Avenida Brasilia formosa

A poor, centrally located district in the Brazilian city of Recife has been changing since houses by the beach had to give way for a motorway. How do the local inhabitants experience life and what do they dream about? A local barkeeper prefers carrying his video camera to a serving tray, while a hairdresser hopes for a spot in the Big Brother house. An elderly fisherman and a young boy also open up their lives.
The film is a mix of fiction and documentary in which inhabitants play themselves. Mascaro directs his protagonists in situations that tell a story and allow their lives to race past each other. The camera doesn't move at all, or moves calmly, with the characters not necessarily entirely in view. In the background, the ever present radio. Mascaro took fantastic shots of sun worshippers who have to share their sea with people washing horses, and with a horse rider who imperturbably guides his horse past cars driving at high speed.