Amidst days of isolation and tension due to the pandemic, Miguel receives a visit from three friends: João, Yara, and Marianna. Together, they gather one day to play and share their dreams about the future.
Adriano Monteiro is a filmmaker, cultural producer, and academic researcher. He is the creator and director of the project and Cultural Point “Palavra Negra.” He is also the founder of the Black Film Showcase of Espírito Santo (MOCINES). He was president of the Brazilian Association of Documentary and Short Filmmakers of Espírito Santo (ABD Capixaba).
He directed the films Candomblés: Fé e Axé (2018, DOC), Guri (2019, FIC), Live (2020, FIC), Estrelas Pequenas Numa Noite de Lua Cheia (2026, FIC), and the series Palavra Negra.doc (2026, DOC).
The relationship of the film’s story stems from studies and research on Black childhoods in Brazilian cinema and Afro-Indigenous religiosities. The story is based on a real event: the murder of the boy João Pedro by the Civil Police during an operation in a favela in Rio de Janeiro during the pandemic. His parents were working; João was with his brother and two cousins playing in the backyard of their home. The police helicopter saw the children and assumed they were criminals; they simply invaded the house with grenades and opened fire. João Pedro died from a rifle shot to the back. The killing of children and adolescents by state agents has been increasing (data from the Fogo Cruzado Institute). Considering that we live in a context of the extermination of Black Brazilian youth, this case deeply affected me, especially how it unfolded with the officers being acquitted. In this sense, still during the pandemic, I sought to write a story about a Black family in which the father is present and has a son who dreams of becoming an airplane pilot, aiming to deconstruct stereotypes and conventional narratives about Black children in Brazilian cinema. Adding to this plot elements and mysteries of Afro-religiosity, which at times appear more explicitly, and at others emerge in a more subliminal way.
