This film addresses the impact on favela communities of police and army killings in Rio de Janeiro. In 2019 Rio’s police killed on average five people every day. Using participatory practices, we worked with Mothers of Manguinhos, Redes da Maré, and Women in Action in Alemão in late 2019. Our aim was to provide a platform for those who lost loved ones to tell their stories.

The film draws on testimonies of survivors of police violence in four favelas in Rio de Janeiro – Complexo do Alemão, Manguihos, Complexo de Maré, and Salgueira – in November and December 2019.

The film was produced using participatory practices, providing a degree of co-ownership, and co-authorship, where those who lost loved ones reclaim some agency over their experience – ultimately, approving their edited interviews in the final film.

It addresses the links between the ‘shoot to kill’ militarized policing of marginalized communities in Brazil and the militarized policing of marginalized communities in Haiti by the Brazilian-led UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

Our aim is to use the film, website, and research findings to stimulate discussion and policy consideration of states’ obligations to protect the human rights of communities targeted in police operations.

The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK, and Ulster University.