For this retrospective, we wanted to break down the barriers of cinema as a collective creation in order to showcase not only the work of filmmakers, but that of other artists whose contributions greatly enrich the films. In this edition, we're featuring the sound composition work of Brazilian group O Grivo, a duo of multifaceted sound artists.

Founded in Brazil in 1990 by experimental musicians and luthiers Nelson Soares and Marcos Moreira, O Grivo's artistic practice, although centred on music, interacts closely with the visual arts, theatre, film, and dance. At the heart of their creation is a desire to experiment – by building instruments, exploring new sounds, and developing performances and installations where sonic curiosity and improvisation take centre stage.

The musical pieces composed for the films are the result of open and diverse research into concepts such as texture, spatial organization based on sound, superimposition, perspective, density, speed, repetition, fragmentation, and orchestration. These parameters and processes are drawn from music and other fields of contemporary art. They act as sparks that fuel cinematic discourse. Ideas around harmony, melody, rhythm, spatial organization, perspective, and orchestration – both sonic and visual – are combined and reorganized in a way that is sometimes methodically planned, sometimes intuitive.

As part of this retrospective, we have selected five works for which O Grivo composed the music. These films share a common theme of exploring territories that escape the trappings of urban centres. Here, landscapes become true characters: they shape the narrative, influence temporality and interact with sound textures to create an immersive experience where every shot and every note helps transport the viewer into a unique sensory and poetic universe. Far from being mere backdrops, these natural and rural spaces become catalysts for the imagination, revealing the power of the interaction between image and sound in the making of a documentary of delicate depth.

 - Ana Alice de Morais

Presented with the support of Consulate General of Brazil in Montreal and the Institut Guimarães Rosa