A documentary film on the idea of truth and lie through a small South-Brazilian village, where there’s a competition to find the best liar in the area.
Trailer
About
The documentary is centered in the Festival of Lies celebration in Nova Bréscia, a small South-Brazilian town, and the special way the community lives, to make a reflection on everyday lying. Locals say they never lie. Life goes by peacefully and nobody seems to admit that lies exist outside the festival.
But observing their day to day routine in the streets, the church, the school and their encounters, less obvious lies appear and they choose not to question them. Discourses that accumulate and establish the order in the village.
When the time comes, everybody gives a hand to organize the festival. This way, neighbors, nearby politicians and beauty queens come to the town to celebrate this event. Osmar Baldissarelli, a mayor from a nearby town, says he found Osama Bin Laden and that he has never told a lie. When the festival is over the town will have to confront reality and decide if lies are still part of their life.
![]()
Credits
Original title / Título original
The Festival of Lies
Production year / Año de producción
2016
Country / País
Spain /España
A film by / Una película de
Sílvia Subirós
Cinematography / Fotografía
Núria Gámiz
Editor / Editora
Sílvia Subirós
Sound recordist / Sonido directo
Leandro Schirmer
Sound editor / Editor de sonido
Francesc Gosalves
Post-production / Post-producción
Carles M. Gómez-Quintero
Script Consultant / Script Consultant
Carmen Ávalos del Pino
Producers / Productores
Patricia Sánchez Mora, Sílvia Subirós
Produced by / Producida por
Film a l’agulla, LaudiovisuaL
Festivals / Festivales
Docs in Progress Award, Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland (2015)
L’Alternativa Professionals, Barcelona Independent Film Festival (2015)
Primer Test REC Tarragona (2015)
Norwich Radical Film Festival (2016)
Tlanchana Film Festival (2017)
![]()
![]()
![]()
Director’s Statement
This is my first long-feature documentary and it all began when I finished my cinema studies and started studying Literature Theory and investigating the concept of lying. I asked myself a question: How do people confront lies? What happens when we are in front of one? As a filmmaker, I thought this was a good question to start a documentary, but it wasn’t until I found the village of Nova Bréscia that it all made sense. A friend told me about a little town in the South of Brazil where there was a competition to find the best liar in the area every two years. It seemed like the perfect place for my mise-en-scène.
But when I arrived, I didn’t find what I expected. Locals told me that their town was known everywhere as the Capital of Lies. The truth is that nobody outside the area knows about their town. They also tried to convince me all the time that they weren’t liars, that they were sincere, honest people. I understood that they were attracted by lies, but also they were afraid of them and its consequences, as much as anyone else would be. So I began to look into their lives, their routines, as they started preparing for the festival.
What I observed is that they didn’t confront the lies in any way. They just let things slide. When someone lies in a normal day situation we tend to say nothing, to look away. To confront that lie could cause a conflict, could break the order of things. I decided to film not only the obvious lies told during the festival, but also those that locals didn’t see or didn’t want to see. Those appearing in situations where there is as much truth as falsehood. We cannot escape from lies, and they are also an excuse to talk about other things, about life itself.
But observing their day to day routine in the streets, the church, the school and their encounters, less obvious lies appear and they choose not to question them. Discourses that accumulate and establish the order in the village.
When the time comes, everybody gives a hand to organize the festival. This way, neighbors, nearby politicians and beauty queens come to the town to celebrate this event. Osmar Baldissarelli, a mayor from a nearby town, says he found Osama Bin Laden and that he has never told a lie. When the festival is over the town will have to confront reality and decide if lies are still part of their life.
Credits
Original title / Título original
The Festival of Lies
Production year / Año de producción
2016
Country / País
Spain /España
A film by / Una película de
Sílvia Subirós
Cinematography / Fotografía
Núria Gámiz
Editor / Editora
Sílvia Subirós
Sound recordist / Sonido directo
Leandro Schirmer
Sound editor / Editor de sonido
Francesc Gosalves
Post-production / Post-producción
Carles M. Gómez-Quintero
Script Consultant / Script Consultant
Carmen Ávalos del Pino
Producers / Productores
Patricia Sánchez Mora, Sílvia Subirós
Produced by / Producida por
Film a l’agulla, LaudiovisuaL
Festivals / Festivales
Docs in Progress Award, Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland (2015)
L’Alternativa Professionals, Barcelona Independent Film Festival (2015)
Primer Test REC Tarragona (2015)
Norwich Radical Film Festival (2016)
Tlanchana Film Festival (2017)
Director’s Statement
This is my first long-feature documentary and it all began when I finished my cinema studies and started studying Literature Theory and investigating the concept of lying. I asked myself a question: How do people confront lies? What happens when we are in front of one? As a filmmaker, I thought this was a good question to start a documentary, but it wasn’t until I found the village of Nova Bréscia that it all made sense. A friend told me about a little town in the South of Brazil where there was a competition to find the best liar in the area every two years. It seemed like the perfect place for my mise-en-scène.
But when I arrived, I didn’t find what I expected. Locals told me that their town was known everywhere as the Capital of Lies. The truth is that nobody outside the area knows about their town. They also tried to convince me all the time that they weren’t liars, that they were sincere, honest people. I understood that they were attracted by lies, but also they were afraid of them and its consequences, as much as anyone else would be. So I began to look into their lives, their routines, as they started preparing for the festival.
What I observed is that they didn’t confront the lies in any way. They just let things slide. When someone lies in a normal day situation we tend to say nothing, to look away. To confront that lie could cause a conflict, could break the order of things. I decided to film not only the obvious lies told during the festival, but also those that locals didn’t see or didn’t want to see. Those appearing in situations where there is as much truth as falsehood. We cannot escape from lies, and they are also an excuse to talk about other things, about life itself.
Contact