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#floramovie

Edital Proac No.27/2019 Frame7 Cinema Secretaria de

Governo
 This film is about the memories that don't exist about

Flora Maria Blumer de Toledo

Edital Proac No.27/2019 Frame7 Cinema Secretaria de

Governo
Director Statement
I am a black filmmaker and I live in the third city with the largest number of enslaved blacks in the
State of São Paulo. In the country that most exported slave labor in the world.
Brazil was the country that received the most slaves in the Americas. Four out of ten blacks who
crossed the Atlantic until the second half of the 19th century were destined for our country - a
total of 4.8 million African people

Slavery in American countries, especially Brazil, instituted a process of racial discrimination and
erasure of black memory, which silently establishes itself in the structures of the historical narrative
of the American peoples.
“Slavery was not born out of racism, but racism was the consequence of slavery,” summarized
historian Eric Willians in his book “Capitalism and Slavery”.

The constitution of the fact is: "Being black in Brazil means discovering and rewriting your own
history."
There is a lot of black memory of resistance that is not yet known. Many stories that need to be
reported, stories that need to be known and recognized by the black people and everyone.

Many of the local memory promotion agencies have no documentation of blacks and slaves
from the 18th century. Because of this, to build the memory of the black people in Brazil is to
assemble a puzzle of stories, a patchwork with small fragments of hundreds of life stories that were
taken by the cruelties of slavery in Brazil that lasted for almost 400 years of history .

I connect with this story when I try to build the memory of the enslaved black women in my city
through a film. When trying to build the memory of Mrs. Flora Maria Blumer de Toledo, a black
woman, born a slave, enslaved for 48 years of her life, she doesn't have a photo, she doesn't
have a documented history, or even a birth certificate. Even so, Mrs. Flora enters history as the first
black woman in Brazil and to be admitted as a member of a Protestant church.

In telling the story of Mrs. Flora, I have the need to tell the entire story of the black people in Brazil,
the resistance of the black woman, the fight against slavery, and the extensive consequences
generated by the entire American enslaving process.

Telling this story to me is urgent, as I am part of the link between my generation and the next. Like
other filmmakers in Brazil and in the world, filmmakers like Zózimo Bulbul, Joel Zito Araújo, Jeferson
De, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, among others, I find myself in the urgency of opera-
ting the composition of black narratives strengthening the point of view black of Brazilian and
Latin American history.
 Logline
Flora, a black woman, born a slave, freed in 1881, at the age of 48, becoming the
first black woman to be admitted publicly by profession of faith in a Protestant
church in Brazil on January 21, 1883.
 real characters portrayed
ilustrated photography
Flora Maria Blumer of Toledo
Flora Maria Blumer, from Toledo, a black
woman born in slavery on the Matias de Toledo
farms, sold at the age of 42 to the family of
German Lutheran immigrants Blumer, freed in
1881 when purchased by missionary Martha
Watts to work at the Methodist Secondary
School. seven years before the abolition of
slavery in Brazil.
Becoming the first Afro-Brazilian woman to be
admitted publicly by profession to a Protestant
church in Brazil on January 21, 1883.
Flora became a very personal friend of Martha,
so she traveled several times to the United
States, where she learned fluency in English
and lived as a free woman among Methodist
pastors and teachers until her death in 1892.
real image
Martha Watts
Martha embarked on March 26, 1881, leaving
New York on a 60-day trip to Brazil. She arrived
in the city of Piracicaba on May 19, 1881,
received by the family of Prudente de Moraes
and settled in the city to found a school for girls.
One of the first Methodist educators in Brazil
came from the United States with this dream. It
has become an important political articulator in
promoting entrepreneurship and the develop-
ment of education in Brazil.
Knowing the Blumer family, he met Flora Maria
and made her a job offer. Flora promptly
accepted the invitation and was soon released,
becoming a companion and personal friend of
the American missionary.
the journey
Flora lived for 59 years. 48 years old as a slave woman.
Only 11 years of her life as a free woman.
 timeline of Flora's life
Sold to Admitted to the
Birth Date Pedro Blumer Manumission Methodist church Death Date
1833 1875 1881 1883 1892

