Brazil / 2020 / 105mins / Documentary / Portuguese

In response to the execution of activist Marielle Franco, the 2018 elections in Brazil became one of the biggest political upheavals led by Black women the country has ever seen, with candidacies in all states. In Rio de Janeiro, Mônica Francisco, Rose Cipriano, Renata Souza, Jaqueline de Jesus, Tainá de Paula, and Talíria Petrone threw their hats in the ring for positions of state or federal deputy. In Seeds: Black Women in Power, directors Éthel Oliveira and Júlia Mariano followed these women in various stages throughout their campaigns, demonstrating the possibility of doing politics in a new way and transforming mourning into struggle.

Éthel Oliveira

Éthel Oliveira is a documentary filmmaker, film club member, and editor. She is co-producer of Sementes: Mulheres Pretas no Poder (Seeds: Black Women in Power, 2020). She studied social sciences at Fluminense Federal University, researching the Guaraní indigenous people in Rio and Mato Grosso do Sul through the Ethnographic Film Laboratory and spent ten years producing human rights media projects in Pernambuco. Her previous works are Terceira Diaspora (Third Diaspora) and Vinte de Novembro (November 20, 2011), Arremate (The End, 2017), and the Baobá African Cinema Showcase in Recife (2018). Learn More

Júlia Mariano

Júlia Mariano is a director, screenwriter, and producer. She graduated from Cuba's School of Cinema and Television of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV). In 2014, Júlia directed Ameaçados (The Threatened People), which won awards at Rio de Janeiro's Short Film Festival, São Paulo's Kinoforum Festival, and Maranhão's Guarnicê Film Festival. In 2015 she directed Do Corpo da Terra (From the Body of the Land) produced in partnership with the Movimento dos Sem Terra (Landless Movement). In 2017 she founded NOIX CULTURA and directed the documentary series Desde Junho (Since June). Learn More