Growing up in the poorer neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Thais Nepomuceno knew she always had a story or three to tell. Even as life took her out of Brazil to study cultural studies in university and later, to live and travel throughout Europe, did Nepomuceno always imagine eventually telling the richness of her Afro-Brazilian heritage.
In Herdeiros, (“Heirs” in Portuguese) she explores the influential African origins of Brazil’s greatest cultural export: samba. With Herdeiros still in production, Nepomuceno is attempting to raise the necessary funds to complete the film by November 2019.
The subject matter came to life during a socio-cultural project Nepomuceno was completing in Rio ten years ago. The experience led her to Madureira–colloquially known as the Copacabana of Rio’s working class suburbs–where samba reigned supreme.
“It was there that I saw how a poor and marginalized neighborhood like Madureira could serve as such a powerful musical environment,” Nepomuceno said. “It was undeniable that there, samba existed solely because of the area’s rich African heritage. I wanted to bring that idea to life.”
Set in the Madureira favela of Morro da Serrinha, Herdeiros is a story of cultural legacy and traces Carnaval’s deep roots through an Afro-Brazilian community, where ancestral culture and history are passed down orally from generation to generation. Initially, Nepomuceno intended to focus strictly on the music found in Madureira, where genres like jongo, samba, hip hop, Brazilian funk, and rap converge. But she soon saw great stories in the everyday people who lived in Morro da Serrinha. “I was fascinated by their magic and creative potential. They were empowered by their ancestors and used the African tradition of oral storytelling as a tool of resistance.”
Nepomuceno also felt the need to examine gender dynamics, specifically around the hyper-sexualization of the bodies of black female revellers during the country’s Carnaval celebrations. “As an Afro-Brazilian woman, I was always concerned about the image of the “sexy dancer” to the rest of the international community,” she explains. “And as a filmmaker, I believe these images must change. Most people know Carnaval as this huge party but don’t know its deep roots in slavery, racism, and segregation. The whole party was built around oppression, and still is.”
Nepomuceno sees Herdeiros as a challenge to the international community to understand Brazilian culture from its roots–often steeped in sexism and colorism– and as an attempt to take back the power in telling one’s own narrative. “Usually, we see either a foreigner or a white Brazilian filmmaker telling Carnaval stories. And that’s why our history keeps being misrepresented and our bodies sexualized. But Herdeiros will hopefully be a step in the right direction.”
Support the making of Herdeiros by visiting its website here.
