By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The É Tudo Verdade (It’s All True) International Documentary Film Festival returned to Rio de Janeiro on April 10th and will continue through April 19th. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, the festival includes free screenings of 109 documentary films from 31 countries with sixteen world premieres.
During this edition of the festival the films will screen in five Rio locations: Auditório BNDES in Centro; Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Centro; Espaço Itaú de Cinema in Botafogo; Instituto Moreira Salles in Gávea and Oi Futuro in Ipanema.
The festival began in São Paulo on April 9th and will run there concurrently with the Rio festival through the 19th. Following the São Paulo and Rio editions, the festival will make its way to Belo Horizonte from April 29th through May 4th, then to Santos from May 7th through the 10th, and finally to Brasília beginning May 27th and running through June 1st.
A screening of “Últimas Conversas” (Last Conversations) opened the festival in both Rio and São Paulo. The film is the final documentary made by famed Brazilian filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho and features Coutinho’s conversations with young students in Rio de Janeiro. Coutinho, at the age of eighty, was stabbed to death by his son last year and É Tudo Verdade is paying special tribute to the director throughout the festival.
“It is a supreme honor to be able to present the last film directed by Coutinho at the opening of our twentieth edition,” Amir Labaki, founder and director of the É Tudo Verdade festival told G1. “We thank Videofilmes immensely for granting permission to feature it.”
Also screening during the festival will be “Citizenfour,” the Laura Poitras directed documentary which chronicles Edward Snowden and his NSA spying revelations. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature during the 2015 Oscars, held earlier this year in February.
“What Happened, Miss. Simone?” a documentary film about legendary American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist Nina Simone will also screen during the festival. Directed by Liz Garbus, the film was released in January of this year and opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, United States.
Other notable films include Tonje Hessen’s “Drone,” a 2014 documentary that explores the United States Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) actions and Nicolas Rossier’s “The Other Man: F.W. de Klerk and the End of Apartheid”, a 2014 documentary that tells the story of the last president during South Africa’s apartheid, F.W. de Klerk, and his relationship with Nelson Mandela, transitioning from his jailer to his subordinate.
For a complete list of films, screening times and additional information about the festival see the official É Tudo Verdade website.
What: É Tudo Verdade (It’s All True) – International Documentary Film Festival
When: April 10th – April 19th
Where: Auditório BNDES – Avenida República do Chile 100, Centro
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil – R. Primeiro de Março 66, Centro
Espaço Itaú de Cinema – Praia de Botafogo 316, Botafogo
Instituto Moreira Salles – R. Marques de São Vicente 476, Gávea
Oi Futuro Ipanema – R. Visconde de Pirajá 54, Ipanema
Various screening times
Entrance: FREE