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The far-right has now aggressively infiltrated the politics of countless nations, developed and otherwise, advocating malicious rhetoric that targets vulnerable groups, preaches ethnocentrism, and weaponizes religion. Outside of what happened in the United States in 2016, last year’s presidential election in Brazil, which crowned a candidate holding such extreme views, is a testament to the harmful powers of alarmist populism.

Although produced prior to the recent rise of these traditionalist forces in the country, Brazilian animated feature “Tito and the Birds” is a shrewd response to bigotry, packaged as a spooky adventure achieved through the integration of artisanal and digital techniques. The outcome is a stylistically singular treasure with tonal and aesthetic hints of Laika’s horror-inspired “ParaNorman” and the animated Van Gogh biopic “Loving Vincent.”

São Paulo native Gustavo Steinberg, the creative commander propelling the entire operation, co-directed the film with animators Gabriel Bitar and André Catoto. Steinberg made...

Festival organisers presented the three inaugural awards on Monday (October 6) at Rio’s Ccbb cultural centre to films that tackled Lgbt themes.

The Felix winners at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival selected from 43 films were:

Best Fiction Film

Xenia, (Greece-France-Belgium), dir Panos H Koutras;

Best Documentary

Tie And Red Nail (De Gravata E Unha Vermelha) (Brazil), dir Miriam Chnaiderman; and

Special Jury Prize

52 Tuesdays (Australia), dir Sophie Hyde.

In previous editions of Festival do Rio, gay-themed films screened in the Gay World strand. This year organisers chose to screen films across the entire programme.

Wieland Speck, director of Berlin’s Panorama section and co-creator of the Teddy Award, served as jury president alongside Central Station screenwriter João Emanuel Carmeiro, Albertina Carri, the artistic director of *Asterisco – International Lgbtiq Film Festival of Buenos Aires, and Margaret Mee e a Flor Da Lua director Malu de Martino.

Presenting the awards were, among others...