Artistic director Ilda Santiago lines up some of the year’s buzziest titles alongside a new generation of Brazilian talent that reflects strong industry momentum If you ever attended a major film festival in the last three decades, chances are you came across an auburn-haired woman sporting fashionable big glasses and pristinely curated outfits from some of Brazil’s most exciting up-and-coming fashion designers. This is Ilda Santiago, the artistic director of Brazil’s leading Rio Film Festival. The programming veteran has spent decades working to narrow the bridges between her hometown and international cinephilia, working tirelessly to secure some of the year’s buzziest titles for her festival as competition grows fiercer and fiercer.
Santiago has excelled at the task this year. The upcoming edition, running between October 1-11, will open with perhaps the buzziest title at Cannes this year, Los Javis’s “La Bola Negra,” and close with the second buzziest, Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid.” With over 270 features in the program, the festival will welcome 16 national Oscar submissions, including Brazil’s own “Gugu’s World,” “La Bola Negra,” Lukas Dhont’s “Coward,” and Markus Schleinzer’s “Rose,” starring Sandra Hüller in a transformative performance. Other major films to play at the festival include Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine,” Diego Luna’s “Ashes,” and Benjamin Naishtat’s “Glaxo.” The festival’s homegrown talent strand, Premiére Brasil, has expanded into several sub-strands, with over 100 films vowing for the coveted Redentor Trophy.
World premieres include Brazilian closing gala “100 Days,” the first live-action film by “Rio” helmer Carlos Saldanha; lauded docmaker Lucia Murat’s “The Hinterlands of Our Memories,” chronicling the country’s tough military dictatorship; and Pedro Waddington’s “Fernanda,” a documentary on the life of Oscar-nominated Brazilian acting legend Fernanda Montenegro (“Central Station”). South Korea is this year’s country of focus at RioMarket, the festival’s industry sidebar running October 1-10. This year’s event will feature lengthy discussions on burning topics such as AI, diversity, TikTok, and awards strategies, with more being announced soon.
Speaking with Variety ahead of kicking off this year’s edition, Santiago says the festival’s opening and closing films “translate our desire to be in communication with younger audiences.” “These are films that are not hermetic; they have an interesting visual language and a well-constructed sense of dramaturgy. They are, from a macro point of view, more commercial films; they can reach wider audiences. We, as a festival, want to put forward new talent, but solid talent, because it’s not just about being young and new.” The programmer noticed a rise in contemporary stories told through a lens of the past, but that also say something about where we are moving to as a society.
Cinema has this capacity to get us out of our comfort zone, but also usher us into a place of hope and belief in humanity. Cinema isn’t there just to drive us to madness. We need to lean into this duality of the form.” Asked about what the festival slate can tell us about the current state of Brazilian cinema following back-to-back banner years with Walter Salles’s “I’m Still Here,” and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” Santiago mentions how several docs are telling the stories of some of Brazil’s greatest, including Montenegro, singer Elza Soares and Dior muse Vera Valdez.
I am a very, very proud Brazilian and I do what I do out of a desire to bring our stories and culture to the world and bring the world to my country. Brazil is a curious country; Rio audiences are very curious and very open to different ideas.” Premiére Brasil has grown exponentially over the years, turning into an umbrella that sees sidebar sections focused on coming-of-agers, documentaries, genre, and more. When I think about the selection, I think about consistent high quality, and allowing Brazilian audiences to understand Brazilian cinema isn’t one singular thing.
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