Underplayed Gems

Queen of Lapa

Queen of Lapa poster
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The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film follows Luana Muniz a transgender activist and cabaret performer in Rio de Janeiro. It shows the daily lives and bonds of a community of trans sex workers in the Lapa neighborhood using a direct cinema style.

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What happens

Queen of Lapa is a 2019 documentary film directed by Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat which profiles Luana Muniz, a Brazilian Brazilian transgender activist and cabaret performer. [1] Archived 2023-04-16 at the Wayback Machine In 2002, Muniz founded the Associação dos Profissionais do Sexo do Gênero Travesti, Transexuais e Transformistas do Rio de Janeiro (Association of Travesti, Transexual, and Transvestite Sex Professionals of Rio de Janeiro) to fight for greater rights for Rio's sex workers. The documentary uses Direct Cinema style to depict the lives of a small community of trans sex workers in Rio de Janeiro's Lapa neighborhood. The film premiered internationally at the Sheffield DocFest on June 7, 2019 and was included in Göteborg Film Festival "Focus on Brazil" January, 2020. It's distributed by Factory 25 and was release theatrically in 2020-2021. Queen of Lapa is described as "recalling trailblazing documentaries, inviting and jubilant" and "a triumph of documentary filmmaking" and an "essential look into the camaraderie and struggles." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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