WEBVTT

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Dear Daughter,

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We miss you, of course

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and we love you, clearly.

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It is so hard
to be away from you.

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But soon we’ll greet you
with open arms.

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Until then, a thousand kisses.

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Oh, one more thing...

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Watch out for
spiders and scorpions!

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A big hug from
that old idol and role model

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your Dad.

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Dear Dad,

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you sent me this letter
when I was at summer camp.

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Soon after

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things fell apart between us.

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And then, suddenly,
you were gone.

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I was only 14 when you died

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leaving me with the heartache
of our last words.

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I left Brazil for
a new life in California

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with only memories of my father,

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the bitter and the sweet.

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But now, so many years later,

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news arrives about
my father’s legacy

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that reopens childhood wounds

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and calls me
back home to São Paulo,

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searching for my father
in the work he created.

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This is what brought me back.

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It’s shocking to see what’s happened
to my father’s architectural masterpiece,

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knowing what it once was.

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So beautiful, so impressive.

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It was a daring project
at the time.

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It was unique.

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Crystal clear purity

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like a perfect glass prism

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very transparent.

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A precious thing.

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Made of glass,
very well detailed

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with a sophisticated design.

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A central, totemic element.

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It’s iconic.

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It is so extraordinary

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that to this day, nobody
knows what to do with it.

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The glass building,

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the great mirror of Brazil,

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in which everyone
must look at themselves.

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A vision of the future,

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24 stories above São Paulo.

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The Pele de Vidro.

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Skin of Glass.

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My father designed it in the 1960s,

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and I was conceived
at the same time as the building.

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My father was everything
a daughter could have dreamed of.

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Playful,

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charming,

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affectionate.

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He was born in Paris,

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to parents who
immigrated from Syria,

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and then,
made their new life in Brazil.

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Curious, determined,

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the top of his class.

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He became a prolific architect
as soon as he graduated.

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But who was my father
as a young man?

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Going through these photos makes
me realize how little I know about his past.

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We never got a chance
to talk about his early years.

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At 29, he met my mother, Graca.

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Like him, a child
of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants.

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And together, they began building dreams.

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By their wedding day,
my father had already designed our family home.

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Roger Zmekhol followed
a previous generation

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of immigrant architects

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who built a lot
here in São Paulo.

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They came here
with a knowledge

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and an ambition
that is typical of immigrants.

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Everything felt possible in those days.

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It was a time of
great hope and optimism in Brazil.

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Bossa Nova was introduced
to the world in 1961.

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But in the 1950s

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architecture was the
great artistic export of Brazil.

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Brazil wasn’t just hopeful

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it was sure of its future.

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We’re going to be big.

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We’re going to be important.

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We have something
to contribute to the world

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and Brasilia was a manifesto

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of the future
that Brazil hoped for.

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Brasilia, the new capital city,

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was built from the ground up
in three short years.

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Our country was moving toward
modernization and social reform

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after centuries of extreme inequality.

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My parents visited Brasilia
during construction.

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I can only imagine
how this epic project inspired my father.

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At the age of 32,

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he was beginning the
most significant work of his lifetime,

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the Pele de Vidro.

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That building had a major role

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in Brazilian architectural history.

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That “glass skin”
was a milestone.

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Your father introduced something
we didn’t have much in Brazil:

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the use of glass at that scale.

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The owners,
the Paes de Almeida family

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were the kings
of glass in Brazil.

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They had an exclusive
business importing

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high quality glass.

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Modernist architecture
carries this moral idea

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that a corporation with
a headquarters made of glass

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is saying publicly
“I have nothing to hide.”

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“I show myself entirely.”

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“My activity is an open book.”

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This work, which
I think is hugely important

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is a jewel of Modernism

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a symbol of a time when
Brazil felt powerful.

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But it’s both a witness and victim
of our hangover

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from dreams of greatness
that were never fulfilled.

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Dad, you could
never have imagined

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what has become
of your Pele de Vidro.

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It’s occupied by hundreds
of people who are homeless.

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I want to go inside
and meet them.

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What happened in this place,

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in this country,

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that led to this?

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Construction of the Pele de Vidro
was almost finished in 1964,

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when Brazil’s military staged a coup,

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with backing from the United States.

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It was the height of the Cold War,

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and the U.S. feared that
Brazil was leaning toward communism.

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21 years of dictatorship followed,

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brutally ending Brazil’s
hopes for social reform.

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Our promising, tropical democracy

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vanished.

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But I was living in a child’s world,

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safe in the home my father built,

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surrounded by family and friends.

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Yara, our closest neighbor,
was like another mother to me.

