É Tudo Verdade / It's All True

The fact that the festival has reached its 30th edition this year confirms, above all, its founding conviction: documentary filmmaking needed a dedicated annual platform in Brazil, one that would provide audiences with access to the excellence and originality of Brazilian and international nonfiction productions, far beyond the limited visibility this genre has always faced in the market. The immediate success of its first edition in 1996 proved it once again: nothing can stop the power of an idea when its time has come.
The uninterrupted realization of É Tudo Verdade / It’s All True over the past three decades, always held simultaneously in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, has been shaped by radical transformations in film production, distribution, exhibition, and consumption; by the perennial challenges of consolidating any cultural project in the country; and by critical circumstances, such as the outbreak of a devastating pandemic that cruelly claimed millions of lives while eroding, like never before, the very foundations of the social experience of cinematic enjoyment.

Life and cinema prevailed, in a triumph of science and art, enlightenment and solidarity, resistance and democracy. We’re still here.

This year’s program has the renewed privilege of showcasing the latest crop of documentaries from Brazil and around the world, in competitive sections that are once again honored as Academy Award-qualifying, as well as in several hors-concours sections. The international retrospective dedicated to British filmmaker Humphrey Jennings revisits the work of one of the pillars of documentary art—a body of work that is both politically engaged and poetic. Still mourning the loss of Vladimir Carvalho, a cornerstone of Brazilian nonfiction filmmaking and one of the driving forces behind this festival, we reflect on his legacy through a comprehensive look at his feature films.

É Tudo Verdade / It’s All True celebrates this milestone thanks to a shared commitment to cinematic excellence and diversity, upheld by institutions and partners of remarkable loyalty; to the talent and trust of filmmakers, producers, and technicians who have written one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of documentary cinema in Brazil and beyond; and to the affection of hundreds of thousands of spectators who, over these thirty years, have embraced our annual invitation. None of this would be possible without the skill, dedication, and enthusiasm of the team that, year after year, brings this festival to life.

The feeling that multiplies far beyond thirty is gratitude. Long live cinema!

AMIR LABAKI
Founder-director of É Tudo Verdade / It’s All True
International Documentary Film Festival