The documentary portrays the culture that surrounds “funk car ioca” ,

musical rhythm that mixes the American electronic funk with several

inf luences of Brazi l ian music. The “bai le funk” (funk bal l ) is probably

one of the most interest ing musical movements in the world, but it

certainly comes from one of the most v io lent and poorest places as

wel l : the s lums of Rio de Janeiro c ity (the “ favelas”) .

This music is the personal izat ion of raw elements. Bombastic

rhythms coming from the American Miami Bass, loops and samples

are united with powerful rap vocal using Brazi l ian s lang. It is music

to be l istened to as loud as possible with the bass sound pumping

the tropical n ights of Rio de Janeiro.

s i n o p s i s

1.THE BAILE FUNK: the goal is to show the bal l as the encounter moment be-

tween f igures who form the funk culture: The MC (the s inger) , the DJ (the one

who produces the beat or the rhythm) and the “ funkeiros” ( “ funkers”) , who are

the audience at these part ies. At the bal l everything is mixed up and chaos is

the engine that moves the human interact ions. The dance is both frantic and

sexy and the bal l can be represented as some sort of body ecstasy of the cul-

tural exper ience of funk music.

2 . THE FAVELA (THE SLUM): a space of cultural contradict ion, estuary of new-

ness and renovation and a sett ing for war. The favela nowadays represents a

vortex in the global urbanism, some sort of embarrassment within formal soci-

ety. A product of the social exclusion in industr ia l t imes, it symbol izes a f ie ld in

which culture renews and contradicts itself at the same t ime. It is in this “para-

urban” space, responsible for the Brazi l ian cultural recycl ing, that the culture

of funk car ioca comes about.

3. THE CHARACTERS: They are the MCs, DJs, composers, dancers and cultural

producers who, coming from the s lums (and from the middle c lasses, some-

t imes) , have produced what today it is cal led “culture of funk car ioca” from the

70’s now.

4.THE MUSIC: The roots of funk are the same roots of the global e lectronic

music, which has the German group Kraftwerk as its creators. Afterwards, th is

musical sty le evolved in the US through the hands of MC Afr ica Bambata. He in-

f luenced what would turn to be the Miami Bass movement, in F lor ida. This is the

legit imate father for the funk car ioca, which has its independence establ ished

from the creation of mixed rhythms that typical ly are Brazi l ian, such as the

samba, the “ forró” , the “part ido alto” , among others.

t h eC o n c e p t-

f r a m e s

f r a m e s

m a k i n g o f

Leandro HBL was born in Belo Hor izonte, Brazi l , in 1977. He gradu-

ated in Communication and Arts from Pontif íc ia Cathol ic University

of Minas Gerais (1999), where he also taught Audiovisual Communi-

cat ion. In 1996 he created MOSQUITO VIDEO & DESIGN, at which he

is the creative director. He worked with v ideo, i l lustrat ion, graphic

design, photography, c inematography and interact ive design.

He started his career in Cuba in 1998 with the Mira project. At the

same per iod he also studied “Cinematography” at the International

C inema and TV School of Cuba (San Antonio de Los Baños) .

From 2003 to 2006 Leandro jo ined FABRICA’s Audiovisual Depart-

ment where he developed creative work in photo, v ideo, c inema and

instal lat ions. As it is known, FABRICA is the Benetton Research and

Development Communication Center (www.fabr ica. it ) .

Many pieces of h is were selected for f i lm & v ideo fest ivals and art

exhibit ions worldwide, including Videoex (Zur ich, Switzer land) ; San

Francisco F i lm Festival USA; VideoBrasi l International Art Fest ival

(São Paulo, Brazi l ) ; Lat in American DigiFest; JVC v ideo fest ival (Tokyo,

Japan); C ineEsquemaNovo f i lm fest ival (Rio Grande do Sul ,Brazi l ) and

Paço Imperial (RJ, Brazi l ) .

www.leandrohbl .com

T h ed i r e c t o r s & p r o d u c e r s

Wesley Pentz (Dj Diplo) is a Grammy nominated producer and DJ

who was born in Tupelo, Mississippi , U.S.A. in 1978. He spent most of

h is chi ldhood in F lor ida where he began to work with e lectronic music

and f i lm. When Pentz was 18 he moved to Phi ladelphia for col lege and

eventual ly began working in an inner-c ity school as a teacher and

social worker.

As Diplo, Pentz started a career in music and mult imedia that has

brought h im to a level of international acclaim, performing before

sold-out audiences from Tokyo to Cape Town to Tel Aviv to Mexico City.

He has written, produced and remixed music for M.I .A . , Santogold,

Beck, Radiohead, and countless other art ists. The s ingle Pentz co-

wrote and produced for M.I .A . “Paper Planes” went double plat inum

in sales and was nominated for the 2009 Record of the Year Grammy.

Pentz ’s record label Mad Decent has helped to introduce Brazi l ian

Bai le funk, Angolan Kuduro, and other marginal ized music to c lubs

around the world. With the same mission in mind, some of the var ied

acts he has s igned to Mad Decent include Bonde do Role (Brazi l ) ,

B laqstarr (US) and Boy 8 Bit (UK). Pentz ’s char ity Heaps Decent seeks

out young indigenous and underpr iv i leged art ists in Austral ia and

provides them with support and resources that are enabl ing them to

transform Austral ian c lub music and create a thr iv ing music scene

in Sydney.

www.maddecent.com

FICHA TÉCNICA

Directors: Leandro HBL & Wesley Pentz

Producers: Leandro HBL & Wesley Pentz

Executive producers: Beto Cattabr iga,

Vânia Catani , Leandro HBL & Wesley Pentz

Production director: Amiten

Cinematography: Leandro HBL

Editor: Ricardo Mehedff & Breno Fortes

Music: Wesley Pentz (Diplo)

Assistants: Cr ist iano Lara & Calé St i l l

St i l l : Rebekka Elhers

Production company: Mad Decent & Mosquito project

Co_Producer: Bananeira F i lmes

Cast: MC Catra, Deise T igrona, MC Leleco,

Gaiola da Popozudas, DJ Sanny, MC Col ibr i , MC Gori la , MC

Preto, DJ Sany Pitbul l , MC Duda, DJ Grandmaster Rafael ,

DJ Car los Machado, DJ Marlboro, DJ Sandrihno

CONTACTS:

Mosquito Project

LeandroHBL

emai l : favelaonblastf i lm@gmai l .com

tel : 0055 11 8774 8181

Mad Decent

Diplo

emai l : d ip lo@maddecent.com

tel : 001 2152757155

“Rio funk customises raw, bombastic Miami rhythms with percussive

loops of samba drums and a l ively and unrelent ing Brazi l ian rapping

style. It\ ’s a music designed to be played as loud as possible, with the

bass turned high in the swelter ing, tropical n ight. Recently, however,

it has also been f inding success in colder c l imes.”

ALEX BELLOS, The Observer

Mosquito Video&Design • LeandroHBL • emai l : favelaonblastf i lm@gmai l .com

www.leandrohbl .com/funkf i lm • www.maddecent.com/favelaonblast

Making of at : www.v imeo.com/favelaonblast