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It was a cheerful house

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and very spacious,
open to the outdoors.

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Everyone’s birthday
was celebrated there.

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There was always
a celebration happening.

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Your father
was always in a good mood.

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Very affectionate,
especially with you

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because you were
the girl of the house.

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You were cute.

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What do you remember about
those dictatorship times?

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Look, the truth is
it was all very orderly

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because everyone
was a little afraid

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there might be
an informer around.

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So no one would say outright
whether they liked it or not.

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Everyone lived
their own little life.

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In time I began to understand
what was really going on.

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The military censored the media

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and tortured, killed, and exiled people

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they said were communists.

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Roger was already a professor
at the School of Architecture

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when I started there.

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It was a very intense
political climate.

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Officers who had
studied at our college,

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our former students,

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led the intervention
at the school.

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They would go into colleges
and arrest professors.

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I was blacklisted

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expelled from the university,
forbidden to lecture.

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Everybody knows this.

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You want to know how it was?
It was awful.

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What was my father’s position
on the dictatorship?

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Oh no, he didn’t
take a position, left or right.

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He went on with his career

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without involving
himself in politics.

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Dad,
the more I learn about you,

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the less I know you.

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As a child,
I often passed by the Pele De Vidro,

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but I never went inside.

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Now I come here

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hoping to meet the people
who have made this place their home.

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But I can\'t get in.

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I need the approval
of the occupation leaders.

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Let’s talk
and see if it’s possible.

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We’ll talk. Set up
a time for us to discuss it.

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So I wait,

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looking in from outside.

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I’m so curious

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about the lives
within my father’s creation.

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People were at the heart of his work.

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He designed the Pele de Vidro
with great care for the life inside.

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At a time when most offices
were dark and closed,

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he created a space
of light and transparency,

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a structure open
to the world around it.

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This is the only photo I ever found
of my father at the Pele de Vidro.

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Standing on the rooftop,
about to transform the skyline of São Paulo.

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We were proud to work
in such a beautiful place.

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In my opinion,
at that time in São Paulo

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no other building
was as modern.

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The entrance was marble
and stainless steel.

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The elevators
looked like ones from today.

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I had never seen any
like that here in São Paulo.

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In the 1960s,
there was still a belief

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that design could build
a better city and society.

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This illusion

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was shattered by

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how the country
actually developed in the 60s

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during the military coup
and dictatorship.

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There was economic growth

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alongside a worsening of the
gap between rich and poor

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and the housing shortage
grew much worse.

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Around 1973,
in the accounting department

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we started to realize

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something was wrong

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causing losses.

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The military started persecuting

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the Paes de Almeida family.

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The company went bankrupt

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and had to hand over
the building to the creditor

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which was a state bank.

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Then the government
took over the building.

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One drawing that enchanted
me was the staircase

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from the Wilton Paes
de Almeida building.

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It really surprised me.
It’s uniquely beautiful.

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I love looking at it
and showing it to visitors.

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Whenever I look at this I
wonder how it would have been

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to see this building
when it was new.

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Considering the length
of his career

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we couldn’t imagine him
exceeding 100 projects

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but now we know

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there were around 250.

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Dad, your drawings
take me back to my childhood.

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I loved when
you took me to your studio.

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It was my playground.

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Your models
were my dollhouses.

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Watching you draw

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the stillness of your face

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the sound of your pencil

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your sketches
were magic to me.

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It’s the one at the corner, right?

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Gal was one of my father’s students.

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Together, we go around São Paulo
visiting the buildings my father designed.

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And finally, the house my father
built for our family.

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It feels so strange that it’s
now someone else’s home.

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This garden, so full of memories.

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Running in circles with my brother,

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summer dinners
with neighbors and friends.

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But there are shadows here
of harder times.

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When I was 11

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I began to sense a growing
tension between my parents.

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Some nights, lying in bed,
I could hear my mother crying.

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And then one day,
my father left.

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It was such
a confusing time, Dad.

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Your new home
slowly became familiar

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00:24:03.286 --> 00:24:07.165
and in a way
I had you more to myself

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until that woman
and her son moved in

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and everything changed again.

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Then one day there was a fight
between her son and me.

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A child’s fight

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but you took his side.

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You demanded I apologize

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or never come back
to your home.

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And I never did.

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I’ve been waiting six weeks.

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The occupation leaders

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say they\'re asking the residents
for permission to let me in.

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But then,
they stop returning my calls.

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Watching the people,
I begin to recognize faces

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and feel the rhythms of their lives.

