Bay Of All Saints

Above the polluted waters of the Bay of All Saints in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil live hundreds of families in improvised homes on stilts. An ecological renovation project threatens to leave them homeless. Nicely stylised documentary about poverty in emerging Brazil.

For several generations, a large community in the Bay of All Saints in Salvador da Bahia has occupied hundreds of palafitas: small, ramshackle houses that are built on stilts. This ‘water slum’ is located in the ocean’s bay, right next to one of Brazil’s richest cities. Government plans to clean up the seriously polluted bay put its dwellers at risk of being evicted.
The film follows single parents Geni, Jesus and Doña Maria who are all at risk of becoming homeless, despite the government’s promises to build new, social housing. For six years, the filmmakers focused on these militant mothers’ struggle for a better future for their children. This nicely stylised documentary sheds new light on the complex issue of poverty, a landless community and blundering authorities in Brazil, which has the world watching over its shoulder in the run-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.