Viva Viva is a documentary released in 2014
Filmed, directed, edited by Carolina Pfister.
Additional Super-8 footage Pierre de Kerchove.
Research and support from Pedro Carvalho & Kel Figueiredo.
Viva Viva was shot in São Paulo, Brazil, between 2003 and 2005. After leaving Brazil in the late 90’s I returned to make a film of an ethos that shaped me, and offer a counterpoint to a certain folkloric expectation of Brazilians. The internet was only starting, and I wanted to portray an urban Brazil through punk, to subvert cliches of the exotic and docile South-American. Viva Viva was my first (and only) feature film, a punk portrait of São Paulo, a city I love-hate.
Viva Viva foi filmado em São Paulo entre 2003 e 2005. Depois de deixar o Brasil no final dos anos 90 voltei para fazer um filme sobre algo que me formou, e oferecer um contraponto a uma certa expectativa folclórica dos brasileiros. A internet estava apenas começando, e eu queria retratar um Brasil urbano através do punk – uma expressão que subvertia clichês do sul-americano exótico e dócil. Viva Viva foi meu primeiro (e único) longa-metragem, um retrato punk de São Paulo, cidade que amo e odeio.
"Punk tends to be manically bred from dissent, disgust, and glaring corruption. The punk scene in São Paulo, Brazil, is no different in this sense. Culturally however, these riotous folk have new shit to share. Delve into a multi-generational peep at the rightfully hostile Brazilian working class. Viva Viva is your punk fix without the reeking breath of white male parameters."
- Microcosmo Publishing
Experience the lives of a few São Paulo punks, the Brazilian birthplace of this global culture of dissent. In a country with a well-known non-rock musical tradition, where corruption is cultural and violence is routine—punk became a cathartic expression more akin to urban realities. Two generations of punks share the questions and beliefs of urban Brazilians who embrace punk as a lifestyle, and as a tool for social change. Meet Toca, a young man building his home by hand in one of São Paulo’s many slums. Or Elisa who wrestled the queer punk scene into existence at 15. Find Simone on top of a truck-turned-stage as she screams of São Paulo's violence with her band. Meet Úlcera who struggles to work low paying jobs since punk has opened his eyes to the injustices of the working class. Feel São Paulo's ominous presence, a city of high-rise buildings as far as the eyes can see. Viva Viva is chaos symphony and punk is the tune. Viva!