Forbidden Wedding is the story of a man who is forbidden to get married by the Catholic Church in Brazil because he is sexually impotent. My passion is to produce films that tell deceptively small stories that have significance well beyond the frame of the camera. These stories are sometimes tragic, other times funny, and are often seen through the eyes of ordinary people in unusual circumstances. The documentary explores the relationship between an institution and its people, and the triumph of the human heart
"Engaging and thought-provoking with unwitting comic touches."
TimeOut London, November 2006 |
Hedir Antonio de Brito, a paraplegic from the age of 15, wants simply to marry Mara. They were preparing for the wedding; invitations had been mailed, and their marriage certificate applied for from the Roman Catholic Church. Then the shocking letter arrived from the local bishop denying their application. According to the Vatican¹s Canonic Law 1084, a man must be able to copulate in order to get married.
When I first read of the story in a small Brazilian newspaper in New York, I was shocked. Didn¹t the Church have more important things to do? Why were priests so concerned with peoples' sex lives? I had to capture this story. I found out that Hedir lived in a small town in southeast Brazil and within a few days I was on a courier flight to document his story. With my digital video camera in hand, I talked to the couple, their families, the townspeople, and the local priests. Many of them were afraid to speak their minds in the shadow of the Catholic Church, but speak they eventually did. Told entirely through their voices, the film unfolds into a gentle love story about human sexuality, the rights of the disabled, and faith in Brazil.
This video is available for rental $75 and sale $295 and also public screenings. Director is also available to discuss the film in public screenings. Contact: ffontes@earthlink.net
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