13/08/2026 - In their debut feature, Brazilian directors Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho portray several highly strung, proud and fearless characters who are fighting to exist

Brazilian directors Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho present their poignant and powerful first feature, The Riverbank, in the International Competition of at the Locarno Film Festival, taking viewers on a journey that is at once hyperrealist and dreamlike, into the darkest recesses of a Brazil gripped by violence and religious fanaticism. A directorial duo as well as a couple in real life, Farias and Carvalho first attracted attention with their short film Inabitável, which caused a stir at Sundance - it was a queer science-fiction work that already tackled themes close to their hearts, such as institutional violence, transphobia and solidarity among marginalised people. The Riverbank is a ruthless analysis - albeit one infused with a redemptive dose of tenderness - of faith in its fanatical form, violence, desire and power struggles. It is a majestic work in which Brazil, and the city of Recife in particular, is shown in all of its dazzling and frightening diversity.

A queer erotic thriller, the film tells the story of Izaquiel (the fantastic and moving Caique Copque), a young cleaner who shares a home with his chosen sisters, trans women who have become his family. Forced to leave his parents because they could not accept his homosexuality, Izaquiel has found, in this new and welcoming refuge founded on tolerance and mutual support, wounded but combative human beings who, like him, have been rejected and denigrated by a society that despises them. While wandering at night through the wild mangrove forest surrounding the city, the protagonist meets the fascinating and mysterious fisherman Jeremias (the astonishing and talented Ítalo Martins), who allows him to experience a desire he has been forced to repress for far too long owing to his upbringing, social pressure and oppressive religious indoctrination. As the violence around them grows increasingly ferocious, the pair embark on a journey into the beating heart of the mangroves, a place suspended between reality and myth that has become a refuge for an entire community living in the shadows. Forced to confront his past, Izaquiel becomes a kind of nocturnal vigilante, the defender of a radiant diversity compelled to hide beneath the forest canopy.

The film is a fascinating blend of queer cinema, magical realism and erotic thriller, a unique, extremely powerful and courageous work that lays bare the violent consequences of the abuse of power and ideological control associated with the movement known as “Bolsonarismo”. The social critique running throughout the film – a bold indictment of the repression, homophobia and transphobia infecting an entire country – is fused with an emotional depth that permeates every image. The characters, magnificently played by a cast of actors who radiate realism, perfectly embody both the fears and the acts of rebellion that drive them. Emblematic in this respect is the scene in which a pair of transgender performers called Irmãs de Pau scream out their anger at those who openly despise them in broad daylight while exploiting them under the cover of night-time anonymity. The Riverbank gives voice and physical presence to these indomitable creatures, these courageous human beings forced to live constantly looking over their shoulders for fear of being attacked, injured or, worse still, killed. The complex ties, often rooted in corruption, between evangelical churches and Brazilian politics are exposed in all of their obscene banality, as though nothing could stand in the way of their violent advance.

The Riverbank, like a kind of politically charged revenge fantasy, restores power to those who are normally rendered invisible because they are different and therefore dangerously destabilising. It is an unclassifiable work, much like the very concept of queer itself, one that finds beauty in anomaly and rebellion in the solidarity between creatures of the night who inexorably begin to bare their teeth.

The Riverbank was produced by Brazil’s Gatopardo Filme and Moçambique Audiovisual, and co-produced by Germany’s Tama Filmproduktion and Brazil’s Vitrine Filmes. MPM Premium handles the international sales.

(Translated from Italian)