Brazil cineforum, documentary "Raìzes Sem Terra" and discussion with director Francesco Ballarini

In Brazil, the richest 1% owns more than half of the land. The Brazilian agrarian reform, enshrined in the 1988 Constitution, aims to redistribute unproductive land from large landowners (fazendeiros) to landless families. But this process is fiercely opposed by the elites, who see land ownership as a status symbol. So the claim for land becomes a long, often violent fight: many families live for years, sometimes decades, in makeshift camps, in plastic tents, subject to threats and aggression, until their rights are finally recognized.

Raízes Sem Terra collects the stories of Bahian landless families — their hopes, struggles, fights, and desires. Here, in the semiarid sertão, social injustice is inseparable from climatic and environmental injustice: owning land means nothing without water to cultivate. Rain falls only a few weeks each year, with climate change exacerbating this dryiness, and only the wealthy can afford to drill wells.

A choral documentary where many lives intertwine to tell one larger story: of resistance, injustice, fight and hope.

"Raìzes Sem Terra" directed by Francesco Ballarini, 2026, 45 minutes, in Brazilian with English subtitles.

Door opens at 19:00, movie and presentation start at 20:00, followed by a discussion with Francesco Ballarini.

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