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Recife - while the monsters sleep

What happens in the early hours of each morning in a big city like Recife? What journeys begin when its streets are still almost empty? What secrets and magic do its elements hide?
Recife – While the Monsters Sleep is an experimental documentary that makes the city its protagonist, exploring it beyond the usual clichés. Inspired by a contemplative and sensory language, the work moves between fiction and documentary, evoking moments of introspection about spaces that have become part of everyday life. By revealing a rare and silent Recife, the work leads us into a territory of transition—between the real and the imagined.

  • Widio Joffre
    Director
  • Widio Joffre
    Writer
  • Widio Joffre
    Producer
  • Widio Joffre
    Cinematography
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 20, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    200 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 16º FESTIVAL DE CINEMA DE TRIUNFO - 2025
    Triunfo
    Brazil
    December 17, 2025
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Widio Joffre

Widio Joffre is a cinematographer and director from Pernambuco, Brazil, whose artistic journey began with painting and drawing. While studying at university, he discovered photography through photojournalism — a path he pursued for years before gradually transitioning into video and, eventually, cinema.

Today, Widio embraces the possibilities of experimental filmmaking as a space to develop an aesthetic that resists clichés and embraces emotional truth. He seeks to craft images that are not only visually compelling but also deeply personal — with the hope that, one day, his work may be called a window to his soul.

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Director Statement

Recife - While the monsters sleep" was born out of a silent restlessness that has accompanied me for years: the feeling that the city breathes, feels and carries its own history - but that, without a body or a voice, it can only exist from the traces we leave in it.

As a native of Pernambuco and a director of photography with roots in painting, I have always been attracted to atmospheres. I wanted to observe my city before it “woke up”, when humans are still absent. In this interval between waking and dreaming, I found a Recife that resists clichés - where empty streets, muffled sounds and raw light tell stories without words.

My creative line came from the idea of a city as a living being that, even without autonomy, bears the marks of human desire - desires that both build and destroy, that exalt and drag down. The film is an invitation to take a long look, to listen to dead time and to question where the real ends and the imagined begins.

Inspired by filmmakers such as James Benning and Scott Barley, I followed the path of a sensory aesthetic, where sound, color and rhythm become discourse. I wasn't looking for answers - just the construction of a space where the city could finally speak for itself.