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Inner Court

Inspired by true events, a judge finds himself trapped in the Brazilian criminal justice system. In this Kafkaesque environment, the splendor and magnificence of the architecture conceals a labyrinth of crime, corruption and bureaucracy.

  • Ricardo Mehedff
    Director
  • RICARDO MEHEDFF
    Writer
  • Guilherme Lessa
    Writer
  • Ricardo Mehedff
    Producer
  • Gustavo Werneck
    Key Cast
  • Jefferson da Fonseca Coutinho
    Key Cast
  • Bia França
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Foro íntimo
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    75,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 2k Alexa
  • Aspect Ratio:
    variable
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • BIFF - Boston International Film Festival
    Boston, MA
    United States
    April 16, 2017
  • Construir Cine International Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    May 12, 2017
    South American
    *Best Int. Fiction Feature Film
  • Jagran Film Festival
    New Dehli
    India
    July 8, 2017
    Asian Premiere
  • Stockholm Independent Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    July 6, 2017
  • 21st Avanca Film Festival
    Avanca
    Portugal
    July 26, 2017
    *Best Actor, Special Jury Award
  • Urban International Film Festival
    Tehran
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
    July 26, 2017
    *Best Cinematography
  • Internation Filmmaker Festival Berlin
    Berlin
    Germany
    September 30, 2017
  • London Independent Film Awards
    London
    United Kingdom
    July 28, 2017
    *Best Foreign Feature
  • Creation International Film Festival
    Ottawa
    Canada
    December 15, 2017
    Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinetography
  • FIC Autor
    Guadalajara
    Mexico
    November 17, 2017
  • Chandler International Film Festival
    Chandler
    United States
    January 14, 2018
Director Biography - Ricardo Mehedff

Ricardo started his career as a filmmaker after getting a Bachelors degree in Film and TV at George Washington University (Washington DC) and driving across the US to live in Los Angeles, where he began editing movie trailers for the Warner Brothers and Fox Studios. Six years later, he moved to Rio de Janeiro and became one of Brazil’s most prolific and in-demand film editors, cutting countless films, theatrical trailers and commercials. Naturally Ricardo wanted to take the next step and started writing, directing and editing short-films. His shorts received various awards and participated in over 100 festivals worldwide, including: Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto, Oberhausen, New York, Guadalajara, Los Angeles, Havana, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. ‘Inner Court’, Mehedff’s first feature film has screened at a great number of festivals around the world, winning many awards including Best Foreign Film at both the London Independent Film Awards and Festival Internacional Construir Cine in Argentina, as well as Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the Creation Int. Film Festival in Ottawa, Canada.
Filmography:
• Inner Court - 74'/Fic/2017
• Um Branco Súbito - 10'/Fic/2002 - Official Selection IFFRotterdam, Los Angeles & Havana
• Noite Aberta - 5'/Exp/2004 -Official Selection Oberhausen & Uppsala
• Capital Circulante - 10'/Fic/2004 - Official Selection Toronto, Guadalajara & Rio
• SX80bh - 5'/Exp/2006 - Official Selection São Paulo & London
• UM - 13'/Fic/2009 - Official Selection IFFRotterdam, Rio & Havana

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I'm interested in dealing with issues within a unique context, exercising the compression of time within a specific interval in the life of an individual. To place myself on the border between the real and the imaginary at the moment where the pressures of daily file put into question our psychological normality, creating cycles that may have happened, dreamed, or even imagined.

Inner Court sails in the troubled waters that hide the critical situation in which the Brazilian justice system resides and accompany a day in the life of a judge who finds himself imprisoned within the legal system.

The pompous and magnificence of modern architecture contrasted with the ordinary adornment of public offices, the computer that is never repaired and the huge piles of processes within the corridors of the courthouse, the recognized ineffectiveness of the government, the police and the criminal justice systems in Brazil, corrupted in all instances, including the highest of magistrates.

I include this judge within a Kafkaesque type labyrinth of in operant public machinations. It might just be a sum of days where nothing happens and so the processes are infinitely stacked with cases that are ultimately expired without resolutions, much like the overall meaning of justice in Brazil.