Best Brazilian documentary movies

Faggots, The Documentary (2016)

This documentary is a collection of interviews of homosexual boys who are proud to be labeled queers. They discuss the stigma behind the word and how they reacted to homophobic attacks they've face at some point of their lives.

White Out, Black In (2014)

Shots fired inside a club frequented by black Brazilians in the outskirts of Brasilia leave two men wounded. A third man arrives from the future in order to investigate the incident and prove that the fault lies in the repressive society.

Love Is Blind Brazil: After the Altar (2023)

Drama, closure and rekindled flames collide as cast members from past seasons of "Love is Blind Brazil" come together in this special reunion episode.

Acústico MTV: Engenheiros do Hawaii (2004)

Emicida: AmarElo - It's All for Yesterday (2020)

Between scenes from his concert in São Paulo's oft-inaccessible Theatro Municipal, rapper and activist Emicida celebrates the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture.

Racionais MC's: From the Streets of São Paulo (2022)

Armed with music and a message, influential hip-hop group Racionais MC's turned their street poetry into a powerful movement in Brazil and beyond.

Madonna: The Celebration Tour in Rio (2024)

Madonna celebrates her four-decade career in a special concert for over 1.6 million people at the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Raul: O Início, o Fim e o Meio (2012)

As the world boiled in the rush of Easy Rider bikes, in the frenetic pace of Elvis Presley, in Beatniks poets, in the explosion of counterculture, a boy from Bahia gave birth to Rock in Brazil. A runaway flying saucer that abducted the hearts and minds of thousands of fans, Raul Seixas, a man who became a myth. Raul died young because he lived intensely. Rock n 'roll, free love, alternative society, drugs, black magic, military dictatorship, women and daughters. A man who wanted to live from his work and died for it. The beginning, the end and the middle are confused, because the story is not over. The film reveals through rare images of archive, meeting with relatives, conversations with artists, producers and friends, the trajectory of the legend of Rock.

Mussum: Um Filme do Cacildis (2019)

The trajectory of musician and comedian Mussum as vocalist of the group "Os Originais do Samba" and later in cinema and TV as a member of "Os Trapalhões", a group that revolutionized the way of making humor on Brazilian television.

Mamonas Forever (2009)

In less than ten months, the music band Mamonas Assassinas went from being completely unknown to becoming one of the biggest phenomena in Brazilian music. Irreverent, intelligent, sarcastic and creative, the band took over Brazil and sold two million albums in just six months. Never-before-seen footage and interviews from family, friends, producers, and musicians tell the band’s story, their challenges, their rise to fame, and the tragic aeroplane accident that killed all its members in 1996.

O Barato de Iacanga (2019)

Participants recall a series of festivals held on a farm in Brazil during the '70s and '80s that evolved into liberating celebrations of music.

A Night in 67 (2010)

In the 1970s, "festivals" were incredibly popular in Brazil, as they were recorded before a live studio audience, and usually featured a number of elimination rounds. They also formed the springboard for the career of many a big-name stars, such as Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Gil. Appearing on such a program was no cakewalk, however: audiences could be as wild in their condemnation as in their appreciation of an artist. Extensive archive footage (including performances and behind-the-scenes interviews) from the turbulent final evening of the Festival of Brazilian Popular Music 1967 paints a fascinating picture, not only of the transformation of Brazilian music into real "festival" music, but also of a society starting to buck against the yoke of military rule.

Rush in Rio (2003)

Legendary rock band Rush plays the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the final night of the band's 2002 Vapor Trails tour, in front of 40,000 fans.

Axé: Music of a People (2017)

Originally from Bahia and considered today one of the most globalised musical movements in the world, Axé is a musical rhythm that carries in its essence a good part of all the musical and cultural syncretism of Bahia. The documentary brings together interviews and archive images outlining the birth of Axé.

Cássia (2015)

Cássia Eller Rejane. Cássia Eller. Cássia. A powerful restless force on stage, shined herself out of it. One of the greats of Brazilian music, Cássia Eller marked the 1990s and shocked the country with her early death in 2001. A film about the singer, the mother, the woman who exposed her personal life and broke barriers, leaving a beautiful social and artistic legacy.

This Was Tomorrow (2015)

The year 2015 will be chronicled as magical, mythical and memorable. The People of Tomorrow experienced Tomorrowland on three continents this year. After celebrating the 10th anniversary in Belgium in 2014 and putting ashore in the United States, the third chapter of our magnificent fairytale was written in Brazil for the very first time.

