A Idade da Pedra’s opening sequence, as the sun rises above the distant hills, directly quotes from one of A Idade da Terra’s possible openings, but in Ana Vaz’s take of Glauber Rocha’s recognizable title, ‘Terra’ (earth, land, soil) has been replaced by ‘Pedra’ (stone). This portrait of contemporary Brazil is more oblique than Rocha’s, proposing an imaginary ‘Stone Age’ situated neither in the future nor the past.
“A voyage into the far west of Brazil leads us to a monumental structure — petrified at the centre of the savannah. Inspired by the epic construction of the city of Brasília, the film uses this history to imagine it otherwise. I look at Brasília the way I look at Rome: Brasília began with a final simplification of ruins. Through the geological traces that lead us to this fictive monu- ment, the film unearths a history of exploration, prophecy and myth.” (Ana Vaz)
Portuguese spoken, English subtitles