260
00:25:48.641 --> 00:25:51.352
We are separated by
distance and privilege,

261
00:25:52.770 --> 00:25:54.605
yet, in a strange way,

262
00:25:55.189 --> 00:25:57.150
bound together by what we share,

263
00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:00.403
a home made by my father.

264
00:26:05.825 --> 00:26:11.539
Our biggest challenge
in São Paulo is housing.

265
00:26:13.875 --> 00:26:15.501
In São Paulo alone

266
00:26:15.877 --> 00:26:19.088
380,000 families
have nowhere to live.

267
00:26:21.215 --> 00:26:22.592
And at the same time

268
00:26:22.717 --> 00:26:24.552
a huge number of properties

269
00:26:24.760 --> 00:26:27.638
are empty or underused.

270
00:26:29.015 --> 00:26:30.099
The Pele de Vidro

271
00:26:30.266 --> 00:26:33.060
is one of over 70 buildings downtown

272
00:26:33.311 --> 00:26:35.688
occupied by people who need homes.

273
00:26:36.898 --> 00:26:39.942
The housing crisis
has sparked a movement.

274
00:26:51.579 --> 00:26:53.623
Calm down!

275
00:26:54.999 --> 00:26:56.876
Get inside!

276
00:26:59.170 --> 00:27:03.633
People think homeless activists
are thugs. We aren’t.

277
00:27:05.176 --> 00:27:08.846
We occupy properties
out of necessity.

278
00:27:09.639 --> 00:27:14.101
I am not
in the movement for profit.

279
00:27:14.393 --> 00:27:17.730
My goal is to help
a worker who can’t afford rent.

280
00:27:17.897 --> 00:27:21.108
Either he pays rent or he eats.
He can’t do both.

281
00:27:24.278 --> 00:27:27.198
From a strictly legal
point of view,

282
00:27:27.365 --> 00:27:29.200
occupation is not justifiable.

283
00:27:30.993 --> 00:27:32.536
But generally, these groups

284
00:27:32.745 --> 00:27:36.624
are fighting for constitutional rights.

285
00:27:37.917 --> 00:27:39.335
The struggle is real!

286
00:27:39.835 --> 00:27:43.089
Housing is a right
in the Brazilian Constitution.

287
00:27:44.173 --> 00:27:46.550
The Constitution also says

288
00:27:47.009 --> 00:27:50.805
that properties
must serve a social function.

289
00:27:50.972 --> 00:27:53.224
They have to be of some use.

290
00:27:53.557 --> 00:27:54.767
We occupy a building

291
00:27:54.934 --> 00:27:56.894
because
it has no social function.

292
00:28:03.567 --> 00:28:04.568
In our occupations

293
00:28:04.944 --> 00:28:10.366
we hire professionals
for the plumbing and electrical

294
00:28:10.992 --> 00:28:12.910
because those
have to be done right.

295
00:28:13.744 --> 00:28:15.913
We can’t have
just anyone do those.

296
00:28:19.041 --> 00:28:21.210
An occupation
isn’t just a structure.

297
00:28:22.545 --> 00:28:24.338
It’s the life we create here

298
00:28:25.214 --> 00:28:27.258
the sense of belonging

299
00:28:27.466 --> 00:28:29.343
the things we build.

300
00:28:30.803 --> 00:28:32.388
In an occupation

301
00:28:34.098 --> 00:28:37.101
you create
emotional bonds of solidarity.

302
00:28:37.727 --> 00:28:42.106
You learn from an early age
to be more democratic.

303
00:28:43.232 --> 00:28:48.779
My work with Péricles is
to manage occupied buildings.

304
00:28:51.282 --> 00:28:53.200
A while back, around 2013

305
00:28:53.284 --> 00:28:56.078
our group was going to occupy
the glass building.

306
00:28:56.912 --> 00:28:58.998
But it wasn’t fit for habitation.

307
00:28:59.498 --> 00:29:01.625
Then, later,
this other group went in

308
00:29:02.168 --> 00:29:04.003
whose name I don’t recognize.

309
00:29:05.046 --> 00:29:07.173
That group isn’t part
of the movement.

310
00:29:07.631 --> 00:29:11.635
They aren’t recognized
as community leaders.

311
00:29:16.349 --> 00:29:20.353
Fundamentally,
the goal of architecture

312
00:29:20.936 --> 00:29:23.773
is to protect against
the unpredictability of life.

313
00:29:24.065 --> 00:29:26.192
So if there’s
a housing shortage

314
00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:27.818
and people can move in there

315
00:29:28.527 --> 00:29:30.071
I think that’s a good thing.

