Brazilian short competes for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; meet ‘Amarela’

Amarela, a short film by Japanese-Brazilian director André Hayato Saito, was selected for the short film competition at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d’Or in the category. The production is set in São Paulo, during the 1998 World Cup final. Erika Oguihara (Melissa Uehara), a Japanese-Brazilian teenager who rejects the traditions of her Japanese family, yearns for Brazil’s title. During the game, she suffers violence that seems invisible and plunges into a painful experience.

Produced by a mostly Brazilian team of Asian descent, the short is part of a trilogy by Saito with the production company MyMama Entertainment. Through films, he investigates his ancestry with an intimate look. The first of these was Kokoro to Kokoro (2022), about the bond between his paternal grandmother and an old best friend from Japan – and won important mentions at film festivals around the world. Then came Vento Dourado (2023), a short film centered on his maternal grandmother, in which the filmmaker makes an essay on death and explores the relationship between generations. Saito is currently working on his first feature film Yellow Chrysanthemum, which will be a synthesis of the trilogy.

The short was selected from among 4,420 works entered in the competition and competes for the Palme d’Or for Short Film with ten other productions. The award will be presented by the jury on Saturday, May 25th, during the event’s closing ceremony.

Amarela is the fourth Brazilian production to participate in the 2024 edition of the Cannes Festival. Motel Destino, by Karim Aïnouz, also appears in the official selection, competing for the Palme d’Or for best film. Two other titles will be shown in parallel exhibitions at the festival: the documentary A Queda do Céu, about the Yanomami people, at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and the film Baby, by Marcelo Caetano, at the Cannes Critics’ Week.