Initially quashed under an oppressive dictator-led regime in its home country of Brazil, this forward-thinking, politically-charged film deftly navigating sex, sport, and queerness has only just seen the light of day – in a stunning new 4K restoration, courtesy of Spamflix.
The film follows eleven women on a newly formed football team, the Gayvotas – a reaction to strict government regulations of women’s football in Brazil, which was only lifted in 1983. But what attracted the ire of Brazilian authorities was the film’s free expression of unfiltered queer-joy, cross-dressing, and broad inclusivity. Conservative phobias aimed at such notions become the punchline in Julia Duarte’s radical and revolutionary avant-garde sports comedy.
We’re delighted to preface Onda Nova with a short film, courtesy of our friends at Mosta Luminosa. Vollúpya is a sci-fi/documentary, which ties together the thematic strands of Brazilian LGBTQ+ identity; the past and the present, never isolate in stasis.
