabitants themselves play what their lives are; the story grew out of conversations the directors overheard on location.

The film stands between observation and staging: ethnographic closeness to rituals, river and landscape, alongside written scenes in which non-professionals embody their own roles. The title word denotes a whirlwind. “Girimunho” premiered in 2011 in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival. The film was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2020 in the Berlinale World Cinema Fund section.

Shown at the 2020 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2020 · Film Archive