Queen of Samba

Stories of Samba

2024

At a bar table, old samba singer and composer Adoniran Barbosa tells a young waiter stories about a São Paulo that no longer exists. He fondly remembers the maloca where he lived with Joca and Mato Grosso, their passion for Iracema and other characters eternalized in his sambas, chronicles of a metropolis swallowed up by the voracious appetite of progress.

Chega de Demanda

1973

Documentary addressing the composer Cartola and the transformations that took place in Morro Carioca and in Samba during his life. Founder of the Escola de Samba Estação Primeira de Mangueira, Cartola has his life and his music marked by his community and his School, far from the city His school, created as a playful and expressive center for the mangueirense, has now become a point of tourist attraction. This made work possible for the inhabitants of the hill, but it transformed the spirit of samba and its aesthetics.

Lindy Hop

2017

Short film with original footage taken from the internet, reprocessed into vertical stripes with three frame blocks of positive black & white alternating with high-contrast negative.

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

2004

In pre-revolution Cuba, Katey Miller is about to defy everyone's expectations. Instead of a parent-approved suitor, Katey is drawn to the sexy waiter, Javier, who spends his nights dancing in Havana's nightclubs. As she secretly learns to dance with Javier, she learns the meanings of love, sensuality and independence.

Air Mail Special

1941

Count Basie does a little rhyming rapping before going into this Benny Goodman instrumental composition. While he's playing, plenty of couples are jitterbugging constantly until, one by one, they get tired and start to fall down on the floor.

Full Out: Inside Ohio Show Choir

2022

Four unique high school show choirs in Ohio prepare themselves to win during their highly-anticipated, grueling and glamorous competition season.

Nas Ondas de Dorival Caymmi

2024

Chica de Río

2001

Discovering your wife is sleeping with your boss can make a man do strange things. For a Samba-obsessed London clerk, robbing a bank and boarding the first flight to Rio are just the beginning.

Mad Hot Ballroom

2005

Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes humorous perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition.

Vámonos

2015

When Mac, a young butch Latina, dies, her girlfriend, Hope, must overcome both personal grief and homophobic hostilities from Mac’s family in order to respectfully send Mac off into the afterlife as she would’ve wanted.

Grupo Revelação - Ao Vivo No Morro

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The Gymnast

2006

The stunning Dreya Weber stars as a former top gymnast who discovers love and a new life path when she teams up with a dancer (played by former L.A. Lakers cheerleader Addie Yungmee) for an ambitious Las Vegas aerial act show.

Paulo da Portela: O Teu Nome não Caiu no Esquecimento

2001

Documentary made to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the legendary Paulo Benjamin de Oliveira, Paulo da Portela.

Naach Govinda Naach

1992

Govinda, an aspiring dancer, lives with his poor mother. In a turn of events, he is given a break to compete with Rocky, a famous dancer in the city.

COMPLEXion

2023

"COMPLEXion is a documentary that aims to unpack the hegemony of skin color globally and challenge the archaic notions that exist surrounding it. Our mission is to defy toxic beauty standards through raw human stories."