Manas by Marianna Brennand | BRA, PRT | 101'

In her first feature film, Marianna Brennand won the Best Director award at the Giornate Degli Autori. Manas tackles issues of abuse and female exploitation with particular sensitivity, in an incisive and courageous way, through the story of a young girl lost in an Amazonian community dominated by gender-based violence.

Marcielle (13 years old) lives on the banks of the Amazon with her father, mother, and three siblings. She dreams of being like her older sister, who ran away with a “good man” she met on the boats that travel through the region. As she grows up, her idealizations begin to crumble, and Marcielle finds herself trapped between two abusive environments. Worried about her younger sister and aware that the future holds few options for her, she decides to confront the violent machinery that governs her family and the women in her community. Marcielle (13 years old) lives on the banks of the Amazon with her father, mother, and three siblings. She dreams of being like her older sister, who ran away with a “good man” she met on the boats that travel through the region. As she grows up, her idealizations begin to crumble, and Marcielle finds herself trapped between two abusive environments. Worried about her younger sister and aware that the future holds few options for her, she decides to confront the violent machinery that governs her family and the women in her community.