More Brazilian Culture

This Friday, November 17th, Daniela Broitman, a well known documentary filmmaker will be screening her latest film "My Brazil - A Journey of Faith, Strength and Struggle". In the violent favelas of Rio de Janeiro, local community leaders put their lives on the line to fight for basic rights and services for their fellow citizens. What compels these volunteers with no political ambition to make such a personal sacrifice? “My Brazil” explores this question by following the daily lives of three courageous leaders and their participation in the Fifth World Social Forum the most important global meeting on social and economic justice. As they interact with activists, policymakers and leaders from all over the world, they seek ways to combat social, gender and racial discrimination, and improve living conditions in their communities.

The documentary features 33 community leaders, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, Portuguese writer José Saramago, Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano, Frei Betto and Leonardo Boff – two of the major voices of social justice in Latin America.

Daniela Broitman, an independent filmmaker with a Master’s in Journalism from UC Berkeley, worked as a reporter for Brazil’s leading newspapers Folha de São Paulo and O Estado de São Paulo. In 2003, she received a grant from the Ford Foundation to complete the documentary “Voices From the Edge: The Favela Goes to the World Social Forum,” which she co-directed and co-produced. This film received the Award of Excellence from BRASA and was selected by a number of prestigious festivals. In 2004, she became a member of the World Social Forum Rio Committee, and began work on her most recent production, “My Brazil.”

The film will be screened in New York at 1:30pm at the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center; 53 Washington Square South, Auditorium (1st floor). For more information contact 212-998-8686