São Paulo, New York

My experience of moving from São Paulo, Brazil, to New York was both a loss and a reclamation of my cultural identity. While studying in NYC, I realized how profoundly American media had shaped my life up to that point. Reflecting on my decision to pursue film in America, I began studying and reconnecting with my own roots. By the time I graduated, I carried a renewed conviction in my Brazilian identity and a purpose as a filmmaker: to explore this experience through a distinctly Brazilian-American lens, one that speaks to the realities of many international students in America.

Shot across Brazil and the U.S. with two entirely separate crews, the film presents fleeting moments that juxtapose cities, musical genres, and ways of life, exploring cultural identity, belonging, and coming of age under the American system.

In making this film, I set out to examine the differences between American and Brazilian cinema, creating a piece that lives in the space between. Playing the lead was part of that challenge. As “Felipe,” I could process my own emotions as an international student living on borrowed time, confronting the same bureaucratic dilemmas I now face in real life. The film became both an artistic statement and a personal preparation for the uncertain road ahead.