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TRAVESSIA

"Travessia" is a contemporary dance performance that revives the Black diaspora, from the horrors of the water-covered dungeon - the slave ship - drifting through to the present day. It has been 134 years of freedom, but Black people are still chained to many shackles in Brazil. The Black, poor, and favela-dwelling people are the concrete result of the Brazilian structural racism, fostered day after day for years of injustice and non-reparations. Permeated by poetry and video art, the performance presents phases of the African population's trajectory since their arrival in Brazil, in the water-covered dungeons of slave ships, to the contemporaneity of Afro-descendants and the false idea of freedom that runs through their existences. "Travessia" is a cry of lament, a deafening noise, a danced illustration of an important part of our people's untold history. Chains and lashes live within us, seas and oceans run through our veins. Tears mix with salt water, and no one hears us. There is no help from here. We have lost ourselves in inhumanity, we have lost ourselves from God. Here in my heart, there is the longing for my motherland. I carefully guard the entity that lives in this cheapened flesh, in the memory of where I came from and what we were - Kings and Queens.

  • ALEXANDRE de FREITAS MACIEL
    Director
  • WALLACE SOUZA
    Showrunner
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Music Video, Short, Television, Web / New Media, Other
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 57 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 6, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    800 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • Country of Filming:
    Brazil
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    DIGITAL
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Beach House Short Film Festival
Director Biography - ALEXANDRE de FREITAS MACIEL

Travessia is a contemporary dance performance captured on film, a poetic and visceral exploration of the Black diaspora in Brazil. The piece begins in the water-filled dungeons of the slave ships and unfolds into the present day, showing that despite 134 years since abolition, Black Brazilians remain chained to poverty, marginalization, and the structural racism of a society that has never delivered reparations.

Permeated by poetry and video art, the work stages phases of the African population’s journey in Brazil — from the brutality of enslavement to the precariousness of life in the favelas today. In its choreography lives the cry of lament, the deafening noise of injustice, and the embodiment of an untold history carried in blood, salt, and memory.

The universe of Travessia was created by Wallace Souza, whose artistic vision transforms dance into a language of ancestry, resistance, and collective memory. His work brings to the stage the body as archive, expressing both the pain and resilience of Afro-Brazilian existence.

The film is directed by Alexandre Maciel, a Rio de Janeiro-born filmmaker and advertising professional currently pursuing a Master’s in Art and Design at PUC-Rio. Founder of Cabecidade Audiovisual, Alexandre has directed content for Netflix, Globoplay, and HBO Max, as well as festival-selected works such as Travessia (2023), screened at more than 30 international festivals. Recognized for his exploration of Brazilian creativity and for framing the Global South as a force of cultural innovation, Alexandre approaches Travessia not only as a documentary about dance, but also as a cinematic manifesto that affirms dignity, resilience, and the ancestral power of Black lives in Brazil.

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