Serras da desordem

Best known for his Cinema Marginal masterpiece Bang Bang, Italo-Brazilian master filmmaker Andrea Tonacci (1944–2016) dedicated great attention to studying the native populations of Brazil, an urgent cause that oriented his filmmaking appetite for many years. After Conversas com Maranhão and the Os Arara trilogy, results of Guggenheim-funded research into North and South American native populations, the filmmaker took more than 20 years to complete a new film. It was only in 2006 that the filmmaker finally brought the monumental Serras da desordem to the screen to tell the story of Carapirú, who escaped the massacre of his Awá-Guajá community by local farmers in 1978. Tonacci’s protagonist wandered alone for ten years until he was found 2000 km from his starting point. When the authorities aiding the native population finally found him and hired a translator, Carapirú recognized his long-lost son. Andrea Tonacci was always a pioneer in exploring different formats and blending cinematographic genres in his films. Serras da desordem reaffirms this status in reconstructing this epic journey with a circular, multi-layered approach to tell the story of one man. (Viennale)