Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau and Karim Aïnouz’s Invisible Life / A Vida Invisível lead the nominations in the 19th edition of the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro, with 14 and 13 noms each. Both films were awarded at last year’s Cannes Film Festival winning the Jury Prize and the Un Certain Regard Award, respectively.
Bacurau and Invisible Life will compete against three other productions to be named the best Brazilian film of the year: Divine Love / Divino Amor by Gabriel Mascaro, Hebe: The Star of Brazil / Hebe: A Estrela do Brasil, by Maurício Farias, and Simonal by Leonardo Domingues.
Set in a few years from now in a small village in the Brazilian sertão, Bacurau starts as the town mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants (among them Sônia Braga) notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one. A fierce confrontation takes place when the townspeople turn the tables on the villainous outsiders, banding together by any means necessary to protect and maintain their remote community. The mercenaries just may have met their match in the fed-up, resourceful denizens of little Bacurau.
Set in the 1950’s in Rio de Janeiro, Aïnouz’s ‘tropical melodrama,’ based on the novel The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão by Martha Batalha revolves around two sisters, living restricted lives with their conservative parents. However, each nourishes a passionate dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist; Guida of finding love. In a dramatic turn of events, they are separated and forced to live apart. They take control of their destinies, while never giving up hope of finding one another.
The five filmmakers competing for Best Director of a First Film are Alexandre Moratto for Sócrates, Armando Praça for Greta, Claudia Castro for Ela Disse, Ele Disse, Dennison Ramalho for Morto Não Fala, and Leonardo Domingues for Simonal.
In the documentary category of the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro, the five productions competing for the Best Brazilian Documentary Feature are Alma Imoral by Silvio Tendler, Amazônia Groove by Bruno Murtinho, Bixa Travesty by Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman, Waiting for Carnval / Estou me Guardando Para Quando o Carnaval Chegar by Marcelo Gomes, and O Barato de Iacanga by Thiago Mattar.
The winners of the 19th edition of the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro will be announced on a televised ceremony on October 10.