1834 1863 1888

Abolition in the Abolition of Abolition of
British Empire Slavery in US Slavery in Brazil

To better understand what Flora's time was like, we created a timeline about all the main events, refe-
rences and data of the black population in Brazil. Access the link below for more info.
https://classicvide3.wixsite.com/flora/timeline
A black woman for sale, perfect in all the service, for cheap price, for taking two naive; at
Rua dos Andrades 27, shoe store.
Newspaper announcement about the sale of a black slave woman in Brazil
bringing memories to life

Sinopsis
A film that aims to build the memory of Flora Maria Blumer de Toledo, a slave-born black
woman, freed in 1881, seven years before the Abolition of Slavery in Brazil, becoming the first
black woman to be admitted by public profession of faith in a church. Protestant Methodist in
Brazil on January 21, 1883.
Scholars, historians, sociologists and philosophers helped by research to build the script on the
memory of the first free black woman publicly admitted as a member of a Protestant church in
Brazil. He was born in Porto Feliz / SP / Brazil in 1833 at Fazenda Matias de Toledo, where he
remained until he was 42 years old. Flora, unlike the slave sisters who worked on the plantations,
worked on the housework of the home of her owner, Matias Toledo.
On April 19, 1875, Flora was sold to German Lutheran Protestant immigrants Blumer who came to
live in the city of Piracicaba / SP / Brazil. Moving to Pedro Brumer's residence, Flora met a
woman named Martha Watts, an American missionary and teacher from Kentuchy who had
just arrived in Brazil as a Methodist missionary, with great concern for the education of children.
Martha needed help in the administration of the school kitchen, knowing Flora Maria's talent,
invited her to work at the school. Flora readily accepted the invitation. Martha was an abolitio-
nist, so she bought Flora and arranged for her to be released. He bought Flora Maria from the
Blumer family and then asked his lawyer friend Prudente de Moraes (who would later become
the first civil president to take office via direct election in Brazil), a letter of freedom to Flora, who
in 1881 received her freedom .
As stated in the 2nd Piracicaba Registry, in book 33, pages 43, of November 25, 1881, exactly 7
years before the sanction of Imperial Law No. 3,353, the famous Aurea Law.
Flora's freedom was granted at the price of 400,000 réis (approximately US $ 1,500), paid to
Maria Isabel Blumer, who had a power of attorney for Pedro Blumer.
Flora became dear to Martha Watts, missionaries and school students, learning English and
traveling together with Methodist Pastor William Koger and Martha to the United States several
times.
The Methodist Church of Piracicaba was founded in 1881, the year in which Flora Maria Blumer
de Toledo received her freedom, and in the book that lists the names of the members, the
name of Flora Maria Blumer de Toledo, on January 21, 1883, is recorded. Afro-Brazilian woman
to be admitted publicly by profession of faith in a Protestant church in Brazil. The same day that
his former “owners” were admitted.
Flora lived in the home of Protestant slave families. This inscribed him in the history of Brazilian
Protestantism. And just for that, after 127 years after his death, I can tell part of his story.
The visual building are:

Flora´s history
Style
Building Flora's life narrative is far from easy. No photographs, no oral history or biography found.
Only a few mentions that will be interpreted in a poetic narrative romanticized with the intention
of guiding the viewer to the forgotten stories of the times of slavery in Brazil.

Who has the right to build your memory?

Throughout the Brazilian colonial period, history was built on white narrative. Where the marginali-
zed black people built a country from which they were always excluded. Pointing out how the
black Brazilian people were marginalized and excluded from history is the guiding thread that will
take Flora's story to resignify the trajectory of enslaved black Brazilians.

Interviews
Interview with several researchers, historians, and symbols of the Brazilian black movement, highli-
ghting the importance of black memory, the deconstruction of the colonial narrative, and the rise
of black protagonism in the history of Brazil.

