Experiencing Interruptions?

Crackles

A quiet and solitary man, Eliseu cracks every part of his body. Like a human statue in the squares, he tries to redefine himself through art. When a young ballerina crosses his path, memory and fantasy intertwine.

  • F. Monteiro Júnior
    Director
  • F. Monteiro Júnior
    Writer
  • Regina França
    Producer
  • Felipe Zahir
    Key Cast
  • Serena Alberto de Brito Monteiro Morais
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Estalos
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 26, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:33 - 2:35
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • VI Mostra Sesc de Cinema
    Teresina, Piauí
    Brazil
    November 23, 2023
    Official Selection
  • III Bragança Short Film Festival
    Bragança, Pará
    Brazil
    December 3, 2023
    Competitive Showcase
  • 18th National Cinema of the Sertões
    Floriano, PI
    Brazil
    June 7, 2024
    Awards: Best Fiction Short · Film Best Director · Best Screenplay · Best Actor · Best Editing · Best Original Score · Best Makeup
  • 5th Contemporary Northeast Cinema Showcase
    Feira de Santana, Bahia
    Brazil
    August 9, 2024
    Competitive Northeast Short Film Category
    Award: Best Short Film – Competitive Northeast (Official Jury)
  • Northeast Fantastic Marathon
    Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
    Brazil
    September 12, 2024
    Official Selection
  • 11th FIACINE - Ibero-American Film Festival
    Ribeirão Pires, São Paulo
    Brazil
    October 20, 2024
    Award: Best Director
  • 1st Cinema à Brasileira Festival
    Niterói, Rio de Janeiro
    Brazil
    October 26, 2024
    Real Imaginaries Showcase
  • 1st Aurora Festival of Fantastic and Horror Cinema
    João Pessoa, Paraíba
    Brazil
    November 15, 2024
    Invisible Tensions Showcase | Awards: Aurora Award for Best Film · Whisper in the Dark Award for Best Sound Design [Iago Guimarães] · Body in Catharsis Award for Best Use of the Body [Felipe Zahir]
  • II Piranhão Film Showcase 2024
    Teresina-Timon, Piauí-Maranhão
    Brazil
    December 11, 2024
    Official Selection
  • All That Moves International Film Festival
    São Paulo, SP
    Brazil
    March 15, 2025
    Award: Best Performance in Brazilian Short Film [Felipe Zahir]
Distribution Information
  • Doroteu Filmes
    Distributor
    Country: Brazil
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - F. Monteiro Júnior

F. Monteiro Júnior is a Brazilian filmmaker from Piauí, recognized for his refined cinematic language and for overcoming his own motor limitations as a person with a disability (PCD) to reflect on, teach, and create cinema.

At the age of 15, he made his literary debut with the crime novel *As Sete Vidas do Gato* (1998), published through the A. Tito Filho Law, which promotes local culture. This was followed by *A Obscuridade Humana* (1999), released by the Federal University of Piauí Press (EDUFPI), and *O Confidente* (2003), which earned him the Fontes Ibiapina Novel Award from the Piauí State Foundation for Culture and Sports (FUNDEPI) in 2001.

His foray into the audiovisual world began in 2004 when he wrote and directed the medium-length film *No Meio do Caminho*, produced in collaboration with friends. Since then, he has created works such as the suspense short film *Insone* (2005), which won Best Film at Piauí Festvideo; the docudrama *Dona Maria* (2010), a sensitive look at loneliness and abandonment in old age; and the feature film *Qualquer Hora Dessas* (2012), which won Best Screenplay and Best Actress at the National Cinema Meeting of Sertões.

In 2017, he directed the short documentary *Estado da Arte [Adriano Abreu]*, which received awards for its screenplay and cinematography. More recently, in 2023, he released *Estalos*, which was funded by the first state cinema grant, promoted by the Piauí Department of Culture (Secult-PI). The film has achieved widespread recognition, earning 13 awards since 2024 at national and international festivals.

Beyond his work as a filmmaker and writer, F. Monteiro Júnior holds degrees in Psychology and Journalism, a Master’s in Literature, and worked as a film critic from 1999 to 2014 for both print and online newspapers. Since 2006, he has been teaching film workshops, helping to shape new talents in the field.

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Director Statement

"Crackles" is a short film about the search for a comfortable existence in a condition where you generate discomfort - in yourself and in others. A dark social tale where skeptical hope traverses a labyrinth between the past and fantasy, epitomized in a body horror of creaky joints and the exotic figure of the street artist being the target of cruelty, bullying and rejection when he stops performing. The collectively relentless nature of the public in its interest in the strange and its total disdain when that same strangeness leaves the picture.