Rodrigo Santoro as Cadu and Denise Weinberg as Tereza. 

42-year-old Gabriel Mascaro has emerged as a part of a remarkable group of filmmakers from Pernambuco, Brazil, who have been celebrated on the international festival circuit. The group, of Cinema Revival (Cinema da Retomada) includes Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau 2019 and The Secret Agent 2025), Guto Parente (Inferninho & The Cannibal Club 2018), Juliano Dornelles and Karin Aïnouz, as well as stars like Bárbara Cohen and Thomás Aquino, not to mention the great Sonia Braga. 

Before getting into features, Mascaro started out filming documentaries, now ‘The Blue Trail’ is his fourth feature which follows on with themes that interest him: -  “I tried to make a movie that I can mix and blend some kind of different people, when you think about dystopia it is usually the young that rebel against the system… you think in fantasy, it is the young who are facing the adventures… cinema seldom allows older people to play these roles.”

Keenly aware of the problems of ageism, Mascaro’s own grandmother is 97-years -old and with a similar attitude to his main character, insisted on watching her grandson’s film in the cinema rather than at home.  

In ‘The Blue Trail’, society has become ageist, a state which people have accepted as normal, with the excuse that, in order to promote the productivity of the young, the elderly should be ‘honoured’ by being transported to a colony, from which, disturbingly, no one ever returns.  When 77-year-old Tereza finds herself unexpectedly included in the programme, due to a lowered age threshold to 75, against her daughter’s wishes she refuses her fate and decides to find a way to fulfil her one secret dream, to fly in a plane.

Fully determined, she tries to buy tickets for a return flight, but discovers that being ‘in the programme’ means she cannot travel without her daughter’s authorization, which is not given.  Refusing to bow down, she goes AWOL having gathered her life’s savings, embarking on an attempt to achieve her objective entirely on her own. She ends up fleeing through the Amazon as an illicit passenger on a river boat with a shady character, in search of this fantasy and deep desire for freedom. During this impromptu adventure, she discovers an independence she could never have imagined. This is a life-affirming travel movie, in boats, which was screened in the Journey Strand at the  2025 BFI London Film Festival. Denise Weinberg plays Tereza with a stoic determination that is endearing. She is not one to be easily foiled, and she meets all her challenges head on without flinching, paying no mind to the possible consequences.  The film is profoundly human, with the characteristic warmth of the Brazilian people shining through. Mascaro makes full use of the eccentric locations with floating pontoon platforms serving as service stations for boats on the river, and the biggest local cash prize depending on the ferocity of some extraordinarily beautiful fishes.

Gabriel Mascaro is also a visual artist and was a teacher for a while, among some of the communities of the area, this gave him an insight into their lives and ways, that comes through in this production.  He was particularly aware of the element of sound in this film, which is so atmospheric, coming up with a life of its own. The river too is a personality in the movie as are the precarious villages on stilts that line the banks.

Miriam Socarrás and Denise Weinberg

Amazonia is a vast area with a very particular character. It is naturally psychedelic and therefore became the perfect location for create Mascaro’s dystopian universe, with weird creatures, alligators, fish and even snails with bright blue slime. “You do not choose them, they choose you” says Cadu, and Tereza uses this when she finds herself having to select a fish to fight for her.

Despite the intensely political theme, Mascaro has focussed on the personal elements and the intimacy between the characters, The casting is spot on as Denise Weinberg and her co- stars Rodrigo Santoro (as Cady) as well as the charismatic Miriam Socarrás as Roberta, turn out to have a great chemistry that lifts every scene.

THE BLUE TRAIL (O ÚLTIMO AZUL-2025)

Directed  by Gabriel Mascaro/ Written: Tibério Azul and Gabriel Mascaro/ Produced: Rachel Daisy Ellis and Sandino Saravia Vinay / DOP: Guillermo Garza /Edited: Sebastián Sepúlveda and Omar Guzmán / Music: Memo Guerra

Cast: Tereza: Denise Weinberg/ Cadu: Rodrigo Santoro/ Roberta: Miriam Socarrás/ Ludemir: Adanilo Reis da Costa / Esmeraldina: Rosa Lalagueta / Joana: Clarisa Pinheiro.