Original title: A Melhor Mãe Do Mundo
Screening as a late addition to conclude our Brazilian Summer Nights season alongside Cine Brazil. We present the UK premiere of the latest film from Anna Muylaert (The Second Mother).
Sunday's screening will have a panel discussion following the film with Viviane Mordi and Rita Monteiro, chaired by Silene Velasco.
To escape an abusive relationship, Gal puts her two young children into the recycling cart she uses to collect trash on the city’s streets and runs away. Alone and facing the dangers of homelessness, she convinces them that they are on an adventure.
Presented with English subtitles.
Please arrive promptly - we show 10 minutes of trailers before each film and do not show adverts.
Speaker bios:
Silene Velasco (chair) - Silene is a mother and a migrant. She brings lived experience to this conversation. Her experience of maternity included navigating disadvantage, racism and a lack of support in both Brazil and the UK. Parenting with multiple Latin backgrounds has also shaped her understanding of identity, belonging and many different ways we experience motherhood and family.
Viviane Mordi - Viviane Mordi is Brazilian, a migrant, the mother of Isaac, a community organiser and a social justice activist.
She has been living in the UK for six years, where her personal journey is deeply intertwined with her professional and political commitment to racial justice, equality and the rights of Black and migrant communities.
Before arriving in the UK, Viviane built a career in the fields of international development, public administration, humanitarian work and community development. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Management and Development from the Federal University of Bahia. In the UK, she has continued this work, collaborating with Black organisations and forging links between British Black movements and organisations and grassroots Black initiatives in Brazil. She has also worked directly with migrant and racialised women affected by violence and abuse, offering support, advocacy and pathways to access rights and services.
Rita Monteiro - Rita Monteiro is from Madureira in Rio de Janeiro. In her late teens (in the 1980s), she used to listen to lectures by Lelia Gonzales and Beatriz Nascimento in person at the Afro Agbara Dudu group, which is now recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of the State of Rio de Janeiro by IPHAM. She joined the MNU (Unified Black Movement) when she turned 18. She took part in the first march against racism in Brazil. She studied contemporary dance at the Maria Olenewa School in Lapa. She attended the Martins Pena Theatre School and went on to pursue a career as a presenter on MTV in the 1990s. She was the first Black VJ on MTV Brasil and the third Black woman to present on Brazilian television. She suffered financial abuse here in the UK at the hands of her British ex-husband and became homeless as a result of his financial fraud. At that time, she was not yet fluent in the language. Today, Rita is one of the founders of a women’s collective whose main aim is to support and provide information to Latin American immigrant women in London who lack a support network – women who face the daily challenges of migrating to the UK.
