'Revolutionary': Aly Muritiba Centers Black Joy in Musical 'Funk' with Duda Santos

Brazilian director Aly Muritiba calls his new musical "Funk," now playing in competition at the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, "revolutionary" for one concrete reason: "We don't have a single gunshot in the film."

The film premiered at Tribeca and opens at a party in a Rio de Janeiro favela. There, Sabrina, played by rising star Duda Santos, steps onto the stage and into her MC persona, singing about explicit sexual desire over the bass-heavy beats of Brazilian funk — the rhythm that has won over Madonna and The Weeknd. Sabrina dreams of funk stardom and pays a heavy personal price for it.

The film follows Muritiba's Venice-selected "Private Desert" and the Gramado closer "Drenched in Blood." The apparent genre shift is less sharp than it looks. All three films share a curiosity about loneliness and desire.

Where did the idea come from?

Producers Heitor Dhalia and Manoel Rangel brought Muritiba the concept, he told Variety ahead of Huelva. Both had shot series in Rio's favelas and witnessed the "potency of funk." The trio then developed Sabrina together.

Muritiba's research was "empirical." He attended funk parties across Rio while writing the script and shaping the visual concept. Casting director Alonso Zerbinato then cast largely from the favelas and funk parties themselves, landing real-life funk singers such as Lellê and MC Nem.

"The majority of the ensemble consists of real-life funk singers, but I needed an experienced actress for the main role because Sabrina is a very complex character," Muritiba said.

Who is Duda Santos?

Santos's career has skyrocketed in the last two years through lead roles in the massively popular telenovelas "Garota do Momento" and "A Nobreza do Amor." Muritiba praised her range.

"Duda is a great actress, but also a great dancer," he said. "After several roles on TV, she was anxious for her first film role, so she grabbed this opportunity with open arms."

Her preparation was punishing: daily singing, dancing and stage-presence lessons, plus extended rehearsals for every scene. "It's very gratifying to see such a young actress be this talented and committed to her craft," the director added.

What does the film change for the favela genre?

Brazilian funk remains stigmatized for its sexual content and its favela roots, even as American and European artists absorb it. Muritiba confronted that stigma, he said, "without prejudice and conservatism."

"In the context of the favela, to talk about sex or have sex is to celebrate life and freedom," he said. "When you portray and sing about Black bodies living, having fun, having sex and having pleasure in a country with over 300 years of slavery and where high numbers of Black people are murdered every day, is revolutionary."

He pointed to internationally celebrated favela films such as "City of God" and "Elite Squad," which typically frame Black lives through constant suffering. "What 'Funk' proposes is the very opposite: Black people happy, alive, and vibrant," he said.

How was the film built?

Music anchors the project. Ambulantes composed all original songs in partnership with DJ Renan Valle. "It was a very rich process creating the songs from the ground up," Muritiba said. "Choosing the beats and writing the lyrics was great to shape the film's rhythm."

Shooting in the favelas brought hardship and reward. "Going up and down hills, stairs, little streets and seeing the poverty faced by so many Brazilians was very difficult, but it was also beautiful to experience a latent sense of community amongst the locals, something that contaminated the film," the director said.

Muritiba has already moved on to his next feature, the folk horror "New Eden," starring Welket Bungué, Gabriela Pousa and Zahy Tentehar. It follows Damião, a young Black priest who arrives in a village in southern Brazil, and is set to premiere next year at a "major international festival."