BFK | 07.05.2023 | Waiting for the Carnival (2019)

This harrowing documentary about the textile manufacturers in Toritama, a small town in the interiors of Brazil's Pernambuco province, exposes contemporary capitalism in its most perverse form and shows the human cost of the garment industry. Inhabitants of the self-proclaimed "national capital of jeans" work twelve to fifteen hours a day, including Sundays, under precarious conditions, believing they are their own bosses. The only break these people get from the exploitative production system is the annual Carnival where the entire town travels to the coast for a few days.

One of Brazil's most talented directors, Marcelo Gomes, who himself has grown up in Toritama, provides an intimate and empathetic portrayal of the hardworking inhabitants of the town, accompanied by the atmospheric and beautiful images.