My Mother is a Cow (Minha Mãe é uma Vaca)
Brazil, 15 mins, Digital
In-Person & Online
As fire consumes the Brazilian wetlands, the violence of nature and the arrival of a near-mythical Jaguar collide with 12-year-old Mia's desperate longing for her mother.
Director: Moara Passoni
Writer: Fernanda Frotté, Moara Passoni
Producer: Sofia Geld, Daniel Liu, Katya Skakun
Director of Photography: Carolina Costa, AMC
Editor: Germano de Oliveira
Production Designer: Isabela Azevedo
Cast: Luisa Bastos, Helena Albergaria, Amorosa No, Ana Carolina Guztazaky, Claudio Rodrigues da Silva
Contact: moarap@gmail.com
Program G
Sunday, May 18th at 7:00 PM
About the Writer/Director
Moara Passoni is an award-winning Brazilian writer/director. Her short My Mother is a Cow premiered at Venice and has won multiple international awards. She co-wrote the Oscar-nominated The Edge of Democracy and directed the essay film Extâse (MoMA Doc Fortnight, CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel). Her work has been featured at major festivals including Venice, Berlin, NYFF, Toronto, and Sundance. One of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” she is an alumna of TorinoScriptLab, La Fémis–Cannes Producing Atelier, GOTHAM Week, and NYSCA. Moara holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University (Jelinek Award), a B.A. in Social Sciences from USP, and a Master’s in Documentary from Unicamp. She studied Aesthetics at Paris 8 and Dance and Performance at PUC-SP. She is developing her first narrative feature and a series. Moara’s work explores the intersection of intimacy and power, the female body, and the conditions that consistently transform our humanity. In her films, she captures the dramatic, fantastical (and sometimes horrific) always with a twist of humor.
About the Writer
Fernanda is a Brazilian screenwriter and editor. She co-wrote and co-edited the short film Minha Mãe é Uma Vaca, which premiered in the Horizons competition at the 81st Venice Biennale. She completed a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Screenwriting at Columbia University, New York, with a full scholarship from CAPES/Fulbright. She is currently a Development Executive at RT Features.
About the Producer
Katya Skakun is a New York-based filmmaker and creative producer originally from Belarus. She co-founded Respublica, a trend-setting retail chain in Russia, before transitioning to filmmaking in New York. Katya has produced and directed numerous acclaimed short films, commercials, music videos, and documentaries. Her work has been featured at prestigious festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Moscow International Film Festival, and New York Film Festival. Katya holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University.