Voices from the Edge: The Favela Goes to the World Social Forum

MGA is the exclusive US-Canada distributor of the brilliant documentary, Voices from the Edge: The Favela Goes to the World Social Forum, by Brazilian filmmakers, Daniela Broitman and Fernanado Salis.

Awards and Selections

• Award of Excellence - Brazilian Studies Association
• African Diaspora Film Festival (New York)
• Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Havana, Cuba)
• Festival dei Popoli (Firenze, Italy)
• Other Worlds Are Breathing (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

Synopsis

“Voices From the Edge – The Favela Goes to the World Social Forum” follows the struggle of community leaders from Rio de Janeiro slums to participate in the III World Social Forum – the most important international event organized by civil society to discuss social justice. They want their work to achieve visibility. They want their voices to be heard. Through their perspective, the film narrates the event and reveals the challenges that corporate-driven globalization presents not only to Rio de Janeiro but to the world political agenda.

Featuring: Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Linguist Noam Chomsky, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor César Maia, Filmmaker Fernando Solanas, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, Minister Benedita da Silva, Photographer Sebastião Salgado, among other policy makers, intellectuals and social activists.

Description

The documentary “Voices From the Edge – The Favela Goes to the World Social Forum” portrays the struggle of 23 community leaders from Rio de Janeiro favelas (slums) to participate in the III World Social Forum, held this year in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil.

The community leaders are part of Congesco (Community Managers Council), a social movement comprised of 60 members from various favelas throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro. The goal of Congesco is to promote and develop social activities from within their communities to improve their quality of life.

Although the World Social Forum (WSF) is the largest international event organized by civil society to discuss social issues and alternatives to corporate-driven globalization, the participation of representatives from low-income communities is severely compromised by a simple factor: they often do not have the necessary financial means to attend the event.

“Where is the edge of society that does not participate in these events?” This is the question posed by Angelo da Silva, Coordinator at Congesco, to explain their motivations to go to the WSF. Aware of the importance of the work developed by NGOs and other progressive sectors of society, but tired of being misrepresented by intellectuals and public authorities, they want to have their own voices heard. They want to be considered in the political debate.

By following the group’s journey, from its first efforts to get support from Rio’s Mayor Cesar Maia, to its return to Rio, the documentary narrates the group’s participation in the WSF, the diverse perspectives presented at the event and its main participants. Among them are social activists, politicians, students and intellectuals from around the world.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opens the event by relating it to the ongoing meeting in Davos. Linguist Noam Chomsky talks about the Landless Movement and the issue of exclusion; Argentinean filmmaker Fernando Solanas criticizes North-American media imperialism; and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez shows his indignation at the inequality between wealthy and poor countries.

At the WSF, Congesco’s members exchange experiences about social mobilization with Piqueteros Barrios de Pie from Argentina, and learn from a Latino group from New York (Community Voices Heard) that the United States is far from being the paradise they had imagined. In addition to encountering groups from other countries, the group also has the opportunity to meet and debate with authorities such as Senator for the State of São Paulo, Eduardo Suplicy, and Minister of Social Assistance and Promotion, Benedita da Silva.

Back in Rio, Congesco’s members share with their communities their experiences and recognition among international activists and policymakers.