High-Rise

What does it mean to have a penthouse in poverty-filled Brazil? Interweaving resident interviews and vistas from above, High-Rise (Um Lugar ao Sol) is a hypnotic and revealing examination of the real view from the top. This feature length documentary presents an analysis of the dominant Brazilian classes through a dialogue with the inhabitants of nine penthouse apartments in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Recife. During the film, penthouse residents open up their homes to reveal their thoughts on social inequality, politics, and the world that surrounds them, as well as discussing more intimate subjects such as their desires, fears, insecurities, prejudices and personal histories. Through these interviews and a poetic visual and sound narrative, the documentary provides an evocative insight into the ‘verticalization’ of the Brazilian cityscape and deepens our understanding of what drives people to live in penthouses. High-rise is a film about height, status and power that questions the elite in a way that has never been done before in Brazilian cinema.

“A philosophical meditation on economic privilege….the footage is staggering.”
—Peter Debruge, Variety Magazine.

“Effortlessly provokes thoughts on inequality, satisfaction and oblivion".
—LA Weekly

“..A specialist in high risk interviewing….Mascaro has, quite literally, achieved the height of his pretensions.”
—Diego Trerotola, El Amante.

“Innovative and risky film making, bringing us closer to a social group that is rarely seen in cinema.”
—Jury, FIDOCS, Chile