What Does It Mean to Be Brazilian? Filmmakers Get Personal at Envelope Live Q&A
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After a screening of three separate films, Amarela, Alice, and Apocalypse in the Tropics, the film directors offered a powerful discussion, diving into the soul of contemporary Brazilian culture. The Envelope Live Q&A was moderated by Los Angeles Times Editor Matt Brennan on October 21, 2025, at the Linwood Dunn Theater, an event sponsored by the Consulate General of Brazil.
All three films tackled different topics, from far-right politics to surfing, and the conversation centered on one complex question: What does it mean to be Brazilian today?
The discussion began with Apocalypse in the Tropics, a gripping documentary (now on Netflix) about the ties between evangelical Christianity and the rise of far-right politics.
Director Petra Costa admitted she began the project with little understanding of the subject, having had a “very secular upbringing.” Her path into the story was sparked by a deeply personal and contradictory moment during the country’s political crisis.
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“I was embraced by 10 women, and it was one of the most moving experiences I had in Congress. It was the first moment where I felt embraced, and I think the film is born from that contradiction of, like, I really didn’t want this to be happening here, but at the same time, how transcendent this experience is,” said Costa.
Her co-director, Alessandra Orofino, was shocked to realize religious fundamentalism was still a “fundamental threat to democracy,” adding she was surprised how contemporary the discussion of separation of church and state remains.
The conversation shifted from national politics to personal identity. Gabriel Novis, director of Alice, spoke about his personal connection to his subject. Growing up, he felt like an “outcast” in his own hometown’s surf community, bullied for painting his nails or wearing different shorts. Years later, he reconnected with his childhood friend Alice, a trans woman, and found she had stopped surfing.
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The film documents her journey, but the reaction has been mixed. Novis received “hate” from his old surfer group, but he found a true community at a private screening for the “Girls Swirl” skate group in Venice.
For André Hayato Saito, director of Amarela, the film was a way to heal a “fraught relationship” with his Japanese-Brazilian ancestry. “I was always struggling to belong,” said Saito, admitting he used football as a tool to belong to the Brazilian identity for 30 years. A trip to Japan changed his perspective, leading him to see “cinema as an instrument of healing” to finally understand and accept his roots.
As the Q&A concluded, the panelists agreed their films are part of a larger battle for the soul of the country. As Orofino put it, it’s a fight between defining Brazil through “pluralism” or through an “authoritarian idea of majority rule.”
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