
Première Brasil is the main competitive section of Festival do Rio with jury prizes to be presented at the end of the festival. This section of the festival presents national and international audiences with the very best of Brazilian contemporary film production. In 2017 Festival do Rio is screening at least 75 Brazilian films which include 59 full length features and 16 shorts. The wealth and depth of Brazilian films screening over ten days cements the festival’s place as the main global shop window for Brazilian productions.
“In recent years, Première Brasil has expanded its reach, opening space for Brazilian films in the New Trends and Portraits sidebars," explains Ilda Santiago, the festival's executive director. "This year the quality of films and the diversity of themes has allowed us to pick Brazilian films to screen in other sections of the festival such as the Panorama, Midnight Movies, Unique Itineraries, Frontiers, Latin Première, Expectations and Generations.”
Première Brasil's main competitive section in 2017 includes nine feature films, seven feature length documentaries and seven shorts.
As well as films winning the iconic Redentor trophy, this year Festival do Rio also offers the Prêmio Petrobras de Cinema, a financial prize offered by Brazil’s main oil company for the commercial distribution of the best feature film in Première Brasil (R$200,000) and the best film in New Trends (R$100,000), as chosen by the official juries.
Films screening in the main competitive section of Première Brasil in Festival do Rio in 2017 include:
Première Brasil – Fiction – Competition
- Açúcar (Açúcar), by Renata Pinheiro and Sérgio Oliveira, 88
min - World Première
- Alguma Coisa Assim (Something Like That), by Esmir Filho and
Mariana Bastos, 80 min - World Première
- Animal Cordial (Friendly Beast), by Gabriela Amaral Almeida,
96 min - World Première
- Aos Teus Olhos (Liquid Truth), by Carolina Jabor, 90 min -
World Première
- Boas Maneiras (Good Manners), by Juliana Rojas and Marco
Dutra, 132 min – Latin Première
- Como é cruel viver assim (Life Is a Bitch), by Júlia
Rezende, 107 min - World Première
- O Nome da Morte (Tarnished Land), by Henrique Goldman, 100
min - World Première
- Praça Paris (Paris Square), by Lúcia Murat, 112 min -
World Première
- Unicórnio (Unicorn), by Eduardo Nunes, 122 min - World Première
Première Brasil – Documentaries – Competition
- Cartas para um Ladrão de Livros (Letters to a Book Thief),
by Carlos Juliano Barros and Caio Cavechini, 94 min - World Première
- Dedo na Ferida (A Sore Spot), by Silvio Tendler, 90 min -
World Première
- Em Nome da América (In The Name of America), by Fernando
Weller, 96 min
- Iran (Iran), by Walter Carvalho, 70 min - World Première
- Pastor Cláudio (Pastor Cláudio), by Beth Formaggini, 76 min
- World Première
- Piripkura (Piripkura), by Mariana Oliva, Renata Terra, and
Bruno Jorge, 82 min - World Première
- SLAM: Voz De Levante (SLAM: Sworded Words), by Tatiana
Lohmann and Roberta Estrela D'Alva, 105 min - World Première
Première Brasil – Shorts – Competition
- Adeus à Carne (Farewell to Flesh), by Júlia Anquier, FIC, 11
min
- Alcibíades (Alcibiades), by Breno Nina, FIC, 13 min
- O Bagre de Bolas (Catfish on Balls), by Luiz Botosso and
Thiago Veiga, FIC, 5 min
- Borá (Borá), by Angelo Defanti, FIC, 14 min
- Maria (Maria), by Lucas Pena, DOC, 11 min
- Namoro à Distância (Long Distance Relationship), by Carolina
Markowicz, FIC, 5 min
- Vaca Profana (Profane Cow), by René Guerra, FIC, 15 min