Filmed months before the election, the film will have a single screening at Facom/UFBA, with director Cristiane Bernardes attending.
“A Câmara”, by Cristiane Bernardes and Tiago de Aragão, follows female federal deputies in their parliamentary work during the last year of Jair Bolsonaro’s government. It will have a single screening on Monday, 6 May, at 9 a.m., in the auditorium of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) School of Communication. The screening is open to the public and will be attended by documentary director Cristiane Bernardes. She will take part in a discussion after the screening, with Professor Roberta Carnelos (Political Science / UFBA) as discussant and Letícia Alcântara (PósCom / UFBA) as moderator. The event is organized by the documentary production team, the National Institute of Science and Technology in Digital Democracy (INCT.DD), and UFBA.
Following the tradition of ethnographic cinema, the documentary shows deputies elected from different parts of the political spectrum during a period of strong ideological polarization in the National Congress in 2022. The 89-minute film also covers reproductive rights, public education, the politics of care, the secular state, racism, and political polarization. Viewers can follow the clashes, discussions, conversations, and negotiations that take place in committee rooms, corridors, the plenary chamber, offices, and other areas of Congress.
Although women make up more than 52% of the Brazilian population and electorate, they have historically been underrepresented in the National Congress. The documentary shows the deputies’ public conduct in the Chamber of Deputies, where women hold 18% of seats in the latest legislative term (2023–2027), the highest share in Brazilian history. In the Senate, women account for only 14%. These figures place Brazil 131st among 193 countries for women’s participation in politics, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) ranking.
