THE SAFEST PLACE IN THE WORLD
O lugar mais seguro do mundo
Friday, Sept 15 at 2PM
Cineworks
ADDED SCREENING:
Friday, Sept 15 at 4PM
Cineworks
Director: Aline Lata & Helena Wolfenson
Brazil | 2021 | Portuguese with English subtitles | 72 min | Documentary
Preceded by the short film Roca Morena by Siam Obregón & Kyana Lyne
Sliding Scale Tickets:
$10 / $13 / $15
Plus $3 VLAFF Membership required
Community Partners:
Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2015. A mining tailings dam bursts and wipes the village of Bento Rodrigues off the map. Marlon, a young resident of the village, finds his life turned upside down. A refugee in his own country, he faces many new challenges, including witnessing the repetition of another mining tragedy in Brazil, which exposes the blatant disregard for the environment and local people, and a total lack of accountability on the part of the companies and the government. Marlon’s refers to the village he grew up in as “The safest place in the world”… today it is a wasteland surrounded by cameras, fences, and security guards. Ironically, Marlon assumes that nothing else can go wrong there, capitalism has devoured everything. This feeds his dream of returning to the only place he recognizes as home.
There’s a political and social commitment to the community and above all to the main character, given the caution with which his situation is followed and exposed over several years. The film fights against the indifference of human and environmental extractivism, while showing the importance of preserving natural and emotional places.
DocLisboa Canon International Competition Jury
Aline Lata & Helena Wolfenson
Aline Lata and Helena Wolfenson are directors and photographers from São Paulo, Brazil. Together they developed the documentary feature The Safest Place in the World, which was selected for UnionDocs Summer Lab 2017, Conectas Chile 2019, won the award for post-production at Arché Lab DocLisboa 2019, and in 2021 won the Canon International Competition Jury Award for Best International Film at Doc Lisboa.