How Nice to See You Alive

Que Bom Te Ver Viva

A film by Lucia Murat

Brazil | 1989 | 100 minutes | Color | 35mm/DVD | Subtitled | Order No. 99053

SYNOPSIS

On March 31, 1964, a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government. Four years later, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache. Filmmaker Murat, like the interviewees, was herself tortured and imprisoned; her film shatters the silence imposed on the survivors and the collective will to forget.

PRESS

“An extraordinary film…Eight political prisoners, all women, articulate the price of surviving an experience that even their friends, husbands and children wish to cushion in silence.”

Judy Block Pacific Film Archives

“Remarkably revealing…made with determination to break the rigid curtain of silence.”

Judy Stone SF Chronicle

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Human Rights Watch Film Festival
  • Toronto Festival of Festivals
  • Festival de Brasilia, Best Film
  • Rio International Film Festival, Special Jury Prize
  • Havana Film Festival, Coral Prize
  • San Francisco Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Lucia Murat

Brazilian filmmaker Lucia Murat began her career working as a journalist for the min television stations and newspapers in her native Brazil. For four years, Murat was responsible for the educational series "Testemunho," about the history of Brazil and its people. While working in television, Murat also completed O caso eu conto como o casi foi, a series of short films based on Brazilian literature classics and Mulheres no cinema, about women in the Brazilian film industry.

Murat's film credits include various award-winning works including: O Pequeno Exercito Louco (Little Mad Army), Daisy, Que Bom te Ver Viva (How Nice to See You Alive) and Doces Poderes (Sweet Power). Murat’s most recent work is entitled Brava Gente Brasileira (Brave Brazilian People). Her most recent work Memoria que me contam, follows the story of Anna, a key figure in the Brazilian revolutionary activities of the 60s, as she spends the last days of her life looking back at her impact on Brazil. (8/14)

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Sweet Power

During a tumultuous political campaign, veteran broadcast journalist Bia takes over as news director of a major television network. Amidst multiple candidates, corrupt colleagues, and personal intrigues, she is sucked into ethical grey areas from which it proves difficult to escape. Brazilian filmmaker-journalist Lúcia Murat (HOW NICE TO SEE YOU ALIVE) has drawn on her own experiences as a television journalist and human rights activist, who was jailed for her political activities, in this stylish, sexy drama about the moral conflicts between careerism, political expediency, and personal and professional ideals. Infused with pathos, humor, and real conflict, SWEET POWER is a very real look at one woman’s struggle to act honorably in the most compromising of situations.
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