Wed, Aug 10 at 8:30pm: Introduction from Karen de Melo, PhD candidate in Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University | BUY TICKETS
Mari and her friends broadcast their spiritual devotion through pastel pinks and catchy evangelical songs about purity and perfection, but underneath it all, they harbor a deep rage. By day they hide behind their manicured facade, and by night they form a masked, vigilante girl gang, prowling the streets of Rio de Janeiro in search of sinners who have deviated from the rightful path. After an attack goes wrong, leaving Mari scarred and unemployed, her view of community, religion and her peers begins to shift. Nightmares of repressed desires and haunting visions of alluring temptation become undeniable, and the urge to scream and release her paralyzing inner demons is more powerful than ever before. A neon-tinged genre-bender that gives provocative form to the overwhelming feminine fury coursing through modern life, MEDUSA dares us not to look away.
“Anita Rocha Da Silveira’s second feature has been compared to a wide range of past films, from SUSPIRIA to THE PURGE. While it contains elements of science fiction, fantasy, satire, and horror, it doesn’t fit easily into any single category…. With MEDUSA director Da Silveira has definitely begun to hit her stride.” —Monica Reid, Far Out Magazine “Genre-bending and exquisite…. An electrifying work of art that elevates its already elevated pop influences, a transcendental tableau of the true-life horror of female oppression.” —Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat
