An investigation into the extermination policy of the Brazilian State…
Quebrante
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Quebrante probes the environmental and political after-images of Brazil’s Trans-Amazonian BR-230 Highway—a dictatorship-era megaproject that still scars the rainforest. In the tiny pioneer town of Rurópolis, retired school-teacher and spelunker Ms. Erismar (“The Cave Woman”) guides filmmaker Janaina Wagner through caves, abandoned work sites, and nocturnal rituals.
Shot on 16 mm and structured as a “spell breaking,” the film fuses eco-criticism, decolonial geography, and Amazonian folklore to examine how infrastructure, extractivism, and myth co-produce both material and spectral landscapes.
Wagner’s hybrid methodology—part ethnography, part essay film—invites scholars of Latin American studies, environmental humanities, and visual anthropology to consider the highway as a palimpsest of state power, Indigenous erasure, and collective memory.
“Quebrante acts as a tender reminder of the anti-capitalist power of connection-making.” — Milda Valiulytė, Glasgow Short Film Festival
“Wagner’s film explores the caves, ruins and phantasmagorias of the Trans-Amazonian Highway, portraying its stones and ghosts.” — Berlinale Press Office
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Distributor subjects
Culture + Identity; Environment + Sustainability; History; Visual Arts; Women; Science + Technology; South America; Latin American Studies; Geography; Cinema StudiesKeywords
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THERE IS SOMETHING TINNY ABOUT THE GREEN SOLITUDE OF THE TRANSAMAZÔNICA
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ONE OF THE STORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE MOON SAYS THAT, ONCE UPON A TIME,
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A GIGANTIC METEOR PLUMMETING THROUGH THE UNIVERSE
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COLLIDED WITH PLANET EARTH.
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THE IMPACT OF THE COLLISION BROKE THE EARTH INTO STONES AND PIECES,
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SWALLOWING ONE OF THEM INTO THE SKY.
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ONE OF THOSE PIECES BECAME THE MOON.
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A LOST PART OF THE EARTH.
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A PART THAT WE MISS.
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MAYBE THAT’S WHERE THE ROMANTIC ASSOCIATION WITH THE MOON COMES FROM
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OF THIS IDEA OF LONGING,
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OF A LOSS THAT CANNOT BE RECUPERATED.
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FROM THIS, WE MIGHT EXPERIENCE A SORROW TOWARDS THE MOON
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A FEELING WE COULD CALL MOON-PAIN.
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INAUGURATED IN 1974 BY THE DICTATOR GENERAL EMÍLIO MÉDICI,
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THE TINY TOWN OF RURÓPOLIS HAS MADE HISTORY
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FOR BEING THE FIRST CITY BUILT ON THE TRANSAMAZÔNICA HIGHWAY.
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DELIBERATELY COLONIZED BY THE CIVIC-MILITARY
DICTATORSHIP THAT RULED BRAZIL AT THE TIME,
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TRACTORS WOULD ROAR LOUDER THAN JAGUARS.
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THE ROAD SLIT LANDS
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AND SPLIT APART STONES.
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A PIECE OF ONE OF THOSE STONES WENT TO SKYES
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AND ANOTHER ONE WENT UNDERGROUND.
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IT WAS A HOLE.
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THEN WHEN I ENTERED IT,
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I LAID DOWN TO SEE WHAT IT WAS
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AND THAT'S WHEN I DISAPPEARED INSIDE.
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SLASHING THE COUNTRY FROM SIDE TO SIDE,
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THE TRANSAMAZÔNICA IS STILL NOWADAYS THE WARM SCAR OF A WRECKED DREAM
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OF BUILDING BRAZIL AS “THE COUNTRY OF THE FUTURE.”
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A CIRCULAR TRAGEDY OF AN ADDICTED DREAM.
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OF HISTORY AS A QUEBRANTO,
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A SPELLBINDING.
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A LIMBO OF PIECES AND STONES.
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AMONG DUST AND DEBRIS,
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SOME OF THOSE STONES BECAME STARS.
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SOME OF THOSE STONES BECAME COMETS.
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AND OTHERS BECAME MOONS.
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ENCRUSTED INTO THAT RIPPED GROUND,
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RURÓPOLIS CONCENTRATES THE LARGEST NUMBER
OF CAVERNS EVER FOUND IN THE AMAZONIAN REGION.
