RIO BREAKS
Rio Breaks
Justin Mitchell, 2009
Catalog No.: FTF-014
Length: 85 minutes
Set against the volatile and dangerous world of the favelas, Rio Breaks tells the story of two surf-obsessed friends, 13-year-old Fabio and 12-year-old Naamã. The pair live in Rio de Janeiro’s Favela do Pavão, which is controlled by one of the city’s most dangerous drug gangs. However, their attention is focused on the waves of Arpoador Beach and on a coming surfing event that may help them become professionals and escape the world of gangs. Nominated for Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival and winner of the Special Jury Mention at the San Sebastian Surf Film Festival, this Sundance Channel co-production by Director Justin Mitchell (Death Cab for Cutie: Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, Jenny Lewis: Welcome to Van Nuys, Ted Leo: Dirty Old Town & Songs for Cassavetes) and Writer Vince Medeiros (Surfing & Huck Magazine) is an inspired and hugely original documentary that takes the surf film genre into never-before-seen territory.
Festivals: Festival do Rio, Hawaii International Film Festival, WaveRiders Film Festival, The London International Documentary Festival
PURCHASE
DVD
WATCH THE FILM
PRESS
"Gentle, touching and gorgeously lensed, Rio Breaks meshes a heartfelt hymn to surf-love with a harsh tale of slum survival. It's a beautifully bittersweet vision of growing pains on the rough side of rio, intimately unpeeling favela life's poverty, violence and angst while still shining with the fragile hopes and joys of childhood."
- Jonathan Crocker, Little White Lies