A year after debuting in Joaçaba, on a single day at Cine Gracher, the Chica Pelega Film Festival hit the road. In 2022, the 2nd edition — The Contestado in Focus — became a circuit: it toured Campos Novos, Curitibanos and Caçador, at the Cine Lúmine theaters, and later extended to Timbó Grande and Fraiburgo. All cities that were the setting and a hub of the Contestado War (1912–1916).
What changed was not only the map. Cinema became a classroom: in the morning and afternoon sessions, more than 1,750 students from the municipal and state school systems filled the seats — in Campos Novos alone there were over 700. In the evenings, the sessions opened to the community. In all of them, the screening was just the beginning: then came the conversation. The talks were moderated by the caboclo, educator and popular communicator Jilson Carlos Souza (APAFEC), who traveled city by city leading the debate on the history and identity of the Contestado through the films. In Curitibanos, the audience was also joined by historian Paulo Pinheiro Machado (UFSC), author of Lideranças do Contestado.
The selection brought together memory and territory: the shorts Kiki – O Ritual da Resistência Kaingang, Irani, Olhar Contestado and Larfiagem during the day; and the features Terra Cabocla, Primeiro Assalto ao Trem Pagador and Memorável Trem de Ferro — the latter about the 100 years of the Contestado Railway — in the evenings. Films made, in large part, by people from the region itself, so new generations could see themselves on screen and recognize their history.
From a one-day festival to a circuit across five cities: it was there that Chica Pelega discovered its calling to bring the Contestado to the screen, close to those who lived that history.
