Bay of All Saints
Director: Annie Eastman
Rating: 3.5/5
Annie Eastman is one of the female filmmakers on the schedule at the UK Green Film Festival, as she makes her feature film directorial debut.
Seated atop the sullied waters of Brazil’s Bay of All Saints, rows of palafitas - haphazard shacks supported by stilts - house a landless urban community slated for relocation.
Over the course of six years, Norato, a refrigerator repairman raised in these sea-lodged slums, acquaints us with the diverse personal histories and daily struggles of Geni, Jesus, and Dona Maria, three single mothers settled on the bay.
The government’s efforts to reclaim the occupied waters in the name of ecological restoration mean an uncertain future for each of the hardworking families, who cannot be sure if the promise of social housing will be kept.
Offering a glimpse into the complexities of urban poverty, Bay of All Saints is a telling portrait of bureaucratic inefficacy and its impacts on communities told through the experiences and stories of the women’s fight for a home.
Bay of All Saints has played extensively on the festival circuit over the last couple of years: going on to win the Audience Award at the SXSW festival in 2012.
This is a movie that takes us into the harsh lives of those living in the slums in Brazil, however, it is a story that we have seen told countless times before.
While we may have heard and seen elements of this story before, it is the three central women who will really grab your attention. Geni, Jesus, and Dona are all incredibly strong women, who a battling to overcome their difficult lives.
The movie is beautifully shot, and we really do get a real sense of just how difficult life can be in the slum: Eastman is not afraid to show the conditions that these women face every day.
However, these women continue to battle on against their local government, as they want change for themselves and the people living around them.
Eastman spent six year filming and collecting this footage, and during this time very little has changed. While this may be a very depressing story, it is one that really does have to be told.
Bay Of All Saints is part of the UK Green Film Festival.