Fevereiros

Mangueira is Brazil's most popular samba school. In 2016, it won the championship of the Carnival of Rio with a parade in homage to Maria Bethânia, the diva from Bahia, who has a 50-year career and is Caetano Veloso's sister. The doc followed the creation of this carnival in all stages, from the first drawings and rehearsals to the construction of the allegories and the winning parade. Our crew also traveled with Maria Bethânia to Santo Amaro, her hometown in the interior of Bahia, discovering particularities that inspired the creation of this Carnival, such as her peculiar religious universe, which congregates candomble and Catholicism, the parties inherited from the slaves, and the openness of her house to the local community. As we tell the story of Bethania's hometown and the victorious carnival of Mangueira, we establish links between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, focusing historical issues like the birth of samba, racism and religious tolerance.