On the Street

Director Sérgio Bloch has created a portrait gallery of street vendors and pavement artists in Rio de Janeiro. He interviews these people, whose personal lives take place largely in public, and films their activities. For example, the knife grinder who makes music from his grindstone, the man who makes toys from garbage and hopes to get an exhibition, and the handicapped soccer player who endlessly keeps the ball up with half a leg. The colourful Brazilians are talkative and never moan. Artists who put on a show, such as the improvising singers, always draw large crowds. Some are happy in the streets, others are reconciled to the fact that they will simply never get a proper education. They briefly tell their life stories, while passers-by stop and listen. On the street, the personal is public.