I truly realize now that I have yet to understand the true pain of the Brazilian people.

English Detected-Everyone is under investigation...and the people still suffer, who protects the people from all of this corruption, and will anyone of the stolen money be returned? Who is fighting for the Brazilian babies, who want to have a future?

Portuguese -Todo mundo está sob investigação ... e as pessoas ainda sofrem , que protege as pessoas de toda esta corrupção , e ninguém do dinheiro roubado ser devolvido ? Que está lutando para os bebês brasileiros , que querem ter um futuro ?

Maybe....

A crazy thought crossed my mind. Could Brazil's Petrobras scandal be used to get Dilma Rousseff impeached, and if so why.  Say you have a faction in a corporation participating in money laundering, and taking bribes in a company in exchange for contracts.  Could there be a figurehead intentionally kept in the dark to be used as a scapegoat at a later date?

Having watched the changes in Brazil occurring with the event of the World Cup, I saw a poorer class getting money for the first time, and having dreams of improving their lives permanently.  However, I believe that its possible that to halt this, and bring back the status quo, there are people willing to loose money, to maintain their position as the rich ruling class.

So what do they do...force projected growth to stop, and raise interest rates, by changing a highly placed corporation like Petrobras into junk bond status; shaking the world communities confidence in the Brazilian market.  Plummeting the growth potential for the country, and loss of faith that has resulted in an almost 3.5 to 1 currency conversion for Reals to the Dollar.

Why?

The Brazilian's that have real money have shipped much of that money to the States, so their Reals turned into Dollars are now more powerful.  The poor people who remodeled their homes, and purchased luxury items on credit when the economy was looking up, are now unable to afford to even live in their favela neighborhoods, because foreigners are gentrifying their community.

What are the poor people doing that once supported Dilma Rousseff? They are now against her.

Why?

Maybe because their dinner table is not full the way it was post World Cup.  Maybe the corrupt politicians that Dilma Rousseff was attempting to get rid of have all gotten together to destroy her, and seek revenge at the expense of the Brazilian people.

Maybe.

I have friends that wondered why I didn't attend the protest in Copacabana Beach on Sunday while I was in Rio de Janeiro.

I didn't want to be a part of the manipulation in any way, but I have been observing from a distance.

Surely people couldn't be that evil.

Background behind what led me to become a documentary filmmaker.

At ABC I became a Production Coordinator with ABC news which I loved. However, I accepted a buyout from ABC because I was becoming tired of watching all of the uncovered political and economic news of underrepresented communities that I watched over the news wires, such as the story of the genocide taking place at the time in Rowanda. What drives me to make film is that what was covered by mainstream media and what I read on the wires and considered important were very different.  I talked my way into working as a Line Producer for Apple Production on my first “film”, Love, Lust and Marriage. My career as a freelance producer resulted in film festivals, and one Showtime screening of a short film Tiano. Other freelance work included time spent as the Director of Development for the New York International Latino Film Festival, and writing gigs with trade publications, such as Film Festival Today, and before that the New York Film Monitor. 

My perspective as a filmmaker is unique because as a reviewer of films and through interviews with filmmakers at festivals for print and in my capacity as Director of Development of a Latino Film Festival I learned that the greater the level of immersion and personal involvement with a story the more the story of a film, be it narrative or documentary impacted me personally.  

As a divorced single mother, tied to New York, and unable to follow contacts to Los Angeles and later Canada, I was a producer for hire.  I found a way to break out of that restricted career path by directing and producing my first documentary, Voice of the Faceless a short  on 9/11. In VOF, I explored mixing, print, still images, and veritae footage with the inclusion of selected interviews  to tell the stories of how young Black pre-teens and teens felt about 9/11 since this was a story I was not seeing on television or in movies, they were without a voice. The short opened at the African Diaspora Film Festival at the Schomburg Museum and continued on to the London Black Film Festival, and various smaller festivals.  Shortly after completing this film I made my first visit to Brazil in 2003.  

Escolinha de Arte Urbana

The highlight of my past trip to Rio, June 2-9, was interviewing my friend Vitoria, and then documenting her project for kids in Vidigal, Escolinha de Arte Urbana.

