A playful animated choreography of colour and composition and the most artistically elaborate kaleidoscope of the world we’ve ever witnessed in an animated film.
The good-natured and carefree boy is growing up in an idyllic Brazilian countryside where time seemed to have stopped. The chaotic metropolis is its polar opposite, the city to which his father leaves in search of work. The boy ventures after him. In the city he observes the social structure of the world marred by media manipulation, Asian garment containers, mechanical animals and huge waste dumps. The life there is nothing like the white countryside, whose pastoral tranquillity is emphasised by vivid colours on a white background and the sound of the flute. Homage to nature and a critique of contemporary society – consumerism, media and industrialisation – shown from the perspective of a boy searching for his place in the world. The imaginary outlook on present-day globalisation will captivate the young and the grown-up audiences alike.
“I sometimes get the feeling that the films find us and not vice versa. The boy suddenly materialised in my notebook, as I was working on another project, Canto Latino. The drawing was special on account of its utter simplicity, and it seemed as if he was waiving at me. More than the drawn character himself, I was overcome by the desire to develop something of such minimalist design. Thus the boy was placed into his context, the beforehand devised backdrop. His garden. All that was missing was his story inside this universe. And so I started on the script.” (Alê Abreu)
Born in 1971 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Fascinated by drawing since childhood, Abreu fell in love with animation at the age of thirteen. He first started making short animated films and in 2008 shot the sci-fi film, Garoto Cósmico. There followed a short film, Passo, as well as the animated documentary Canto Latino that centred on the Latin American protest songs. Thus, the boy Cuca also came into being, who aroused in the director the desire to make The Boy and the World.