Behind Closed Doors

With director João Pedro Bim in person 

Dir. João Pedro Bim. Brazil. 2023, 66 mins. DCP. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Though Brazil’s military dictatorship began in 1964, its most violent period began in 1968 with the enactment of Institutional Act No. 5, which suspended the constitution, silenced citizens, and opted overtly into totalitarianism. The act was decided upon during a meeting of the National Security Council, which was recorded but went unheard until this astonishing and ingenious film by João Pedro Bim, which combines this archival audio document with blithe moving image propaganda perpetuated by the government throughout their regime. While the dark irony to this juxtaposition is unmistakable, Bim avoids glibness by explicitly identifying each speaker as well as the provenance of the images we’re consuming, effectively putting the viewer in the position of archivist, historian, and outraged citizen of the world. The brevity and matter-of-factness with which the Brazilian leaders dismantle democracy is both shocking and ominously reminiscent of the state of things more than half a century later. New York premiere 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership.

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.

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About the filmmaker:

João Pedro Bim is a film producer and researcher from São Paulo, Brazil. Partner of the production company A Flor e a Náusea, he produced the documentary series Social Housing—Projects of Brazil (2019), the multi-awarded short films Liberty (2018) and Still Agony (2018) and the feature Panorama (2021), as was associate producer of the commercially distributed feature The Young Baumann (2018). He also works as an archival footage researcher in documentary features and series. In 2023, Bim debuts as director with the documentary feature Behind Closed Doors.