Drums and Gods

A Brazilian street boy, Antônio, wakes up early in the morning on the beach of Salvador (Bahia).

At sunrise, he is overtaken by strange thoughts: The bible says that God created light even before the sun and the stars.

In the noisy carnival hustle and bustle, where nothing follows reason but rather emotion, Antônio senses a strange tension between his head and his stomach, which keeps him from staying calm.

[1] Brintrup was also influenced by Stefan Zweig's book “Brazil, Land of the Future” [2] in this film essay.

The songs of his album "Brizzi do Brazil", written for Brazilian and Portuguese singers,[4] were recorded during the filming of the movie.

Brintrup integrated parts of these songs into the film, including "Mistero di Afrodite", by Caetano Veloso.

[5] Major drumming groups from Salvador Bahia perform in the film: Kissukila, Terra em Transe, Swingue do Pelò, Banda Percussão do Bairro da Paz.

The film casts a European gaze on our country which is guided by the magic of music, dance and landscape.

For several years now, German filmmaker Georg Brintrup has been exploring the interrelationship between sound and image in his works.

Author of the films 'Symphonia Colonialis' (1991) and 'O trem caipira' (1994), both about Brazilian music, he now expands on the same subject in 'Tambores e Deuses' (Drums and Gods), which he is now shooting in Salvador.

“A sound is stronger than a picture can ever be”, the filmmaker states, justifying his attitude which might seem contradictory for someone who is actually dependent on the image.