Ironland

Lavra

  • Lucas Bambozzi
  • Brazil
  • 2021
  • 97 min
  • World Premiere
  • Frontlight

After living in the United States for decades, Brazilian geographer Camila decides to return to her native state of Minas Gerais when a mining-related environmental disaster strikes the area. A dam burst, destroying several villages with heavily polluted wastewater from an iron ore mine. In this documentary road movie, Camila shows how mining has shaped the state’s history.

The train she arrives on bears the name of the mining company. Through the window, we see a vast iron ore quarry. Mining is everywhere. It is also present in the writing of Brazil’s most famous poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, who was from this region—his poems describe the price the population has paid for the large-scale extraction and export of raw materials.

The voiceover is often poetic, despite the appalling reality. As Camila travels through the ravaged landscape, meeting victims and activists, she realizes that the disaster is not an isolated incident, and that lives are literally at stake. Minas Gerais has become a ticking time bomb.

Credits

  • 97 min
  • color
  • DCP
  • Spoken languages: Portuguese
  • Subtitles in: English
Director
Lucas Bambozzi
Production
André Hallak for Trem Chic
Executive producer
Eder Santos, Barão Fonseca, Leandro Aragão, Joana Braga, Alcione Rezende
Co-production
Michael Geidel for Actrio Studio
Cinematography
Bruno Risas

IDFA history

2021
World Premiere
Frontlight

Share this film

Print this page

IDFA history

This website uses cookies.

By using cookies we can measure how our site is used, how it can be further improved and to personalize the content of online advertisements.

Read
 here everything about our cookie policy. If you choose to decline, we only place functional and analytical cookies