Experiencing Interruptions?

Divina

Across Divina’s three chapters – which allude to the bible verse John 14:6, The Way, The Truth and The Life – Ode presents do Corintho in a way that stands against the usual rhetorics associated with the travesti identity. “I covered Marcinha in iconographies of saints that I saw around my hometown as a way to bring up the issue of how it’s common to see images of travestis and trans women in the news being beaten up, killed, and demonised”, she says. “I wanted to explore a different narrative: to show that travestis can be alive, grow old, leave a legacy, be victorious, and be seen as sacred.””

Through the saint-like depiction of do Corintho and a showcase of many artefacts from her life, as well as other sacral references such as a soundtrack inspired by Christian choirs and Afro-Brazilian religions, Ode makes a powerful statement about the value of trans lives. Do Corintho, representing all of her travesti family, is portrayed as a deity that is meant to be worshipped. “In the context of Brazil – the country in which the most trans people are being killed year after year – the possibility of having an eternal life, besides being a dream of mine, is the message that I want Divina to convey. I think that the possibility to dream fertilises life and avenges death.”

  • Ode
    Director
  • Marcinha do Corintho
    Key Cast
  • Nestor Heitor Grun
    Directors of Photography
  • Breno Moreira
    Directors of Photography
  • Ana Escorse
    Color Grading
  • Pedro Zopelar
    Original Soundtrack and Sound Design
  • Bruno Alves
    Editor
  • Metropolis Post - New York Post Production Studio
    Film Laboratory
  • Breno Moreira
    Producer
  • João Bessa
    Producer
  • Ode
    Styling and Costume Design
  • Barry.co
    Production Company
  • CENSORED Magazine
    Support
  • Capuri
    Support
  • B.Luxo
    Support
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 56 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    English, Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Shot on Kodak Film 16mm
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Latin American Fashion Awards

    Fashion Film of the Year
Director Biography - Ode

Ode (b.1998) is a multidisciplinary Brazilian artist, who works with the realms of directing, styling, writing and curating, winner of the DRABL Artist Grant (2022) and of the Latin American Fashion Awards (2023) for Fashion Film of the Year. Her work integrates the collections of MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris and the Photography Library of Instituto Moreira Salles in São Paulo.

Her work is constructed on foundations exploring how identity can be discussed without relying on the framework of academia from the Global North, itself a colonizing force. Her artistic production explores a wide range of themes including racism, transphobia, memory, therapy, Afro-Brazilian spirituality and transmutation.

In 2022, Ode released A Rose and A Prayer, her first photobook, published by zero-Editions, which posits that divine beings are amongst us – if only we dare to reimagine them.

Her filmography includes the short film When There Is No Sun (2024), on the darkness that we go through in order to find the light; Ascensão (2023), exploring the spiritual dimensions of love and community; and Divina (2022), about the legendary Brazilian travesti Marcinha do Corintho.

She curated at LUX in London the exhibition Notes on Travecacceleration (2021) – with a nod to American curator Aria Dean’s 2017 essay Notes on Blacceration, Ode posits that accelerationism has always been implicit in travesti identity –; the Nataal series From Brazil, With Love and Optic Games (2020-2021) on young Brazilian Black photographers; and, at 16, she created the digital platform focusing on Afro-diasporic and African art Dúdús (2016-2019).

Her work has already been featured on Vogue, Dazed, Perfect, SHOWstudio, Nataal, Manju Journal, Harper’s Bazaar and It’s Nice That and exhibited at Photo London, Untitled Art Fair, Lafayette Anticipations, MEP - Maison Européene de la Photographie, ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts, 3537, MASP, Instituto Moreira Salles, Instituto Tomie Ohtake and LUX. Among her clients and collaborators are Comme des Garçons, Jean Paul Gaultier, NAMESAKE, COLORSxSTUDIOS, Samuel de Saboia, Ibrahem Hasan, Marco Ribeiro, Céu, Urias, Xênia França and Jota Mombaça.

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