I had an amazing time, and I believe the pictures

that the pictures I have attached shows you how a desire to give back can affect young lives.  Through documenting her and her friend Miguel's project, I was truly uplifted.

Post World Cup Observations.

Today is March 23, 2015, and this is my second time visiting Rio, since the World Cup finished in July 2014.  I have been saving to get a new computer to continue editing my documentary, Why Brazil?  But all along the way I have been coming to certain realizations.

No matter that I want to give an insiders view of the development of Brazil, in particular Rio with reference to the changes because of the first female president, Dilma Rousseff, the World Cup and the upcoming Olympics, in fact I will always be an outsider looking in.  There are a few things that are self evident, the fact that many businesses have been able to afford to improve the outside appearance of their stores etc.  The fact that the construction is growing in leaps and bounds.  The fact that there are many needed changes for the people of Brazil, that have not yet happened; changes such as a significant improvement in the schools, and hospitals, for the disenfranchised, who are the life's blood of Rio.

Certain things have changed, and come to my attention, again as an outsider looking in.  While attending the 2 anos anniversary of M.A.R., the Museum of Art of Rio, I was lucky enough to try to get in at 3:41pm on Saturday. I found out that the museum closed early because of the music celebration of the anniversary.  I was told that if I waited I could stand in line and get a free ticket after the people that were officially invited.  I LOVEEEEEEE live music, and even without knowing who would play I waited until 5pm, and it was the best thing that I ever did. I got an opportunity to see a pre-show demonstration, by a group of women, who felt that they were not fairly represented within the museum, and then I even watched the pre-show sound check.

The group that played was Mono-bloco. A famous Brazilian Samba and Baille-Funk.  More to come.

Pre & during the World Cup 2014.

Leading up to the World Cup 2014, I visited London, England, and had the pleasure of hooking up with a friend that I met in Rio, Eileen.  She let me stay at her flat when I mentioned I wanted to connect with the Brazilian population in London.

Once their I spoke with Brazilians about the World Cup being in their country and the press leading up to the World Cup, and I got a wide variety of responses but in general most Brazilians were in favor of the demonstrations, and the fact that Brazilians were taking advantage of their moment in the spotlight.

I also spoke with a few people about the missed opportunities that occurred in London during the Olympics.  Most mentioned that the biggest missed opportunity was a culinary one.  At no place during the Olympics in London did the organizers feature local food, in fact local art and culture of any kind was absent because of the high price of Olympic sponsorship.  

This is something I later found was shared by the World Cup in Brazil, hot dogs, and coke, and hamburgers were the most readily accessible food.  It was only the local people smart enough to watch the games in bars and restaurants all around the city who really got to experience the local foods.

After leaving Fan Fest after the last game, I stopped in Ipanema for an acaraje, (local shrimp, and okra appetizer), and I then I went on to a barbecue at my hostel afterwards.

For the majority, western food and culture were what they experienced but for a select few that stepped away from the beaten path, there were some unique experiences. As are evidenced below, as a group of Doctors from Toronto, and Cape Town, South Africa took the time to tour Rocinha in Rio's largest favela with my friend Zezinho,.  There they experienced local cuisine and culture firsthand.

A Short Reflection...

When I'm in Brazil I can't worry about my friends in the same way I can as when I'm away from Brazil.  When I'm in Brazil each decision I make about taking my camera into controversial situations, seems like a big one when I'm making it, and an even bigger one when I get home, and allow myself to regret not having the footage.  One comfort is my accommodations in Rio.  There is a beautiful view of the beach, and each morning rain or shine, I can take a moment for reflection, and pray for guidance, just like I do in the peace of my own home.  Another comfort is that the empirical evidence that I bring to each viewer helps them to make more informed decisions about how they interpret the media, the politicians, the police, and the government in Brazil.

I go to a friend's house there and I initially "poo-poo" his decision to have his own personal bank in a cabinet, until I hear about "money laundering" crack downs in Rio.  I am a woman but I am still unbelievably naive about the world but I know that God watches over fools and children.

I am walking with my fear in one hand, and my camera in the other, and my eyes seeking to capture the p.o.v. of human to human.