David In Brasilia

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25', Premiered at Bertha Doc House, London. 

Produced by Black Leaf Films

 

David Miranda is Brazil’s only Black and LGBT congressman. He and the late Marielle Franco launched their political careers together in Rio’s City Hall, and through their work there became close friends. Their shared profile - black, LGBT and having grown up in Rio’s favelas - made them extraordinarily rare in Brazilian politics. Marielle was known for her grassroots work for the groups she represented; she was a familiar face at community meetings and protests and with David they frequently denounced police violence. During her brief time in office her laws established low-income housing assistance, a citywide anti-homophobia day, anti-harassment campaigns, domestic violence data collection and more.

 

Franco was killed in March 2018 by one of Rio’s most feared death squads. Violence against LGBT people has continued to increase under Bolsonaro’s government, and the question of who ordered Marielle's murder remains unanswered.

In 2019, Miranda took up the seat in Brazil’s National Congress of Jean Wyllys - a high profile LGBT congressman from Rio who fled the country suddenly due to intensifying death threats. As David works to pass national laws to protect LGBT rights, the ongoing investigations into Franco's murder have revealed connections between her killers, current President Jair Bolsonaro and the wider Bolsonaro family. He is forced to confront the Bolsonaro family on a daily basis, as we see in the film, a process with intense personal as well as broader political weight.

The film looks at one of the world’s most far-right Congresses through the eyes of those resisting it.

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