In The White Death of the Black Wizard, talented Afro-Brazilian director Rodrigo Riberio-Andrade revisits the country's painful slave past, evoking the many lives that were destroyed by the violence of colonization. At the heart of this experimental short is a 19th century letter written by a slave named Timóteo, just before he took his own life. The filmmaker skillfully juxtaposes this man's story with archival footage from the time, unfolding the faces reduced to a life of silence. By killing himself, Timóteo made his final gesture of insurrection, unfortunately the only one that his agency allowed him, to free himself from his suffering and, finally, to break the silence imposed on his people.

RIDM Programming Collective

Presented in collaboration with