Part of SFFILM Festival
The Fever
Description
The division between urbanity and the wilderness is atmospherically explored in acclaimed documentarian Maya Da-Rin’s narrative debut. Middle-aged Justinio works security at the port of Manaus, but longs for the Amazonian environment where he was raised while his daughter plans to attend university in the big city. Da-Rin’s story presents the jungle as an inescapable, wondrous entity, and her eye for telling detail is remarkable, infusing everything from the mysterious fever that grips Justinio to the news reports of a large animal on the loose.
“Fiercely anti-Bolsonaro, the film portrays indigenous Amazonians as torn between their source of income – the city – and their source of strength: the rainforest. Da-Rin’s first feature [is] a searing indictment of her country’s leadership and fascism worldwide.” –Laura Davis, Sight & Sound
Rio de Janeiro native Maya Da-Rin graduated from Le Fresnoy Studio national des arts comtemporains in France. Her films include the documentaries Margem (2007) and Terras (2009). The Fever is her first narrative feature.
“During our research, [co-writer Miguel Seabra Lopes and I] visited a few indigenous communities on the outskirts of the city while accompanying the daily grind of port employees and nurses working in public health clinics. We experienced situations that were later incorporated into the screenplay as well as were able to imagine many others that that would not even have occurred to us without these experiences. I think that this is a method that I inherited from my previous work with documentaries, and that translates much of my interest in filmmaking: being close to people and listening to what they have to say.” –Maya Da-Rin, Mubi.com
Trailer
Film Details
Language Portuguese, Tukano
Original Language Title A febre
Year 2019
Runtime 98
Country Brazil/France/Germany
Director Maya Da-Rin
Producer Maya Da-Rin, Leonardo Mecchi, Juliette Lepoutre, Pierre Menahem
Writer Maya Da-Rin, Miguel Seabra Lopes, Pedro Cesarino
Editor Karen Akerman
Cinematographer Barbara Alvarez
Cast Regis Myrupu, Rosa Peixoto
Print Source
Still Moving
pmenahem@stillmoving.fr
https://www.stillmoving.fr