André, a financial analyst; Alex, a subway employee; Anderson, a car factory worker; another Alex, a motorcycle courier: each one followed in his daily routine, weeks before the opening of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

In her previous films, the director discovered new ways of looking at the justice system (Justice and Behave), the relationships between Rio’s poorer communities and the police (Hill of Pleasures) and the struggle for survival (Drought). In Future June, she gives a multi-focused insight into the lives of four men in São Paulo, the seventh largest city in the world, revealing their dreams, disappointments and the challenges they face daily. Among images of countless buildings and intimate moments at home or at work, the film is built on a plurality of urban experiences and the paradoxes and contradictions of Brazilian society.

Maria Ramos films each of her characters without invading their spaces, respecting their complexity. Future June establishes a distance in order to get closer. The distance creates reflection.

The urban spaces also become characters as they reflect the workers’ personalities. The cold environment of the financial market, the deafening noise of a car assembly line, the risk of motorcycle rides in the traffic of São Paulo and the tension between policemen and strikers during a demonstration set the tone of the film.

Future June, Maria Ramos’ seventh film, establishes the filmmaker’s unique way of balancing the urgency of the subjects she chooses with the political power of the aesthetic of her work.

(Marcelo Miranda)

This screening is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Centre for Documentary Research at QUB and the Modern Languages Core Disciplinary Research Group at QUB.

Followed by a Q&A with director Maria Ramos.