BIOGRAPHIES

Experimental    Brazil/Belgium   2014  Portugese/English subtitles 0:30:00

Biographies produces a complex narrative that departs from a historical research about a strong female historical character, and mixes it with personal stories from the 5 actresses portraying her. Domitila de Castro do Canto e Melo, the Marquise of Santos, is one of the most famous and controversial historical figures from Brazil. She lived in the 19th century and was the long-term mistress of the Emperor Dom Pedro I. Her biography is fascinating and rich, full of dubious events and facts, contradictions and paradoxes.
Above all, she is a woman who overcame all the gender limitations of her time. Still very much alive in the imaginary of Brazilian people, there are many myths and legends around her, to the point of transforming her in a kind of a deity. Domitila is therefore a great subject for a work that intends to bring to the foreground the interpretative process and subjective choices that take place in historical discourses. The narrative intertwines performances that actualize history into personal and contemporary fictions.

BIO