THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY
Winner of the 2016
TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE / KONSONANT MUSIC
TFI Network Film Scoring Package
Once a nation crippled by military dictatorship, Brazil found its democratic footing in 1985 and then, in 2002, elected a hugely popular political disrupter: steel-worker-turned-activist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Under his watch, 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty, and his country rose to international prominence. In 2010, “Lula” passed the presidential baton to his prodigy, a fierce female guerrilla named Dilma Rousseff.
But beneath their sunny legacy, rumblings of populist rage and institutional corruption seeped into the mainstream—much of it abetted by a partisan judge who fed news outlets sensational, deeply flawed corruption reports that targeted Lula, Dilma, and anyone else who refused to scratch the backs of powerful politicians and special-interest groups.
With remarkably intimate access, The Edge of Democracy follows Brazil’s embattled leaders as they grapple with a scandal born out of their country’s fascist past and inflamed by a furious and ideologically divided nation. Like a great Greek tragedy, Petra Costa’s film carries a potent warning: Brazil’s crisis is one that is shared—and fomented—by Western superpowers run by equally treacherous political forces.
Director
PETRA COSTA
Screenwriter
PETRA COSTA
Producers
JOANNA NATASEGARA / SHANE BORIS / TIAGO PAVAN
Editors
KAREN HARLEY / TINA BAZ / DAVID BARKER
JOAQUIM CASTRO / JORDANA BERG / FELIPE LACERDA
Music Licensed from the
KONSONANT CATALOG
GIL TALMI
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