A sequence of black and white images shows the size of the tragedy. People on roofs, completely islanded, seek help. Houses and streets disappear. The earth was all taken by water. Animals fight for survival. Firefighters try to help people through helicopters. When the water begins to lower, what you see is a lot of mud, trash and desolation.
The destruction caused by floods in Rio Grande do Sul last year and the long and laborious process of reconstruction of those affected families are the protagonists of the documentary Rua do Pescador nº 6directed by Barbara Paz, and aired on Sunday (27) at the Bonito South American Film Festival, Cinesur, in Mato Grosso do Sul.
In May 2024, Rio Grande do Sul faced the worst flood of your history. And it was this tragedy that made the director return to her home state and offer, through cinema, a portrait of all those stories.
“We were very shocked by everything that was happening, and we wanted to do something,” the director told journalists after the film in Cinesur.
“I needed to record that. I felt it was an urgent movie, it was a historical document, and that we don’t want that to happen again. So it has to be recorded so that it never happens, despite continuing to happen. Only in 2024, there were 150 climate disasters in the world,” he said.
In all, the floods of Rio Grande do Sul impacted 478 of the 497 cities of Rio Grande do Sul, directly affecting about 2.4 million inhabitants. The number of fatalities reached 184, plus 806 injured and 25 people to date as missing. In addition, almost 200,000 people were homeless or homeless throughout the state.
Past
The intention of the film, said the director, is to show the climate urgency in today’s world. Nevertheless, your documentary does not fail to show that the past is repeating, without solutions.
In Rua do Pescador nº 6Barbara Paz tries to juxtary images of the present to scenes of floods that occurred in the same Rio Grande do Sul in 1941.
“It’s an essay on the tragedy,” said the director about her documentary feature.
“When I saw the file material from the floods of 1941, they were the same. There were animals on the roofs, people in shelters, they only changed the clothing and roofs of the houses. I think the images are like a poem about the disaster, you know? It’s a sewing you don’t have to scream and capture, because the images are talking.”
According to Barbara Paz, this juxtaposition of two great tragedies, separated by time, but very similar, shows the urgency of actions by the climate.
“More and more the waters are rising, the forests are being burned and the destruction is happening. This is almost like a prologue of what can happen,” said the director.
“I had to leave a powerful record for 50 years, because we don’t know what will happen to this planet. But this record is there,” he said.
From the inside out
The documentary begins showing the destruction seen from above and only then goes into the houses, already destroyed and full of mud. Without narration, what the camera of this documentary does is hear the voices marked by loss, memories and absences.
“I wanted to make a movie from the inside out. I wanted this silence to portray people. I didn’t want them to talk about them, I just wanted to show those people,” he said.
The director expects her documentary feature to reach more public. Especially those who can help change reality. His desire is that he can be displayed at the 30th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP 30, which will be held this year in Belém, Pará.
“I hope my movie is in COP because it is a document. He needs to be seen so that this is not repeated. This is a very urgent question. I say that my movie is just a micro in this macro, zoom about a village of Porto Alegre,” he warns.
“This climate crisis is just the beginning. This will not stop. More and more you have to have documents, portraits, movies, records, and talk about this.
Cinesur
Cinesur is a film festival that runs until August 2 on the tourist city of Bonito. This year, the festival is showing 63 films from nine South American countries, as well as promoting debates, seminars and training courses.
Other information about the festival can be obtained in the Event website.
* The reporter traveled at the invitation of the Bonito Cinesur 2025 South American Film Festival
