One short film and a few trailers later, I’m a fan of director Esmir Filho.

It all started with a click through to an interesting sounding film titled The Famous and the Dead. Adapted from a novel by Ismael Caneppele the film, which is premiering at the Locarno Film Festival in a few week’s time, tells the story of a 17 year old boy who spends his time looking for friendship on-line or wondering the streets with his only friend but when the mysterious Julian arrives, the young man’s life is turned upside down. The teaser doesn’t give too much to go on but it was enough to peak my interest.

A little digging uncovered that earlier this year Variety named the Brazilian director an up-and-coming talent to watch. A little more clicking also uncovered a few of Filho’s early projects. The first is Tapa Na Pantera which translates into “Slap the Panther” which I assume is slang for smoking pot. The short video was released on YouTube and quickly became a sensation (though this is the first I’ve ever heard of it).

It stars Mariana Bastos as a pot-smoking older woman. It’s not clear how much of this is improvised but I’d say that maybe most, if not all of it is off the cuff.

The video itself doesn’t suggest much of anything about Filho’s style or capabilities as a director but it did open up a few doors. His follow up short titled Saliva, seems to suggest that Filho has talent. The film which looks at a young girl on the brink of her first kiss, looks gorgeous and the trailer suggests the same.

UPDATE: Quiet Earth has a few more stills and a load of new footage from the film!

And after all that warm up, here it is; the video that started it all. The teaser for Filho’s first full length feature The Famous and the Dead.

The Famous and the Dead