Pictures of Ghosts

Pictures of Ghosts (Portuguese: Retratos Fantasmas) is a 2023 Brazilian documentary film written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. The film revisits Kleber's hometown, the Brazilian city of Recife, through the historical prism of the cinemas he once frequented, based on his own personal archival footage, remembering what used to be idyllic places, now closed, that constituted an important time-marker in the evolution of Brazilian society.

The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, in the Special Screenings section. Followed by screenings at the Main Slate section of the 2023 New York Film Festival and at the Wavelengths section of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

Plot
Downtown Recife’s classic movie palaces from the 20th century are mostly gone. That city area is now an archaeological site of sorts that reveals aspects of life in society which have been lost. And that's just part of the story.

Production
During seven years, while watching his own old videos at his office, on VHS, Betacam, and Hi8 cassettes, or on MiniDV, personal files and records which also contain photographs and audio recordings, Kleber began the film developing, also aiming to shoot new footage with modern equipment. Official production started in 2017, before the shooting of 2019's Bacurau, as a side project, with its own time frame.

Release
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, in the Special Screenings section. Followed by screenings at the 2023 New York Film Festival, at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 27th Lima Film Festival. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Icon' section and was screened on 5 October 2023.

The film had its Brazilian premiere on 14 August 2023, in Recife, and was released in the rest of the country on 24 August 2023, by Vitrine Filmes.

Critical response
Pictures of Ghosts has an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 30 reviews, and an average rating of 8/10. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".