Açucena

Dir. Isaac Donato, 2021, 71 min

Showings

Willy Wilson @ Ragtag Thu, Mar 3, 2022 4:30 PM
  NRT
 
Willy Wilson @ Ragtag Fri, Mar 4, 2022 9:15 PM
  NRT
 
Big Ragtag Sun, Mar 6, 2022 6:15 PM
  NRT
 
Film Info
Original Language:Portuguese
Subtitles:Full

Description

At night, a pink light streams through the window of a home, draped in mystery. This home belongs to 67-year-old Guiomar Monteiro. When Guiomar was a child, she was visited by an apparition named Ac¸ucena. Every year, Guiomar throws a party celebrating Ac¸ucena’s seventh birthday—with her family and neighbors acting as accomplices in preparation for the festivities—arranging several dolls, cleaning a cartoon sculpture garden, and adorning the house in copious pink decorations. Community members are bewildered by Guiomar's ritualistic annual bash but willingly participate in the tradition. Ac¸ucena is enriched with gestures of care and cooperation around the house and dolls, temple and talismans. Isaac Donato skillfully establishes a fascinating world in which Afro-Brazilian religion bends colonial reification toward the sacred, propelling the viewer to question the complexity of the relationship between the visible and the invisible. (AG)