Davi Pretto

Davi Pretto (Porto Alegre, June 16, 1988) is a Brazilian film director and writer. He has directed four feature films, Castanha (2014), Rifle (2016), Continente (2024) and Future Future (2025), in addition to a number of short films.

Career

Pretto graduated in cinema at PUCRS in 2008. He was a DAAD Berlin Artists-in-Residence fellow in 2018.[1] A retrospective of his work was presented at the Arsenal Film Institut in Berlin.

Castanha (2014)

Castanha is a dramatised documentary about the actor and drag performer João Carlos Castanha from Porto Alegre.[2] It includes intimate and staged scenes, and scholars have argued that it uses strategies from queer theory in its construction, opening up for a "fluid, variable meaning".[2] A review in the Hollywood Reporter called Castanha "genre-bending", writing that it "provocatively defies fiction/non-fiction categorization".[3]

The movie premiered at the Forum section of the 64th Berlin Film Festival in 2014, where it was one of several films exploring queer identities.[4] It won Best Film[5] at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival in the New Trends section.

Rifle (2016)

Pretto's second feature film, the neo-western Rifle,[6][7] premiered at the 2016 Brasilia Film Festival, where it won awards for Critics Prize, Best Screenplay and Best Sound.[8] Although Rifle is fiction, Pretto employs techniques from documentary and nonfiction cinema, and uses real people and real historical situations.[9] Although the film won multiple awards, some critics found the "too naturalistic approaches" underwhelming.[10]

Rifle was presented at the Forum section of the 67th Berlin Film Festival and later at the FID Marseille.[11] The film won the Grand Prize[12] at the Jeonju Film Festival.

Continente (2024)

Continente is a rural horror drama written and directed by Pretto where the plot involves an heiress (played by Olívia Torres), a French boyfriend (Corentin Fila) and an inheritance. Supernatural elements are suggested, and used as a platform for political reflection.[13] Critics described the movie as strange and uneven,[13] but also laud its "hallucinatory, rarefied, and ominous universe".[14]

The movie was internationally co-produced (Brazil, France and Argentina) with the support of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund[15] and San Sebastián Film Festival.[16] In 2024, Continent[17] was screened in the main competition of the 57th Sitges Film Festival and won Best Director[18][19] at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival in the New Trends section.

Future Future (2025)

His fourth feature, the lo-fi sci-fi Future Future,[20] was selected for the 59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Proxima competition and later won four awards, including Best Film and Best Screenplay, at the 58th Brasília Film Festival. Some planned locations for the film were devastated by the 2025 Porto Alegre floods, so Pretto used AI-generated imagery that he created himself to finish the film as intended, combining pragmatism with a distopic vision.[20]

Short films

He has also written and directed ten short films, including Waiting Room[21](2009), co-directed with Bruno Carboni, Como se Vive, Como se Torce (2014), Half Man, Half Ghost[22][23] (2015) and Foreign Desert (2020).

Filmography

Feature Films

  • Future Future (86min, 2025)
  • Continent (115min, 2024)
  • Rifle (88min, 2016)
  • Castanha (95min, 2014)

Short Films

  • Foreign Desert (23min, 2020)
  • Half Man, Half Ghost (30min, 2015)
  • Como se Vive, Como se Torce (13min, 2014).
  • Bagagem (16min, 2014).
  • De Passagem (11min, 2012).
  • Metro (14min, 2010).
  • Waiting Room (12min, 2009). co-dirigido com Bruno Carboni.

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Berliner Künstlerprogramm – Portrait Davi Pretto". www.berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Castro, Guilherme; Lyra, Bernadette (2017). "Queernesse e transgressão do corpo no corpo do documentário Castanha". Tríade: Comunicação, Cultura e Mídia. 5 (10).
  3. ^ Young, Neil (April 21, 2014). "Castanha: Copenhagen Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  4. ^ Frosch, Jon (February 9, 2014). "Vibrant AIDS drama among LGBT offerings at Berlinale". France 24. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  5. ^ Guerini, Elaine. "Sangue Azul rules Rio awards". Screen Daily. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  6. ^ "| Berlinale | Archive | Programme | Programme". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  7. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (February 12, 2017). "'Rifle': Film Review | Berlin 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  8. ^ Mayorga, Emilio (December 1, 2016). "Brazil's Davi Pretto on 'Rifle,' Brazil's Rural Diaspora, Doc-Fiction Boundaries". Variety. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  9. ^ Cronk, J. (2017). "RIFLE". Film Comment. 53 (3) – via Proquest.
  10. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (February 12, 2017). "'Rifle': Film Review | Berlin 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  11. ^ "FIDMarseille 2017". MUBI. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Noh, Jean (May 3, 2017). "Jeonju festival crowns Brazil's 'Rifle', France's 'The Park'". Screen. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Brodersen, Diego (July 17, 2024). ""Continente": lo fantástico como plataforma para la reflexión política | Con dirección del brasileño Davi Pretto". PAGINA12 (in Spanish). Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  14. ^ Batlle, Diego (July 18, 2024). "Crítica de "Continente", película del brasileño Davi Pretto". Otres Cines (in Spanish). Retrieved September 19, 2025 – via www.otroscines.com.
  15. ^ "Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Twelve New Funding Recommendations". www.duart.hr. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  16. ^ Fuente, Anna Marie de la (September 19, 2022). "Selman Nacar, Davi Pretto, 'Penal Cordillera' Feature at San Sebastian WIP Sections". Variety. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  17. ^ "Continent | Sitges Film Festival". sitgesfilmfestival.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  18. ^ Continente, Revista. "Festival do Rio anuncia vencedores". Revista Continente (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  19. ^ "Vencedor de Melhor Direção no Festival do Rio, "Continente" chega aos cinemas – Revista de Cinema" (in Brazilian Portuguese). October 29, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  20. ^ a b Szalai, Georg (July 7, 2025). "AI Brings Neurological Problems in Near-Future Brazil in 'Future Future' (Exclusive Karlovy Vary Teaser)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  21. ^ "exground.com". exground.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  22. ^ "Half Man, Half Ghost". bisff (in Chinese). Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  23. ^ Half Man, Half Ghost (2016) | MUBI (in Portuguese). Retrieved July 23, 2025 – via mubi.com.
  24. ^ Rio, Festival do. "And the Prize winners at Festival do Rio 2024 are…". Festival do Rio. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  25. ^ a b Mayorga, Emilio (December 1, 2016). "Brazil's Davi Pretto on 'Rifle,' Brazil's Rural Diaspora, Doc-Fiction Boundaries". Variety. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  26. ^ "Gaúcho Rifle é escolhido melhor filme no 12° Panorama Internacional Coisa de Cinema". www.correio24horas.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  27. ^ "Cine Esquema Novo concede seu Grande Prêmio a documentário de Eryk Rocha". GZH (in Portuguese). November 12, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  28. ^ BISFF (September 24, 2018). "2018 北京国际短片联展 | 获奖名单 Award". bisff (in Chinese). Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  29. ^ Rio, Festival do. "Veterans and new faces shine at Festival do Rio 2014". Festival do Rio. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  30. ^ Hopewell, John (April 13, 2014). "'Fifi,' 'Bug,' 'Manakamana' Win at Buenos Aires' Bafici". Variety. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
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