Reconstruction of scenes & Graphic effects

The reconstruction of scenes through graphic effects and interpretations of photographs of slave
Brazil in the 18th and 19th century, together with poetic images about the terrible times of slavery
in Brazil will cover part of the interviewees' narrative, making the documentary more dynamic and
pleasurable.

Music
The music of enslaved people, with African influence and the intervention of Protestant culture.
The voices of millions of blacks who have never been heard, a chorus of highly resistant voices.
Flora's musical score will evoke melodies by Hans Zimmer and Enio Morricone with black voices
reconstituting songs of the enslaved black people
technical

Team Profile
Zezé Motta
Actress
Zezé is an unmistakable
name in Brazilian cinema.
Awarded as best actress at
the Brasilia Film Festival, at
the Gramado Festival, twice
awarded at the Cinema
Brazil Grand Prize, and at the
Taormina International Film
Festival.
Owner of an enviable career
as an actress, protagonist of
memorable films such as the
celebrated “Xica da Silva”,
“Vá trabalhar vagabundo”,
“Ouro Sangrento”, “Anjos da
Noite”, “Tieta do Agreste”,
and “Orfeu”.
Thais Dias
Actress
Award-winning actress and
with great experience on
stage by Coletivo Negro and
the group Pessoa do Faroes-
te, formed by the Santo
André Theater Free School -
ELT.
She also accumulates tasks
as director and casting
manager.
Thais Dias is the force that
will bring our “Flora” to life.
Beatriz Ferraz | Producer
Bachelor in communication
with experience in digital
marketing, audiovisual,
customer service and
production (graphics,
fashion and events).
She worked as a producer
in the administrative assis-
tance of the Brasilia Film
Festival, as an assistant
director in the film “Rumo”
by Victor and Marcus
Azevedo
Cris Mendes | Art Director
Graduated in Cinema, she
developed several audiovi-
sual projects, working in the
areas of direction, produc-
tion, script, scenography Ana Kanesaki|Cinematographer
and costumes. His projects A young and talented
were for four consecutive cinematographer and
years among the five best filmaker, signed the direc-
in the southeastern region tion of photography for
at Expocom, he won the films documentaries, music
award for Best Product for clips and several short films.
Digital Media in 2016. He Always with a peculiar and
worked as a production distinct look, seeking the
assistant in the short film “A beauty of colors and
Moça que danced com image compositions.
Diabo” by director João
Paulo Miranda Maria, film
that received an Honorab-
le Mention in Cannes.
Silvia Marques | Costume
Costume designer, teacher
and fashion design, Bache-
lor of Fashion from Unisal,
post graduate in Creative
Modeling from Senac SP.
With experience in product
development for clothing
and stamping. She worked
in jeanswear making and
laundry, stamping, consul-
tancy in visual merchandi-
sing for commercial
spaces, fashion production
for fashion editorials,
production of costumes
and tailor-made clothing
studio for 10 years.
Performs research on
modeling, wearability and
volumetry of biotypes in the
advanced style and plus
size market niches.
Regina Giacomo | Make up Artist
She worked at Senac as a
teacher, in the training of
professional makeup artists, João Scarpa | Cast
in the scope of social and Actor and theater director,
artistic make-up, as well as especially with works focu-
teaching courses in Eye- sed on the comedy genre.
brow Design and Beauty Artistic director at CETA,
Salon Administration. In Companhia Estável de
2017, Teatro Amador de Piracica-
ba since 2008.
she began working as a
Technician for the Cathari- Acted as an actor in seve-
ne Hill brand, where she ral independent short films.
remained until 2018, provi- He is currently part of the
ding training, courses and cast of the soap opera "As
workshops for the brand. Aventuras de Poliana
Moça", at SBT, playing
Entrepreneurial, following Professor Aloísio.
makeup for high definition
image - air brush for theater
productions, cinema (spe-
cial effects and characteri-
zations), photo essays,
fashion shows and editorials
(conceptual makeup).
Jeferson De | Script Advisory
Jeferson is one of the grea-
test Brazilian filmmakers Rossana Giesteira | Impact Producer
today. Created from the
manifesto "Dogma Feijoa-
da". Writer and director of
the award-winning feature
Bróder, selected at the 60th
Berlin Film Festival and
released in Brazil in April
2011, having received the
best film award by the
APCA and 11 nominations
at the Cinema Grand Prix.
Brazilian.
The screenplay for the film
was selected at the Sun-
dance Institute VI Scre-
enwriting Lab. Directed 26
episodes of the “Pedro e
Bianca” series , aired on TV
Cultura and Emmy winner
at the 2nd Emmy Kids
Awards and also the Prix
Advertising executive with
an MBA in Executive
Production for TV Cinema in
Digital Marketing, both from
Fundação Getulio Vargas /
RJ and specialization in
social facilitation from
Instituto EcoSocial SP /
Germinar, has 23 years in
the market working in the
areas of communication
and project development
for large companies multi-
nationals and nationals in
the telecommunications,
media and services sectors.
She works as a communi-
cation consultant and
develops impact campaig-
ns for other filmmakers and
distributors.
Beto Oliveira | Producer
/ Screenwriter
/ Director
Beto Oliveira is a Brazilian
black independent produ-
cer, director and screenwri-
ter of projects for film,
education and new media.
Since 2001, he has been
working with audiovisual,
producing several short
films and events focused on
educational development
focused exclusively on
cinema.
 the slave was a commodity, object of the most varied commercial transactions: sale, purchase, loan, embargo, deposit, closing and
adjudication. It was a property. The legal order of the company constituted it as such, except in what concerns the transgression of the law.
the slave's first human act is crime.
no other property is punishable. it can therefore be said that crime was the slave's first and only act that humanized him in law.
bringing the production to life
Beatriz Ferraz

