Iracema (de Questembert). 2009
Video

What if we reversed the classical stance of the right-thinking Westerner visiting the amiable natives somewhere? In her docudrama "Iracema" (de Questembert), specially made for the Biennale, Maria Thereza Alves recounts the ambiguous story of Iracema, a young woman from the isolated Brazilian village of Corubime. Iracema makes the long journey from São Paulo to France, where she learns that she has just inherited her father’s estate. She is now the owner of a vast property which the local authorities would like to buy from her rather than see it in the hands of a "savage". Undaunted, Iracema fights to keep her property, where she founds the Questembert Institute for Art and Science. She makes speeches at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre and sets about meeting artists and thinkers.