New Brazilian docuseries explores the rise of right-wing extremismStreaming platform Globoplay scrambled to update ‘Extremistas.br’ after the assault on Brasilia’s government buildings on the eve of the premierOn January 8, Brazilian documentary filmmaker Caio Cavechini was putting the finishing touches on his new docuseries Extremistas.br, set to premiere the following week on Globoplay, Brazil’s largest streaming service. Suddenly, his phone was flooded with images of hundreds of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro climbing the ramp of the National Congress building in Brasília. The flag-waving “Bolsonaristas” were easily recognizable by the national soccer team jerseys they wore. “I admit my first reaction was disbelief,” said Cavechini, “even though I had just been filming in the Bolsonarista camps and saw how they emptied out.” For almost two years, he and his team had immersed themselves patiently and discreetly in the most radical elements of the pro-Bolsonaro world – they saw the warning signs. Cavechini assumed that security forces would stop the rioters, but instead, Brazil’s democracy suffered its most serious attack in decades. The docuseries premiere was in 72 hours, and now every episode had to be updated with the latest events. It was “one of the most severe revolts against democracy in our history, and we documented how it was conceived,” Cavechini told us. Extremistas.br was one of Globoplay’s submissions in the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. It’s original programming from Grupo Globo, the largest media group in Brazil and Latin America. One of the series’ protagonists is Rosangela Peçanha, an entrepreneur from Niteroi, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. In a matter-of-fact voice, she tells the cameras, “Communism is spreading – I’m going to war.” Later in the series, she says, “If we don’t step up, we will lose this war.” This is the type of bellicose rhetoric that has become increasingly normal among the most radical followers of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
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via elpais: New Brazilian docuseries explores the rise of right-wing extremism