 The connection with Flora

is ancestral and this is essential
for the construction of the identity
and territoriality of the diverse
peoples of the African diaspora. 
PROJECT STAGE AND TIMELINE
The project is in the final script development stage and capturing some interviews that will
compose the film. Actively working on the research and development of the project, the
business plan and all the graphic part of the project.

STEP I - Development and Pre-Production end of stage: ( May 2020 )

ACTIVITIES DEVELOPMENT:
- Hiring script advisory, marketing advisory and business plan advice for the film.
- Designer hiring for graphic material creation and project formatting.
- Project registration in Labs, and Film Funds.
- Script Writing, Synopsis, logline and presentation.
- Business plan, and Final project budget
- Production planning and engaging Partnerships
- Screenplay Presentation - 1st treatment with 70/90 pages
- Registration of work in the National Library
- One Sheet, Project Developed for Production, and Movie Teaser

STEP II – Production end of stage: ( Jun 2020 )

ACTIVITIES DEVELOPMENT:
- Interview Capture
- Fiction Action Capture
- Film Editing
- Sound editing and soundtrack creation

STEP III - Post production end of stage: ( October 2020 )

ACTIVITIES DEVELOPMENT:
- Account closure. Accountability and project performance analysis.
- Official statement of activities in laboratories, advisory, lectures, etc.
- First cut of the movie
bringing the vision to life
Ana Kanesaki

 A trip in time, where feelings and

moments will be immortalized in
the plans, in order to show a story
within the story.

Participating in this project makes me grow!
ARTISTIC APPROUCH
The construction of memory through images in the historical narrative of Flora Maria Blumer
de Toledo through the documentary “Flora” will be created by document images, archival
photographs, reconstruction of digital effects scenes and poetic scenes recorded with
actors, with the aim of promote better film narrative fluency. Using poetic images, with
reconstitution made by actors, as seen in brazillian movie "Quanto vale ou é por quilo?" by
Sergio Bianchi, and "Menino 23" by Belisario Franca. Also with archival images, as seen in
Raoul Peck's “I am not your Negro,” interspersed with historical narratives about slavery,
and the entire process of population constitution. Bringing together poems and songs writ-
ten by black slaves, as cataloged by the professor Aires da Mata Machado Filho proclai-
med in his 1943 book "O negro e panimpo em Minas Gerais".
Telling Flora's story, we will tell the erased stories of black slave women from Brazilian lands.
Using the predominant colors of black skin tone, with refined photography using as a refe-
rence source, the works of Nigerian photographer Mofe Bamuyiwa and director of photo-
graphy James Laxton of films such as “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Moonlight”, the film
It aims to highlight the beauty of black skin and its peculiar features.
With the intention of printing on screen the cruel tone of the slave years, the strength of
resistance of the black people, the beauty of African descent in the skin of the Brazilian
people, in a poetic way the years erased by the Brazilian historical transcription history.

