This documentary focuses on the life and works of Machado de Assis (1839–1908), who is regarded as not only Brazil’s greatest writer but also one of the major writers of the 19th century worldwide.

Of African descent and living in a period when Brazil hadn’t abolished slavery, he became a “master in the periphery”, producing inventive modern works that have profoundly influenced some of the most celebrated authors of the twentieth century.

Susan Sontag, an early and ardent admirer, once called him “the greatest writer ever produced in Latin America,” surpassing even Borges. Comparisons to Flaubert and Henry James, Beckett and Kafka abound. In the early 2000s, Harold Bloom claimed that Machado de Assis was “the supreme black literary artist to date.”

* Director Edson Martins and scriptwriter Andre Laguna will take part in a Q&A after the screening.