Dry Ground Burning

Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta's 2023 Brazilian film is set in a district on the edge of Brasília. Released from prison, Léa joins the all-female gang led by her half-sister Chitara, which draws oil from an underground pipeline and sells petrol. The film stands between fiction and documentary. The performers play roles close to their own lives while some scenes are entirely invented; the narrative deliberately leaves that distinction unclear. It was shot in long takes and night light. The narrative takes the political atmosphere of the period as a direct subject, with election campaign scenes and prison accounts inside it. It runs beyond two and a half hours. Who it's for: those who like Brazilian independent cinema and hybrid forms. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a clear plot; the film keeps its structure deliberately loose.