The 12th International Documentary Film Festival It's All True (É Tudo Verdade), has announced the seven titles that will comprise its Brazilian Competition section, with the winner taking a prize of R$100,000. The fest kicks off on March 22 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro before touring to other cities. The feature-length competition titles are: Construção (directed by Cristiano Burlan, about civil construction workers in São Paulo), Descaminhos (directed by various), Elevado 3.5 (directed by João Sodré, Maíra Bühler, and Paulo Pastorelo; about the infamous elevated highway constructed in a densely populated neighborhood in São Paulo), Lutzenberger: For Ever Gaia (directed by Frank Coe and Otto Guerra; centering on ecologist José Lutzenberger's views on development and environmentalism), Maria Bethânia - Pedrinha de Aruanda (directed by Andrucha Waddington; a portrait of the famous Brazilian singer by the director of House of Sand), Nas Terras do Bem-Virá (directed by Alexandre Rampazzo; a history of the Amazon from the 1970s to present day), and O Longo Amanhecer - Cinebiografia de Celso Furtado (directed by José Mariani). The Brazilian short competition is comprised of eight titles, and an additional 11 Brazilian productions were chosen for other sections of the festival.

This will be my first opportunity to check out the festival, as I was out of the country for last year's edition. The festival's English-language site has not yet been updated with the Brazilian competition, but Folha de São Paulo has some further information. It's already been confirmed that at least a dozen films will show in a Krzyzstof Kieslowski retrospective along with some current American favorites such as Iraq In Fragments and Jesus Camp, but we'll have to wait until March 9 for the complete program...