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High-Rise (Um Lugar ao Sol)

– by Gabriel Mascaro

    1. Nonfiction

    2. Date Awarded: Summer 2008

    3. Directors(s): Gabriel Mascaro

    1. Producer(s): Rachel Ellis

    2. Location: Brazil

    1. Film Status: Completed

    2. URL: » High Rise page

About the Film:

What does it mean to have a penthouse in poverty-filled Brazil? Interweaving resident interviews and vistas from above, HIGH-RISE (Um Lugar ao Sol) is a hypnotic and revealing examination of the real view from the top. This feature length documentary presents an analysis of the dominant Brazilian classes through a dialogue with the inhabitants of nine penthouse apartments in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Recife. During the film, penthouse residents open up their homes to reveal their thoughts on social inequality, politics, and the world that surrounds them, as well as discussing more intimate subjects such as their desires, fears, insecurities, prejudices and personal histories. Through these interviews and a poetic visual and sound narrative, the documentary provides an evocative insight into the ‘verticalization’ of the Brazilian cityscape and deepens our understanding of what drives people to live in penthouses. High-rise is a film about height, status and power that questions the elite in a way that has never been done before in Brazilian cinema.

About the Filmmakers:

Gabriel Mascaro graduated in Social Communications from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. He began his career working with video art and new media and has worked as assistant to big Brazilian film names such as Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures- Cannes 2005) and Cláudio Assis (Bog of Beast – Tiger Award in Rotterdam 2007). In 2008, Gabriel launched his first documentary feature film “The Beetle KFZ-1348” (Special Mention São Paulo Film Festival 2008). High-Rise “Um Lugar ao Sol” is Gabriel’s second feature film which was awarded a Cinereach Grant for the implementation of an alternative outreach strategy for the film. The film was first shown at the BAFICI, Buenos Aires in March 2009 where it was awarded with a special mention. Since then the film has been selected to be shown as part of the official selection at Visions du Reel (Nyon, Switzerland), FIDOCS (Santiago, Chile, where it was also awarded a special mention), Los Angeles Film Festival (USA), Munich Film Fest (Germany) and CPH:DOX (Denmark). Alongside the launch of High-Rise, Gabriel is finalizing his third feature film ‘Charming Brasilia Avenue’.

Festival & Award Highlights:

Buenos Aires 2009 – World Premiere, Special Mention
Santiago 2009 – Jury Award
Los Angeles 2009
CPH:DOX 2009