Os Carvoeiros

On the deforested plains of Central Brazil, where once eucalyptus trees grew, the primitive, round charcoal ovens look like igloos. But instead of protecting people from the cold, their heat is devastating. In OS CARVOEIROS, the English director Nigel Noble introduces the workers that make a living by cutting down the trees, building the ovens and burning the wood. The charcoal is processed into steel in American steel mills and subsequently used for building cars and houses.Sixty thousand Brazilians are active in the charcoal industry. They lead a nomadic existence, moving across Brazil from one forest to the next in search of a job. They cannot read or write, because they have been working in the charcoal industry from childhood. Their own children are condemned to the same dead-end life, as there is neither money nor opportunity for education. Broken backs, black lungs and deeply furrowed, ashen faces are the result.Director Noble was active in the English theatre and music industry before establishing his reputation as a filmmaker and winning an Academy Award for his film CLOSE HARMONY. For OS CARVOEIROS, he was inspired by the photographs Marcos Prados made of these ‘charcoal people’. The calm narrative style, the warmly lit images of the stripped landscape and the melancholy music by João Nabuco together compose a sad visual poem about a doomed people.