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THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR DISCOVERING THE
EXISTENCE OF THE CAVERNS IN THE REGION
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WAS A VERY CURIOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER,
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NOW AGED 68,
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MS. ERISMAR.
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PULLED BY THE “MAGNETISM OF DARKNESS”
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MS. ERISMAR WALKED INSIDE THE STONE-HOLES
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WITH NOTHING BUT A CANDLE IN HER HAND AND A LIGHTER ATTACHED TO HER SHIRT
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- IN CASE THE FLAME WOULD FADE OUT.
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AN URBAN LEGEND IN RURÓPOLIS,
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MS. ERISMAR IS KNOWN, TO THIS DAY, AS “THE CAVE WOMAN”.
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I WAS NEVER AFRAID OF THE DARK.
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THE FEELING OF ENTERING INTO DARKNESS…
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WHICH IS NOT THE SAME DARKNESS OF A CLOSED HOUSE,
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IT IS MORE THAN THAT.
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IT IS DARKER THAN THE COLOR OF COAL.
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EVERY TIME I GET INSIDE A CAVERN I TURN OFF THE LIGHTS.
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TO FEEL THE DARKNESS AND ITS SENSATION.
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AND YOU SEE THAT IT IS A MAGNET.
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THE AMAZON OF TODAY IS THE UNBELIEVABLE PLACE WHERE FANTASY AND REALITY,
THE EPIC AND THE IMPOSSIBLE, THE EPOPEE AND THE LEGEND SEEM TO HOLD HANDS.
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THE STONES OF THE CAVERNS HAVE NEVER SEEN THE CONSTRUCTION OR THE ROAD ITSELF.
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NEITHER HAVE THE STONES OF THE ROAD SEEN THE STONES INSIDE THE CAVERNS.
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THE MOON, YET ANOTHER STONE, WAS PERHAPS THE SINGLE WITNESS TO WATCH IT ALL.
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THE STONES, THEY HAVE LIFE.
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THEY HAVE LIFE AND THEY GROW.
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TO BREAKE A QUEBRANTO ONE NEEDS TO CAST A QUEBRANTE.
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A SPELLBREAKING.
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QUEBRANTE:
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QUEBRANTO, QUEBRANTADO
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THE MOON PASSED THROUGH HERE, YOU-KNOW-WHO SHE TOOK ALONG
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QUEBRANTO, QUEBRANTADO
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MOON THAT WILL PASS THROUGH HERE, YOU-KNOW-WHO SHE WILL LEAVE
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HI, I AM THALIA, THE STAR #2.
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I AM ANA CLARA, AND I AM THE SUN.
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I AM ELISE, AND I AM THE EARTH.
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I AM MARIA EDUARDA, AND I AM THE MOON.
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AND THIS IS GRAVITY.
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THAT’S IT. THE END.
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WHAT MAKES US DO THIS IS THE EXPECTATION OF ENCOUNTERING SOMETHING STRANGE.
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THIS IS WHAT GIVES ME THE COURAGE TO ENTER A PLACE I DON'T KNOW.
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THE UNKNOWN.
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EVERY TIME I WOULD GIVE A LECTURE IN SCHOOL, I PRESENTED WHAT I HAD DISCOVERED.
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AND MANY OF THE PARENTS, MANY OF THE LANDOWNERS WOULD SAY:
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“THERE IS A HOLE IN MY LAND.”
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AND I WOULD BE THE ONE TO ENTER THAT HOLE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
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“MY WHOLE SURFACE IS TURNED TOWARD YOU – SAYS THE STONE.”
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“ALL MY INSIDES TURNED AWAY.”
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ONE CANNOT SEE THE HIDDEN FACE OF THE MOON
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AND ONE CANNOT SEE THE HIDDEN FACE OF A STONE.
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BOTH OF THEM EXIST ONLY IN THE DARK.
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IT REQUIRES ASKING THE EYE
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TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH WHAT IT CANNOT SEE.
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ACCOMPLICES OF A WORLD
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THAT EXISTS INDIFFERENT TO ANY LONELINESS.
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A WORLD THAT HAS NEVER NEEDED ANY WITNESSES.
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THINGS DO NOT EXIST TO BE SEEN.
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THEY SIMPLY EXIST.
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FILMED IN RODOVIA TRANSAMAZÔNICA & IN THE TOWN OF RURÓPOLIS
PARÁ, BRASIL - JUNE 2023
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 23 minutes
Date: 2024
Genre: Expository
Language: Portuguese
Grade: High School, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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