Words with Gods

The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.

Arreda Homem Que Chegou Mulher

Documentary about terreiro women in Fortaleza who occupy the highest positions in the hierarchy, subverting the patriarchal tradition of religious communities.

Carapicuíba City O Filme

Matanga

Preto Velho na Lagoinha

Documentary about the preparation of a popular celebration of "Dia do Preto Velho", one of the most important rituals from the Umbanda in Brazil.

Por Trás do Congá

Exu - Além do Bem e do Mal

Amor de Ori

Oxum goes to the river every day to fill his jug with water. One day, a woman in red clothes crosses his path and changes her life forever.

Folha virada

The short film follows the daily lives of Pai Marcos Luciano de Oxalá and Madrinha Catingueira, LGBTQIAPN+ Umbanda leaders in Piauí. The film looks at their experiences inside and outside the terreiros, showing the tensions between gender, sexuality and religiosity. The title refers to the expression "turning the leaf", used to describe a ritual in Afro-Brazilian religious shrines in which people's sexual orientation or gender identity was "turned".

Desagradável

Some people seem to have come into the world to confuse, annoy, swim against the current, like the guys from Gangrena Gasosa, the first and only Sarava Metal band of the universe. "Desagradável" covers all the 23 years of the band. A special reunion of people that stirred the underground scene of 90's until today. All the legends detailed in a film that will show the most shameful chapters in history of Brazilian Rock. Jello Biafra, Jão and João Gordo, BNegão, Marcelo D2, Anjo Caldas, Dado Villa-Lobos, Rafael Ramos, Fabio from Garage, Marcos Bragatto, Tom Leão, Pedro Só, Adilson Pereira, Larry Antha and the former members (more than 15!) recalls the regrettable moments that Sarava Metal happened in their lives. Archive images, photos and videos to prove, once for all, that "Home Saint makes miracles too".

Fora da Caridade Não Há Salvação

SAMBANCESTRAL

ENCRUZILHADAS DO SOM

The documentary adresses the meaning of music and the musical diversity present in Umbanda (a Brazilian religion with afroindigenous roots). With interviews with four umbandistas from Fortaleza - Ceará, Crossroads of the Sound pays reverence to the enchanted dimension where the sounds cross each other to make the spirits dance.

Exú Não É O Diabo

Batchan

Teachings of an Issei. Advice, spirituality and challenges.

Ferreiros dos Orixás

Orun: O Mundo dos Orixás

Encontro das Águas

This short film follows the journey of Rosane Pires and Iara Viana, during the preparations for their wedding, as well as the civil and religious ceremonies.

crystallizes; resonates

A snapshot of the celebration with drums, the terecô.

Sealed in Scars

How many marks remain on a predestined body? Born and raised in the macumba tradition of Imperatriz, the young priest Carlos Lourenço reflects on a path of pain and learning.

Farming

Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.

The Ghoul

A homicide detective goes undercover as a patient to investigate a psychotherapist he believes is linked to a strange double murder. As his therapy sessions continue the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur.

Casa Grande

As a privileged teenager living in an affluent suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Jean has little to worry about beyond games, grades and girls. But as his overbearing father drags the family into debt, Jean is forced into a change of lifestyle which opens his eyes to the world beyond his 'casa grande' - not least that of the feisty, mixed-race firecracker Luiza. Cultures, classes and generations collide in this engrossing coming-of-age drama from Brazil.

Hungry Hearts

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

God Is a Bullet

Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.

Hider in the House

A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.

In the Blood

When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.

Shadow Master

After being slain by a group of criminals, a man is reborn with animal-like superpowers and makes it his mission to right the wrongs of his city.

Mango Yellow

The lives of a macho butcher, his wife, a lonely waitress, a sadist and a flophouse manager intersect in Recife, Brazil.

Suburbia

When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

John Doe: Vigilante

When John Doe is convicted of being a vigilante serial killer, a vigilante group named 'Speak for the Dead' emerges in support of John's cause—elevating the debate about justice versus vengeance.

Pimp

An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers

Two feuding brothers (one a policeman, the other a martial arts expert) of different political views, join forces to avenge the death of their father, a retired agent, killed by the mafia.

Jawbone

A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.

Cryptozoo

Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.

Death Race: Inferno

Carl Lucas / Frankenstein has won four of his races and needs to win one more to win his freedom. Before his final race, Lucas and his team, car and all, are transferred to another prison where they will compete in a Death Race in the desert. Also, at the same time, Ceaser runs into a marketer who wants to franchise the Death Race program.

Little Odessa

Long separated from his family, hitman Joshua returns to Brighton Beach for a contract killing for the Russian Mafia. His abusive father, Arkady, banned him from returning after Joshua committed his first murder. He takes up residence in a hotel, and soon everyone knows he has returned. He goes home to visit his dying mother, Irina, and prepares for the assassination, getting drawn back into the criminal community he left behind.

Red Dust

Sarah Barcant, a lawyer in New York City who grew up in South Africa, returns to her childhood dwelling place to intercede for Alex Mpondo, a Black South African politician who was tortured during apartheid.

Rat Fever

Zizo, a radical and anarchist poet living in a marginal quarter of Recife in the north eastern state of Pernambuco, distributes his social angst-filled thoughts through a publication named Febre do Rato, and spews poetry to anyone who’d listen. Our character always revolves within the universe that he has created around himself. A very particular world, in which satisfying the unfortunate is a mixture of a kind of benefit with high dose of malice.

Fanny Lye Deliver'd

On an isolated English farm in 1657, Fanny lives a quiet life with her oppressive husband John and their young son. One day their life is rocked with the arrival of young couple Thomas and Rebecca who claim to have been robbed and need a place to stay. But are these strangers really who they say they are?