“Traipá, a different backland"
BRAZIL, 4K, 90min, Fiction / Dramedy, Portuguese.
Production Company: Extrato de Cinema
Coproduction: Taquary Filmes
In the arid heart of Paraíba's backlands, in Brazil, Trapiá is the name of a tree that withstands drought and sun — and also of a rural community suspended in time, where stories of endurance quietly unfold. We follow Ramon, a filmmaker devoted to preserving memory, his mother Dona Aparecida, the solitary faith healer Dona Mariza, and Zé Ambrósio, a craftsman torn between creation and the dwindling land.
Like the trapiá tree, these lives endure. Each character is a branch holding on — between abandonment and belief, tradition and transformation, the weight of the past and the uncertainty of what’s to come.
Bertrand Lira is a professor in the Postgraduate Program in Communication at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). He is a filmmaker who has directed numerous award-winning short, medium-length, and feature-length documentaries, recognized at festivals in Brazil and abroad — including the JVC Grand Prize at the 26th Tokyo Video Festival in 2004. He participated in documentary workshops at the Atelier de Réalisation Cinématographique (VARAN) in Paris in 1982 and 1986. He is the author of the books Luz e Sombra: significações imaginárias na fotografia do cinema expressionista alemão (2013) and Cinema Noir: a sombra como experiência estética e narrativa (2015). Lira has served as a curator and jury member at several film festivals, including the Gramado Festival (RS), Brasília Festival (DF), Cine PE, Fest Aruanda, Vitória Festival (ES), Goiânia Mostra Curtas (Goiânia-GO), For Rainbow, Thessaloniki LGBTQI+ Festival (Greece), and Circuito Penedo de Cinema, among others.
A director, screenwriter and producer from Paraíba, he graduated from the Federal University of Paraíba and lives and makes films in Paraíba, where he has built a career marked by his own production and commitment to the language and emotions of audiovisual media. He has directed films that have been shown in several countries, collecting awards and participating in important film festivals in Brazil and on the international circuit, with highlights including O Guardador (2017), Família Vidal (2010), A Queima (2013), Cumieira (2015), A Fome de Lázaro, Câmera Viva and Anjo Pagão. In addition to directing and writing screenplays, he also works as a producer and editor, having produced four feature films, two series and several short films made with other filmmakers from the Paraíba scene.
Audiovisual producer, curator and director of the festivals Curta Taquary, Poesia na Tela and Criancine. He studied “Film script” and “Curatorship, management and network of film festivals” at EICTV (Cuba). He has worked in the audiovisual industry since 2005 in the development, dissemination and production of short and feature films and TV productions. He has produced works shown in more than 100 national and international festivals and exhibitions, including: Cannes, Biarritz (France), Busan (South Korea), Havana (Cuba), Brasília (DF), Gramado (RS) and Tiradentes (MG). He collaborated with the curatorship of the international festivals: Thessaloniki LGBTQIFF (Greece), LABRFF (USA), Hacelo Corto (Argentina), Antofadocs and Muestra Polo Sur (Chile). It works on reforestation and recovery of deforested areas in the Caatinga, Brejo de altitude and Mata Atlântica biomes, in addition to restoring riparian forests on the Capibaribe River.
