Brazilian Documentary 'O Projeto' Traces Colonialism Across Six Centuries

A Brazilian documentary called O Projeto (The Project) looks at colonialism over more than six centuries, and its makers say the idea took shape early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Directors Sabrina Fidalgo and Yvan Rodic spoke to Variety ahead of the film's first screening in São Paulo.

Fidalgo is a filmmaker, screenwriter and visual artist from Rio de Janeiro. Rodic is a Swiss photographer. The film runs 95 minutes, according to the Mostra de São Paulo festival listing.

It is built as a road movie, shot in Brazil, Germany and Switzerland. Archival material sits beside interviews and short poetic interludes. The interviewees include the writers Grada Kilomba and Djamila Ribeiro.

The pair say they spent six years developing and shooting the film. It was made in the years after the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States. The documentary began its festival run at the Gramado Film Festival in Brazil, then played at the Mostra de São Paulo.

Director Walter Salles, who is an ongoing supporter of the project, praised it in the Variety interview. "Rarely have I seen the issues of colonialism and whiteness addressed with such relevance," he said. He described the film as polyphonic, proactive, incisive, well directed and well edited.

The film is also the first Brazilian project backed by Le Fonds de Dotation agnès b, the philanthropic fund set up by fashion designer Agnès Troublé. Laís Bodanzky is listed as an associate producer, according to the filmmakers.

Variety's headline for the interview places the film alongside Brazil's coming elections, which it calls "dramatic." The article links the documentary's themes of race and history to that political moment.

The film's path so far has been through festivals, where it has been shown to audiences and to people who decide what comes next.