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Claudia Lisboa, Sweden, 2009, 58 minutes
If Naomi Wolf was writing The Beauty Myth today, it is likely she would dedicate a chapter to the Lisboa family. To them, plastic surgery is nothing short of a birthright.
Early in this personal documentary Claudia Lisboa jokes that she is a beauty refugee. Almost ten years ago she fled her Brazilian homeland to escape intense family pressure to go under the knife. When she returns to Brazil for the first time, the comedy turns into horror. Her parents and siblings are barely recognizable to her as a result of their countless facelifts and age defying treatments. Plans are being made for the youngest member of the Lisboa clan; the four-month-old girl is promised a boob job, a new nose, and a perfect body. Claudia is spared no bluntness when her loved ones tell her she is in urgent need of Botox and breast augmentation.
It all started when her brother graduated from medical school and decided to specialize in plastic surgery. Before he had even finished his exams, his relatives were lining up for free tummy tucks and lip enlargements. Of the thirty relatives he has operated on, only Claudia and her brother-in-law have dared to look this gift horse in the mouth. As a distressed Claudia starts to campaign against her family’s odd obsession, the thirty-year-old unearths a history of depression and dysfunction. Finally, she is forced to look beyond the cosmetic cover and address the gaping wounds that lie beneath.
Director's biography
Claudia Lisboa was born in Brazil in 1963 and has worked as a short filmmaker, artist and documentary film maker since 1994. Her latest film Beauty Refugee was in the Silver Wolf Competition at IDFA 2009.
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Preceded by:
52 Percent
Rafal Skalski, Poland, 2009, 20 minutes
A gripping and gorgeously shot cinema-verite film about the extraordinary measures it takes to be accepted into the Russian Ballet Academy.
Winner, DOXA Short Documentary Award
Director's biography
Rafal Skalski was born in 1985 in Warsaw. Skalski is a student of the Film Directing Department at the National Film Television and Theatre School in Łódz (Master Degree) and director of Little wisdoms (2005), award-winning 52 percent (2007) and the newest So that there’s nothing.
Filmmakers in attendance
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