Cinematic Black Territories in São Paulo

Written and directed by Black filmmaker Viviane Ferreira, the 2014 short film O dia de Jerusa and the 2020 feature film Um dia com Jerusa explore material and symbolic elements of Black culture in São Paulo’s Bixiga neighborhood, a space typically associated with Italian culture in dominant cultural imaginaries. Drawing from work in cinema studies, urban geography, and Black feminist philosophy in Brazil, I examine how Ferreira seeks to recuperate Bixiga as a Black territory in São Paulo by centering the experiences of Black women in ways that challenge the stereotypical representation of Black communities in Brazilian cinema. Through close analysis of the aesthetic differences that change the tone and meaning of scenes adapted from the short film into the feature film, I examine how Ferreira makes visible the shared experiences of Afro-descendant communities creating a cinematic territory articulated through Black subjectivity and film aesthetics.