Sumidouro (2008)

The Construction of the Irapé Power Plant in the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais State, has revolutionized the lives of 42 riverside communities. For the Creation of an artificial lake 200 meters deep, 5.000 people had to be relocated leaving behind their homes, their family stories, their dead ones and the river - the center of their day-to-day existence, community life and source of living for these people, from where they take sand, rock and fish. In the makeshift towns built for them, all the houses look the same and have a doorbell, something that these people have never seen before. This documentary film follows their story one year after relocation, showing the gains and losses that have resulted from the sudden change. A new sense of identity seems to have been forged.