16.11.2025 at 13:00. Samba Infinito | Notes From a Poet | Graziano – A Hermit’s Story, Kazan, The Smena Centre for Contemporary Culture

Time and place

Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 13:00

Kazan, The Smena Centre for Contemporary Culture: Казань, Бурхана Шахиди, 7

Description

SAMBA INFINITO
2025, Brazil-France, 15 min., col., lang – Portuguese, short-length, feature
Directior: Leonardo Martinelli

Notes From a Poet
2025, Canada, 8 min., o.v.-No dialogue, feature, short-length
Director: Simon Garez

Graziano – A Hermit’s Story
2024, Belgium-Germany, 41 min., col., language – Zoldo (Italian dialect), German, documentary, full-length
Director: Jozefien Van der Aelst

Samba Infinito

Genres: Feature, Short-length

Director: Leonardo Martinelli

Operator: João Atala

Screenwriter: Leonardo Martinelli

Cast: Alexandre Amador, Miguel Leonardo, Camila Pitanga, Gilberto Gil

Producer: Renan Barbosa Brandão, Rafael Teixeira, Leonardo Martinelli, Lucas H. Rossi, Clara Marquardt, Justin Pechberty, Damien Megherbi

Year: 2025

Country: Brazil-France

Duration: 15 min.

Languages: Portuguese

Description

Russian premiere

During Rio’s Carnival, a street cleaner struggles with the loss of his sister and his work obligations. Amid the celebrations, he finds a lost child and sets out to help him. Carnival is a time when even those forever gone can return. A phantasmagorical film by inventive Brazilian filmmaker Leonardo Martinelli.

About the director:

Leonardo Martinelli
Filmmaker from Rio de Janeiro. His film Neon Phantom won the Golden Leopard for Best International Short Film at the Locarno Film Festival. His shorts have been selected at festivals worldwide, including Cannes, Locarno, Toronto, San Sebastián, BFI London, Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs, Montreal, Biarritz, Toulouse and others. He also holds a Master’s degree in Communication from PUC-Rio and is currently developing his first feature film, selected for the Locarno Residency and the Hubert Bals Fund.

Notes From a Poet

Genres: Feature, Short-length

Director: Simon Garez

Operator: Freddy Aung

Screenwriter: Simon Garez

Cast: Emmanuel Bégin, Katya Solenne, Bruce McKay

Producer: Simon Garez

Year: 2025

Country: Canada

Duration: 8 min.

Languages: No dialogue

Description

Russian premiere

After discovering an enigmatic inscription in a library book, a restless dreamer embarks on a quest to unlock its meaning.

About the director:

Simon Garez
French-Canadian filmmaker, raised in Saskatchewan. He holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and a diploma from the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts. His work has screened worldwide at festivals including VIFF, Atlantic IFF, and Vienna Shorts. His films examine rural life and humanity’s interaction with its ecological environment. Alongside his artistic practice, Simon is also engaged in beekeeping and honey production. His short Gentle Hum of Spring was presented in the non-competition programme of the 33rd Message to Man Film Festival.

Graziano – A Hermit’s Story

Genres: Documentary, Full-length

Director: Jozefien Van der Aelst

Operator: Edoardo Scussel

Producer: Jozefien Van der Aelst, Fred Kelemen

Producer company : KINO KOMBAT Filmproduction

Year: 2024

Country: Belgium-Germany

Duration: 41 min.

Languages: Zoldo (Italian dialect), German

Description

Russian premiere

Graziano is the sole resident of a deserted mountain village. With his blind dog as his loyal companion, Graziano roams the empty streets, serenades in the abandoned church, and embarks on a quest to reunite with his long-lost love, whose name has faded from his memory. A melancholic portrait of a hermit dwelling in the echoing well of his daydream.

About the director:

Jozefien Van der Aelst
Film director and writer based in Berlin and Antwerp. In her hybrid worlds, often on the brink of collapse, she explores the relationship between humans and nature, touching on themes such as emergence, spatial narrativity, cartography, traditions, landscape, grassroots religion, catastrophe, and ecology. She holds an MA in Philosophy and a BA in Theatre, Film & Literature Studies, and later studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin.