No Sunshine in Here

More than six million Brazilians are domestic workers, almost all of them women, and mostly black. Every day, they scrub their employers’ often-palatial homes, take children to school and serve meals. They themselves may have to make do with leftovers. The maid’s quarters—still common in Brazilian residential buildings—are no larger than six square meters. They are paid very little, and make long working hours. In spite of all this, they manage to build a life for themselves and their children.

One of them is the mother of filmmaker Karol Maia. Initially, she doesn’t want to talk about her life, so Maia interviews others in the same situation in various cities. Through a combination of historical research and personal memoirs, stories emerge about systematic marginalization, racism, exploitation, and loneliness. At the same time, the filmmaker herself is proof that it is possible to escape poverty—thanks in part to a group of women and the black movement, who fought for the Brazilian state to finally grant them labor rights in 2013.