Valongo is an international Art festival that happens in Santos, Brazil.

Why have certain social groups had so little historical presence in Art fields? The film introduces the concept of Selective Blindness. An illness that, for years, had made Humankind not see (or not want to see) certain social groups.

In 2018, Valongo had a huge presence of minorities. Both in the art installations, performances and, mainly, in the audience. The festival has always art lovers as its audience, but this year it grew due to the massive attendance of some minorities. In order to speak with our audience, we created an empowering campaign. We wanted to say: “We know it took too long for an art festival to talk about it, but we’re doing it now.”

The film introduces the concept of Selective Blindness. An illness that, for years, has made Humankind not see (or not want to see) certain social groups. The film reveals itself through scenes of violence against ethnic minorities, religious groups and targeted genders at different times and generations.

In the middle, the film announces that the cure for selective blindness is, little by little, changing society, and that those who are willing to can in fact see.

Viewers then are faced with scenes of art-related breakthrough movements, or so-called avant-garde. Those were the first generations that questioned the status quo and created new points of views.