Between October 8 and 21, 2024, the city of Videira/SC will host the Chica Pelega Film Festival – The Contestado in Focus, an event dedicated to the memory, culture and history of the Contestado region. With morning and afternoon sessions for students from the municipal, state, private networks and special groups, and evening sessions open to the public, the Festival seeks to promote dialogue between cinema and education.

Children’s Week: Special Screenings

To celebrate Children’s Week, on October 8 and 9, the Festival will dedicate its sessions to the students of the Valdir Guedes de Freitas Municipal Arts School, in partnership with local schools. There will be eight sessions over the two days, aimed at children aged 4 to 9, from schools such as EEBM Gabriel Bogoni, EEBM Joaquim Amarante, and CEMEI O Ferroviário. The programme includes films specially selected for this age group, providing a playful introduction to the world of cinema.

Curatorship for Young Students: Narratives of the Contestado

From October 14 to 18, the morning and afternoon sessions, held at the Euclides da Cunha Municipal Library, will be aimed at students, with short films from Santa Catarina about the Contestado War. Works such as Para Não Esquecer a Guerra, by Marcia Paraiso, and São Sebastião de Humaitá, an animation with illustrations by Gerson Witte, will bring young viewers a historical and cultural glimpse of the caboclo disputes and resistances. In the evenings, from 7:30 p.m., the Festival brings together Marcia Paraiso’s documentary trilogy — Terra Cabocla, A Maravilha do Século, Luta da Erva —, and films by Sylvio Back, such as the fiction Guerra dos Pelados (1971) and the documentary Contestado – Restos Mortais.

Itinerant Open-Air Cinema

On October 19, 20 and 21, the Chica Pelega Festival will bring its 5-meter-wide by 4-meter-high screen to the Santa Tereza, Oficina and Amarante neighborhoods, holding open-air sessions followed by debates with important speakers.

Guest Speakers

  • Arthur Peixer (10/15): Teacher and researcher, he develops the Curtas Contestados project with elementary school students, exploring the Contestado War in a collective and collaborative production.
  • Diego Ahmod (10/16): Actor and researcher of caboclo history, Diego, a descendant of caboclos, dedicates himself to valuing Contestado culture, uniting tradition and identity in his artistic work.
  • Flavia Grutzman (10/16 and 10/18): Artist and educator, she believes in art as a tool for social transformation and works with children and young people to promote artistic expression.
  • Eliane do Prado (10/19): Pedagogue and researcher, with 26 years of experience in education and caboclo ancestry, she develops research on the Contestado, contributing to historical and cultural understanding.
  • Elias de Lima (10/21): Afro-Indigenous Kaingang caboclo, artist and cultural producer. He works on projects focused on outskirts and communities in the Contestado region, using art and culture as means of social transformation.

The Chica Pelega Film Festival – The Contestado in Focus reinforces the role of cinema as an agent of cultural recovery and inclusion, broadening the understanding of one of the most important chapters of Santa Catarina’s history and promoting dialogue between different generations.

See the full programme at www.chicapelega.com.br/videira