About the Event
Dry Ground Burning
Directed by Joanna Pimenta and Adirley Queirós
(Brasil, 2022,153 min. )
Saturday, September 28, 7:00pm
Hispanic Heritage Film Series
Just released from prison, Léa (Léa Alves Silva) returns home to the Brasilia favela of Sol Nascente and joins up with her half-sister Chitara (Joana Darc Furtado), the fearless leader of an all-female gang that steals and refines oil from underground pipes and sells gasoline to a clandestine network of motorcyclists. Living in constant opposition to Jair Bolsonaro’s fiercely authoritarian and militarized government, Chitara’s women claim the streets for themselves as a declaration of radical political resistance on behalf of ex-cons and the oppressed. A provocative portrait of Brazil’s dystopian contemporary moment that blends documentary with narrative fiction and genre elements, the latest film by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós (Once There Was Brasilia) offers a unique vision of the country’s possible future.
“The incendiary power of Dry Ground Burning, a feminist gangster movie from Brazil… Sodium-lit nightscapes filled with steely, gun-toting dames recall the glossy crime dramas of Michael Mann (Heat)… I’m compelled to draw a connection between Dry Ground Burning and Fury Road, two pyromaniacal dystopian westerns in which lawless women are not only their own saviors but everyone else’s, too. Critic’s Pick!”— Beatrice Loayza, The New York Times
Discounted parking available in Founder’s Court lot, $6 flat fee, credit card required.
Free and open to the public.
