Director's Statement

The Royal Road of Cachaça is a path, a journey. The route of the Royal Road – the principal colonial road for Brazilian gold production – orients the structure and construction of the documentary. Thus, during 98 minutes of projection, the constant subtle changes in the landscape where the various stories of the film unfold can be observed: from the aridness of the sertão bush (Brazilian hinterland), to the paradisiacal abundance of the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The film however, does not limit itself to a mere juxtaposition of landscapes.

After all, as the Royal Road was the principal driver of Brazilian development, it is taken for granted that in traveling, vestiges of other epochs and historic moments will be encountered. In this sense, the Royal Road of Cachaça is truly a trip into space and time.

Fortunately, the film is far from having a ‘paleontological’ character. The documentary sticks to the living reality of the universes visited, and investigates the Brazilian imagination. The peculiar vehicle chosen for this journey is cachaça (a sugarcane brandy pronounced /ka´sha.sa/). The Royal Road of Cachaça is a trip in space and time because it is a trip into the imagination of a country. A trip that revisits the old myths and future projects that structure current daily life. A documentary about the invisible. An attempt to do an epidermic cinema, less concerned with the deepness of things and more interested in audio-visually mapping out its extension.

Director's bio-filmography

PEDRO URANO works in Brazil as cinematographer, producer and director. Among his recent works as cinematographer, two short films called attention: SUPERBARROCO (winner of Festival de Brasília 2008 and selected to the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes Festival in 2009) and MURO (awarded best short film in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes Festival and in the Vila do Conde Festival in 2008 /Portugal, among other awards).

Working as director, Pedro Urano took part in awarded documentaries like VULGO SACOPÃ (best short film in Porto Alegre IFF and in Brazilian Universitary Cinema FF, both in Brazil /2003) and O LATIDO DO CACHORRO ALTERA O PERCURSO DAS NUVENS (best experimental film in Rio de Janeiro ISFF 2005 and in Brazilian Universitary Cinema FF 2006, both in Rio de Janeiro). The premiere as director of feature length documentaries happened with ROYAL ROAD OF CACHAÇA (selected to the Critic’s Week of Locarno FF 2008 /Switzerland and awarded best documentary at Festival do Rio - Rio de Janeiro IFF 2008 and at Mar del Plata IFF 2008 /Argentine).

Throughout the years, Pedro built a strong relation with the visual arts, working together with artists like Tunga (as cinematographer in the short film CHIMERA, selected to the competitive section at Cannes Festival 2004 and Sundance 2006), Laura Erber (as cinematographer in the short film CARNET DU SERTAO and in various video installations), Marina Fraga (as producer of the short film SUMI, selected in DokLeipzig 2008 /Germany and DocumentaMadrid 09/Spain and awarded the jury’s special prize at Rio de Janeiro ISFF 2008/Brazil) and Tiago Rocha Pitta (as cinematographer in all the video installations and also as producer in the artist’s first short film ‘A TRILOGY’, in post-production stage). The documentary ‘THE HU ENIGMA’, selected in DOCTV IV (Brazilian governmental funding program to documentaries), is his most recent film as director and the first work in collaboration with the Brazilian visual artist Joana Traub Csekö.