Facing the camera in close-up against a black backdrop, 18 people sing the songs that marked their lives and tell stories associated with them. They are heartfelt stories of love and breaking-off, reunion, treason, death or happy endings. Songs by Jorge Ben Jor, Roberto Carlos, Chico Buarque or Tom Jobim, even unreleased songs, brought to life in the lips of these people living in Rio. ‘What’s the purpose of music?,’ Coutinho asks Queimado, one of the unforgettable characters in As Canções: ‘There’re smells, but you’re not smelling all the time. But music… you listen to it, you sing, and you’re bound to have memories of it.’ In the words of the director, ‘Music is like a wick that kindles memory, making it more affectionate. This is a film about feeling.’

Festivals:

• 2011 Festival de Río, Trofeo Redentor al Mejor Largometraje Documental
• 2011 IDFA, Competencia Oficial
• 2012 BAFICI / 2012 FICCI, Competencia Oficial.

Spanish premiere