“As a filmmaker, I believe these images must change.” – Thais Nepomuceno

Herdeiros (The Heirs) is a documentary about samba, about carnival, about the power of a resistant tradition. Shot in Morro da Serrinha in Rio, the film tells the story of the cultural and musical history, of the African heritage of formerly enslaved people in Brazil today. It traces the long and branching tradition of carnival in Afro-Brazilian communities, who pass on the culture and history of their ancestors orally to the next generations.

The focus is on interviews with local cultural figures: Their expressions show how much samba and jongo are components of the lives of the inhabitants of Morro da Serrinha. And it becomes clear what power and social impact this culture represents beyond the official discourse, the government’s decrees, the expectations of the marketing industry.

And thus the film is an attempt to reclaim interpretive sovereignty: Contrary to the primarily white historiography and contrary to the hypersexualization of bodies and their exploitation, the protagonists* of carnival, the heirs of a living cultural technique, have their say here. Herdeiros thus makes clear what the medium of film can do: show a different image!

Portuguese with English subtitles