Boalândia
Patrik Thomas, Mathias Reitz Zausinger
The documentary Boalândia follows activists in different regions of Brazil in their attempt to raise awareness for societal issues through filmmaking and actively denouncing of political injustice. The film’s title suggests an “utopian place that can only be opened up by filmmaking.” For three years the film team followed the activists engagement and reveal what it takes for their voices to be heard. Functioning without a voice-over commentary, the sensibly chosen pictures put the focus on the strong words of the protagonists.
Patrik Thomas, who directed the film with Mathias Reitz Zausinger, was born in Frankfurt. Boalândia premiered on the Filmfestival São Paulo.
23 April 2025
19:00 h, Naxos Kino
More information
| Direction | Patrik Thomas, Mathias Reitz Zausinger |
| Country | Deutschland, Brasilien |
| Year | 2024 |
| Duration | 91 min |
| Language | Portugiesisch |
| Language version | OmdU |
| Production | Christian Reitz, Patrik Thomas, Mathias Reitz Zausinger |
| Camera | Patrik Thomas, Mathias Reitz Zausinger |
| Script | Patrik Thomas, Mathias Reitz Zausinger |
| Editing | Ygor Gama |
| Sound | Guida Miranda, Ines T. Alves |
| Sound Design | Xavier Fleming |
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THE DIRECTORS ABOUT THE FILM
“Four years ago, we started making a movie about filmmaking. We were captured by the power of lived diversity. After many months of research in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on the culture and relevance of street cinemas, that are so vibrant in Brazil, Patrik and I decided to decided to make a film about this activism. Here, in Brazil, street cinema means giving a voice to the marginalized, a silhouette to structural violence and, above all, a space to their own ideas of a utopian better future. Filmmaking as a space in which shared dreams can mature and become contagious.”
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Patrik Thomas works as a filmmaker and media artist. He studied media art and sculpture in Munich, Lisbon and Leipzig. In 2019 he was invited to a postgraduate research fellowship at the University of São Paulo in Brazil to conduct research on the topic of cultural resistance in
Brazilian cinema and the cineclubs. His artistic practice and commitment include video stage design and curatorial projects in the field of visual arts and theater. As a media pedagogical mediator for film and video, he works in various contexts with children and young people, including for Gato Aleatório in Portugal and for the traveling space in Munich. He is the founder of the experimental film lab MOVIMENTO and the artist network THE RANDOM COLLECTIVE.
Mathias Reitz Zausinger works as a filmmaker. He studied philosophy with a focus on post-colonialism and the history of ideas of the early modern period as well as fine arts in Berlin and Munich. Based on a critique of the political dimension of imaginative spaces, his films and installations are interested in the persuasive power of narratives and images that are created in moments of political and ideological transformation.
His documentary scenes and reenactments focus on the aesthetic diversity of voice and spoken language.
His work has received awards and support from various sources, including the Fellowship HKW Berlin, Young Artist Award of the City of Munich, dok.art Munich, debut funding from the FFF Bayern, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Since 2019, she has been working on her cinema debut “BOALÂNDIA”, a documentary film about contemporary forms of cultural resistance in Brazil - about a young generation of artists and activists who use film to give themselves a voice.
GERMAN PREMIERE
Regional Feature Film Program
