White Out, Black In

Branco sai, preto fica

DIRECTOR: Adirley Queirós  COUNTRY: Brazil   YEAR: 2014   LANGUAGE(S): Portuguese SUBTITLES: German RUNNING TIME: 93 min  

SECTION: International Competition 2015

SYNOPSIS

In this film based on a true story, director Adirley Queirós mixes documentary, science fiction and music and explodes all three of the familiar genres. WHITE OUT, BLACK IN is an unbelievably apocalyptic vision of a country shaped by racism and police violence.

An agent travels from the year 2073 to the present to examine Brazil’s destructive social development. He lands in Ceilândia, a satellite city of Brasilia. He meets the former musician Marquim and ex-dancer Sartana. Both are Afro-Brazilians and both have had to live with physical and mental injuries since a racially-motivated police attack on them in a club in 1986.

What could have become another treatise on the consequences of police violence against the poor in Brazil is given a completely different garb by Queirós who creates an innovative and enthralling narrative cinematic form. He uses the inhospitable corrugated metal huts of the favelas of Ceilândia as his setting for a dystopian apocalyptic film and seamlessly combines elements of sci-fi with those of documentary. The rhythms of traditional Forró and Baile music and electro beats provide the soundtrack for the audience’s journey through life with the protagonists and their being sucked into a scenario of the future that is closer than one would like to think.

ADIRLEY QUEIRÓS
Adirley Queirós was born in Ceilândia, Brazil. He was a professional soccer player until a major injury at the age of 25. When he was 28, he enrolled at the University of Brasilia for Communication Studies with a focus on film. His first short film RAP, O CANTO DA CEILÂNDIA was also his degree thesis and won several prizes. His IS THE CITY ONE ONLY? and WHITE OUT, BLACK IN have already received several awards at important Brazilian film festivals. WHITE OUT, BLACK IN is his fifth film.

FILMOGRAPHY
Rap, o canto da Ceilândia (2005), Dias de greve (2009), Out of Green (2010), Is the City One Only? (2011), White out, Black in (2014)

SCRIPT: Adirley Queirós   PRODUCERS: Denise Vieira, Simone Gonçalves, Adirley Queirós   CAMERA: Leonardo Feliciano   EDITORS: Guile Martins, Camila Machado   MUSIC: Marquim do Tropá   CAST: Marquim do Tropa, Shockito, Dilmar Durães

PRODUCTION: Cinco Da Norte, Trotoar   WORLD SALES: Cinco Da Norte