There are no spirits or snakes tonight and the forest around the village is quiet. 15-year-old Ihjãc has nightmares since he lost his father. He is an indigenous Krahô from the north of Brazil. Ihjãc walks into darkness, his sweaty body moves with fright. A distant chant comes through the palm trees. His father’s voice calls him to the waterfall: it’s time to organize the funerary feast so the spirit can depart to the dead’s village. The mourning must cease. Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.

“An admirable, often fascinating fictionalized portrait of a tribal culture in Brazil informed by a young man resisting his destiny as a shaman.” (Jay Weissberg, Variety)

More information: http://www.luxboxfilms.com/chuva-e-cantoria

João Salaviza was born in Lisbon/Portugal in 1984. His feature debut MOUNTAIN world premiered at the Venice Film Festival – Critics Week 2015. He made several short films. THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS is his second feature.

Renée Nader Messora was born in São Paulo in 1979 and worked as an assistant director in Brazil, Argentina and Portugal. In 2009, she met the Krahô indigenous people. Since then, she is working with the community, participating in the mobilisation of a local collective of Krahô filmmakers. Their work is focused in the use of cinema as a tool for self-determination and the strengthening of cultural identity. THE DEAD AND THE OTHERS is her debut as a director.

Awards (selection): Un Certain Regard Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival, France 2018), Special Jury Award (Mar del Plata Film Festival, Argentina 2018)