Building Bridges

Directed by Heloísa Passos

Heloisa receives a gift: a collection of super-8 films with images of enormous cataracts that once comprised the Seven Falls (Sete Quedas), a natural paradise destroyed by the construction of the world's largest hydroelectric plant, in the early 1980s. The construction of the plant, at the height of the Brazilian military regime, awakens memories of a past immersed in a political authoritarianism. The film starts from the relationship between Heloisa, the filmmaker, and her father, Alvaro, an engineer who had his moment of glory during the Brazilian military dictatorship. They question the political trajectory of Brazil.Projections and maps become the first bridges to connect with the past. However, it is the inescapable present that really strikes Alvaro and Heloisa as they position themselves on opposite sides.