THE BULL

DOCUMENTARY, 78′, BRASIL, 2015.

SYNOPSIS

When the Portuguese King Don Sebastian lost the Battle of Alcazar in the 16th Century, his body was swallowed by the sands of Morocco and disappeared. His spirit, however, raised an army that went on exploring continents until they arrived in Brazil.

On the Lençois Island, in the Northeast of Brazil, Don Sebastian founded his enchanted kingdom. He wanders in the form of a black bull, which bears a star on its forehead. One day his daughter will return to the island, wielding a golden sword.

O Touro Poster

CREDITS

Documentary, 78′, Brazil, 2015

director LARISSA FIGUEIREDO cast JOANA DE VERONA & LENÇÓIS ISLAND INHABITANTS (BR) producers ANA PAULA MÁLAGA, JOÃO CASTELO BRANCO, LARISSA FIGUEIREDO & RAFAEL URBAN assistant director RAFAEL URBAN director of photography and still JOÃO CASTELO BRANCO assistant of photography ANA PAULA MÁLAGA sound recording BRUNO VASCONCELOS editing LARISSA FIGUEIREDO & RAFAEL URBAN color grading JOÃO CASTELO BRANCO sound design FÁBIO BALDO sound mixing DANIEL TURINI & FERNANDO HENNA graphic design FERNANDO SCIARRA illustrations LUIZA URBAN distribution CAZUMBÁ FILMES

REVIEWS

The Bull begins with documentary naturalism and reaches an impressive magical realism 

— CINEMA AD HOC

The mutation from the documental to the fictional by distorting the real has caused a sensation in the projection of the Brazilian feature film The Bull 

— LUIS SUÑER, VIDEODROMO

What starts as a documentary turns into something more powerful and mysterious. The weight of the film lies on Lençois – an isolated and magical land where dunes, mangroves and desert blend together […] Far from being only a gentle form of naturalism, O Touro uses these elements to soak up the atmosphere with a certain pleasing and forgotten magic, such as childhood’s old tricks. This concise and glowing film, Larissa Figueiredo’s debut, doesn’t need to be defined as fiction or documentary – it’s simply aimed to experience the visit to a forgotten kingdom  

— FERNANDO VÍLCHEZ, DIRETOR DO FILMADRID (Festival Internacional de Cine)