IFFI TO OPEN WITH BRAZILIAN FILM 'BRAINSTORM'

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The Brazilian film "Bicho De Sete Cabecas" (Brainstorm) will be the inaugural film of the International Film Festival of India-2002 (IFFI) to be held in Delhi from October 1 to 10, 2002. The film, directed by Lais Bodanzky, has won several awards including Best Film (Soleil D’Or) at Biarritz Film Festival (France 2001), Best First Film at Trieste Film Festival (Italy 2001), Best First Film & Best Actor at Cartagena Film Festival (Colombia 2002), Best Film, Director, Script & Actor at Recife Film Festival (Brazil 2002) and Best Film, Director, Actor & Photography at Brasillia Film Festival (Brazil 2001). It has also bagged Young Jury’s Award at Locarno Film Festival-2001.

"Brainstorm" is Lais Bodanzky’s first feature film heralded as one of Brazil’s most promising new directors, Bodanzky received critical attention for her short film RED CARD, which won numerous awards in Brazil and which was screened at several international festivals. She also directed the award winning shorts BIA BAI and SWITCH IT OFF.

Based on the story of middle class Brazilian adolescent forced to endure a Kafkaesque nightmare when he is unjustly institutionalised in a hellish asylum. Neto is a young boy experiencing an average Sao Paolo teenage life of alternative rock, road trips and joint now and then. He would rather spend more time with his friends than at home with his overbearing parents. Feeling they can no longer control him, Neto’s parents trick their son into being admitted to a mental institution. Neto falls into the absurd system of cruelty and corruption of an archiac hospital bureaucracy. A voyage that pivots between reality and fantasy. A bad trip that threatens to push Neto over the edge into insanity.