Exploring Life and Death in Rio's Chapéu Mangueira: Emma Boccanfuso's "Saudades Eternas"

"Saudades Eternas," the feature debut of visual artist and director Emma Boccanfuso, premiered in the international competition at Visions du Réel. The film, which focuses on the life of Sueli, a matriarch in Rio de Janeiro's Chapéu Mangueira favela, captures the juxtaposition of daily life within a multi-generational household against the backdrop of ongoing violence and gang-related deaths outside.

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Boccanfuso's project emerged from her experiences in the favela, where she was struck by the community's relationship with death, contrasting her own experiences in more contained environments. This cultural shock informed her artistic vision, leading her to explore how individuals navigate life amid pervasive violence. Originally conceived as an installation piece during her studies at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, the film evolved into a feature that reflects the resilience of the community.

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Emma Boccanfuso, who moved next door to Sueli's family, became intimately involved in their lives, allowing her to document their experiences authentically. Sueli serves as the film's focal point, representing the strength and complexity of matriarchal figures in environments marked by systemic injustice.

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Boccanfuso employs sound to convey the violence that remains off-screen, integrating recordings of gunfire and conversations among gang members into the film's audio landscape. This choice reflects her discomfort with the normalization of violence in media, particularly concerning children. By focusing on the absence of direct imagery, the film constructs a narrative that mirrors her own experience of living in the favela, where information about violence is often shared informally.

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Rather than presenting a straightforward account of tragedy, "Saudades Eternas" offers a nuanced portrait of resilience within the favela. The film's approach to death emphasizes its accumulation around Sueli and the community, rather than attempting to delineate individual narratives. This perspective aims to shed light on the systemic injustices faced by the residents of Chapéu Mangueira.

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Boccanfuso expressed her intention to reach a broader audience through the film, highlighting the importance of representing a community often overlooked. She noted, “We approached death more as a multitude accumulating around Sueli – and more broadly within the favela – rather than trying to make the viewers understand who is who.”

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Following the premiere of "Saudades Eternas," Boccanfuso is considering a follow-up project set on Copacabana beach. This new film would reconnect with the same characters, now working as surf instructors and street vendors, to present a perspective of the iconic beach that contrasts with its typical postcard image.

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• “I felt that the boundaries between the dead and the living were completely dissolved…” — Emma Boccanfuso, Director

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• “We decided to represent the violence in the film exactly as I experienced it with my camera: off-screen, inside the house, confined with the characters, waiting for information on the phone,” — Emma Boccanfuso, Director

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"Saudades Eternas" will have its world premiere on April 21 at Visions du Réel, which runs until April 26.

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