Pictures of Ghosts

Thursday, April 9th / 7:00 pm / Wells Hall 122

Genre: Drama / Language: Portuguese with English subtitles / Country: Brasil 🇧🇷 / Runtime: minutes

ABOUT THE FILM

From the acclaimed director of THE SECRET AGENT, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s PICTURES OF GHOSTS— the inspiration for his 1970s-set Wagner Moura thriller—is a richly textured journey through time, architecture, and cinema, set in the Brazilian city of Recife. Moving through the city’s grand movie theaters, once vital spaces of collective imagination and social life, the film traces a century of dreams, ruptures, and transformations. Blending archival material, film excerpts, moments of mystery, and personal memory, PICTURES OF GHOSTS unfolds as both an intimate portrait of a city and a meditation on how cinema shapes places, history, and the way we remember.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Kleber Mendonça Filho is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer, and critic. With a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Kleber Mendonça Filho began his career as a film critic and journalist. He wrote for newspapers such as Jornal do Commercio and Folha DE S. Paulo, for magazines such as Continente and Cinética, and for his own site, CinemaScópio.

The Blue Trail (O Último Azul)

Thursday, April 9th / 9:00 pm / Wells Hall 122

Genre: Drama / Language: Portuguese with English subtitles / Country: Brasil 🇧🇷 / Runtime: 86 minutes

ABOUT THE FILM

To maximize economic productivity, the Brazilian government orders elderly people to move to remote housing colonies. A 77-year-old woman refuses and embarks on a journey through the Amazon that will change her destiny forever. The Blue Trail has received multiple nominations and awards at films festivals in Guadalajara, São Paulo, Toulouse, Huelva. Winner of multiple Ariel Awards (Mexico) in 2025.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Gabriel Mascaro is an award-winning Brazilian filmmaker and artist from Recife, known for blending documentary realism with poetic, dystopian fiction. He gained international acclaim for Neon Bull (2015) and recently won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Berlinale for The Blue Trail. His work explores the human body, labor, and shifting social structures through a distinctively sensuous visual style.