Tropicália (2012)

Set against the turbulent atmosphere of the 1960s, Tropicália is a feature length documentary exploring the Brazilian artistic movement known as Tropicália, and the struggle its artists endured to protect their right to freely express revolutionary thought against the traditional Brazilian music of that time.

Chico: Brazilian Artist (2015)

Chico Buarque is a constant presence in Brazil's art scene and makes up its citizen's popular culture. This wealth in music, poems, theater and novels has been created over the last 50 years and in this film Chico Buarque converses about his memories, shows, daily life, work methods, creative process, in summary all his trajectory. The musician’s search for his German brother, whom he never got to meet, serves as one of the axis for the narrative.

Sepultura Endurance (2017)

The long awaited documentary about Sepultura's incredible journey from Brazil to the world.

Loki: Arnaldo Baptista (2009)

Loki brings the trajectory of Arnaldo Baptista from childhood, passing through the most successful phase as leader of the Mutantes, marriage to singer Rita Lee and then separation. He also goes through the depression that devastated his life after the group ended and that led him to attempt suicide, his solo career, rapprochement with his brother and member of the Mutantes, Sérgio Dias, culminating in the band's return in 2006.

Sandy & Junior: Nossa História (2020)

"Nossa História" was the ninth tour of the Brazilian duo Sandy & Junior, held between July and November 2019. The tour marks the reunion of the duo twelve years after their last shows in 2007. The show, recorded in São Paulo, was first released exclusively for Globoplay, and later made available on DVD.

Emicida: AmarElo – Ao Vivo (2021)

To the beat of his avant-garde and eclectic rhythms, Brazilian rapper Emicida performs hits from his album AmarElo at the São Paulo Municipal Theater.

Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta (2025)

Brazilian pop star Anitta reveals her most intimate world yet in this documentary that explores her dual identity, personal struggles and search for joy.

Vinicius de Moraes (2005)

To celebrate the life and the work of a multifaceted creator – playwright, poet, partner of the most important names of Brazilian pop music and, above all, an enlightened character of the Brazilian cultural history - director Miguel Faria Jr. gathered an incomparable cast of partners, singers, friends and rare images from the archives recalling Vinícius’ genial simplicity, with the spontaneity, the humor, and the freedom of a person chatting over a bar table, exactly how the eternal Vinícius would enjoy.

Elis & Tom: It Had to be You (2023)

Elis & Tom is considered one of the most important albums in the history of Brazilian music. Recorded in Los Angeles, in 1974, it was all captured by a team of filmmakers led by director Roberto de Oliveira, who arranged for the duo to meet. The original footage was kept for 45 years until restored and remastered in 2018. The film is also an exciting reunion of the director with the artists and the material he filmed nearly five decades ago.

Landfill Harmonic (2015)

"Landfill Harmonic" follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. Under the guidance of idealistic music director Favio Chavez, the orchestra must navigate a strange new world of arenas and sold-out concerts. However, when a natural disaster strikes their country, Favio must find a way to keep the orchestra intact and provide a source of hope for their town. The film is a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.

Pitty: {Des}Concerto Ao Vivo (2007)

"{Des}Concerto Ao Vivo" is the first live album by Brazilian rock singer Pitty, released in September 2007. It was recorded in July of the same year, at Citibank Hall, in São Paulo.

Acústico MTV: Capital Inicial (2000)

Acústico MTV é o álbum acústico da banda brasileira Capital Inicial, lançado em formato CD e DVD. Ele faz parte da série Acústico MTV da emissora MTV Brasil. Foi lançado em 2000. O álbum fez grande sucesso e emplacou seis músicas nas paradas musicais (Tudo Que Vai, Primeiros Erros, Natasha, Cai a Noite, Independência e Fogo), consagrando o ressurgimento estrondoso da banda, que teve início no álbum Atrás dos Olhos, lançado em 1998. Os convidados especiais para esta performance foram: Kiko Zambianchi (que, em nota, afirmou à Revista MTV que fora convidado porque "ninguém na banda sabia tocar violão") e Zélia Duncan.

Simonal: No One Knows How Tough It Was (2009)

In a time of timeless and revolutionary talents, Wilson Simonal shined as nobody before and innovated as only a few could. All of a sudden, everything vanished. This film maps the spectacular trajectory of the ex-Army corporal that ruled as a monarch, and was condemned to ostracism for an offense to which he pleaded not guilty.

Queen - Live in Rio (1985)

British rock's greatest entertainers play to more than 300,000 people in Rio, Brazil, headlining the first Rock in Rio festival in January 1985.