TECHNICAL SPECS
2.37:1 - Digital Capture - Blackmagic Production 4k
Rokinon Cineds T1.5 50mm, Canon 50mm F/1.4 Usmv

REFERENCE MOVIES
bringing the costumes to life
Silvia Marques

 I'm not just giving voice to Flora's story,

but understanding myself as a black woman
in this world.
At each point and each stitch in this narrative,
I want to express my admiration
and respect for my people, my origin. 
COSTUME DESIGN
The way a person dresses reflects his thoughts, opinions, positions, beliefs, and a multitude
of identity signs that express behaviors that we define as cultural.

From this definition everything would be very simple if the history of real life did not have
different nuances and complexities. To transcribe the history of the 18th century through
costumes, it is also to understand the complexity of enslavement, of the relationships
between black and white people, of the beliefs that permeate the gaps in these rela-
tionships. Doing this research and composition of costumes for the film "Flora" left me
impacted when I discovered how most of the narrative of the black people was not in the
books, but between the lines of their clothes, props, objects, but mainly in the scars of your
skin. The marks that my costume cannot reproduce or hide scream the history of the black
people of Brazil and Latin America.
Through my work as a costume designer on this project, I feel that I am not only giving
voice to Flora's story, but understanding myself as a black woman in this world.

All of this work will certainly echo and be reflected in the rest of my work from now on. The
intensity by which I went through each survey affected me deeply.
At each point and each stitch in this narrative, I want to express my admiration and respect
for my people, my origin.
bringing the art to life
Cris Mendes

 "Building a film about our history requires research,

and these findings are hard to digest.
I was surrounded by a bubble generated by whiteness,
even though I was the daughter of a
black mother.

Working on this story brings out all my fragility.
ART DESIGN
Building the art direction for a film about slavery in the
18th century is far from easy for the research team.
With each photo, with each reconstitution of an instru-
ment of torture, with each analysis of historical photos, we
realize how the construction of our country was ruled by
various abuses, and by the cost of several lives.

Emphasizing not only black protagonism, but prioritizing

black skin protagonism, this is the basis of the composi-
tion of colors that make up the palette chosen for the
project.

The research and reconstruction of objects that served for

the torture and death of people. Chains, stamps, whips,
gallows, and various objects of oppression do not really
overcome the feeling of discovering that Brazil was not
only racist, it was oppressive and caused an irreparable
death trail.

As an art director this really was one of the most suffered

processes.

In the photographic references you can see the color

palettes and references, you can also see objects of
scene and instruments of torture, but in this text I would
like to leave my feeling when portraying my work in this
project.
PORTO FELIZ
PIRACICABA
 location
Understanding the places where Flora passed is important to understand the com-
plexity of the slave system of the 18th / 19th century.
Flora was born in the city of Porto Feliz, a Brazilian municipality in the state of São
Paulo, close to the cities of Itú and Sorocaba. A small town with a large indigenous
incidence that later housed several enslaved blacks. Flora lived in slavery for 42
years in Porto Feliz.

Flora was sold to an immigrant family from the city of Piracicaba, coming to live in
the city. Piracicaba, a city in the Campinas region, is the third city with the largest
contingent of black slaves in the state of São Paulo.
These small towns in the interior of São Paulo
 Contact
FRAME7 CINEMA
+55 11 97999.5775
frame7cinema@gmail.com

BETO OLIVEIRA
bcinematographer@gmail.com

BEATRIZ FERRAZ
beatrizc.ferraz@gmail.com