316
00:29:32.156 --> 00:29:36.535
No one should spend the rest
of their life in a building

317
00:29:36.744 --> 00:29:40.915
that does not have safe
electrical wiring or plumbing

318
00:29:41.040 --> 00:29:43.250
where the gas
might explode at any moment.

319
00:29:48.130 --> 00:29:51.300
Occupation as
a form of protest

320
00:29:51.717 --> 00:29:54.428
is justified and understandable

321
00:29:54.595 --> 00:29:57.056
but in this building

322
00:29:57.306 --> 00:30:01.352
you’re risking the safety
of hundreds of people.

323
00:30:03.270 --> 00:30:05.272
There are no easy solutions.

324
00:30:08.526 --> 00:30:13.614
Roger left behind
an intriguing legacy.

325
00:30:16.075 --> 00:30:19.995
It has endured time,
social changes,

326
00:30:20.246 --> 00:30:22.748
and all these circumstances.

327
00:30:25.418 --> 00:30:27.586
It has a certain integrity.

328
00:30:28.003 --> 00:30:29.380
It’s still here.

329
00:30:45.020 --> 00:30:49.316
Roger was a really nice guy

330
00:30:50.484 --> 00:30:54.196
but he had
a kind of tension inside.

331
00:30:54.530 --> 00:30:57.867
I sometimes felt
Roger’s anxiety.

332
00:31:01.245 --> 00:31:03.456
So when he died
of a heart attack,

333
00:31:03.622 --> 00:31:06.375
it was not
a complete surprise.

334
00:31:19.054 --> 00:31:20.890
He was so young.

335
00:31:25.936 --> 00:31:28.689
It was very sad for you.

336
00:31:29.732 --> 00:31:35.154
I saw that you were hurt,
very hurt.

337
00:31:39.033 --> 00:31:40.659
How old were you?

338
00:31:41.118 --> 00:31:42.161
14.

339
00:31:42.411 --> 00:31:44.747
Yes, 14.
That’s right.

340
00:31:48.876 --> 00:31:52.171
At my father\'s funeral,
I felt like a stranger.

341
00:31:54.798 --> 00:31:58.677
Our angry last words
still stinging my heart.

342
00:32:01.722 --> 00:32:05.434
Even with Yara there,
I felt totally alone.

343
00:32:24.912 --> 00:32:27.081
A few years after my father died,

344
00:32:27.540 --> 00:32:30.960
the federal police made the
Pele de Vidro their headquarters,

345
00:32:32.962 --> 00:32:36.507
a place for censoring
journalists and artists.

346
00:32:39.718 --> 00:32:42.721
My father’s creation
of openness and light

347
00:32:43.013 --> 00:32:45.724
became a center of
fear and surveillance.

348
00:32:49.395 --> 00:32:51.480
But the dictatorship was faltering.

349
00:32:53.065 --> 00:32:56.652
People across the country
were demanding free elections.

350
00:33:04.451 --> 00:33:06.287
After two decades of struggle,

351
00:33:06.745 --> 00:33:08.706
democracy was restored.

352
00:33:13.085 --> 00:33:16.338
The federal police
left the building in 2003,

353
00:33:19.174 --> 00:33:20.217
and for years,

354
00:33:20.551 --> 00:33:24.138
the Pele de Vidro
stood empty and neglected.

355
00:33:28.100 --> 00:33:29.602
It’s a shame, isn’t it?

356
00:33:30.603 --> 00:33:32.605
A building
that’s been landmarked

357
00:33:32.813 --> 00:33:36.275
supposedly protected
as a heritage site

358
00:33:36.775 --> 00:33:39.987
and we allowed it
to fall into that state.

359
00:33:41.780 --> 00:33:44.992
And there’s no point blaming
the owner of the building.

360
00:33:45.993 --> 00:33:49.121
The owner of the building is us.

361
00:34:02.092 --> 00:34:04.928
We don’t accept a city

362
00:34:05.346 --> 00:34:10.309
that kicks the workers and
the poor out of downtown.

363
00:34:11.977 --> 00:34:13.646
That’s why several

364
00:34:13.771 --> 00:34:16.315
abandoned buildings
downtown are occupied.

365
00:34:17.983 --> 00:34:20.611
Families are struggling,
not just for housing

366
00:34:21.403 --> 00:34:27.326
but also for workers
to have shorter commutes.

367
00:34:27.660 --> 00:34:31.830
Buildings like the one
your father built

368
00:34:32.164 --> 00:34:33.874
should not stay abandoned.

369
00:34:34.458 --> 00:34:38.420
I believe he’d like
homeless families

370
00:34:38.587 --> 00:34:41.590
to have suitable housing there.

371
00:34:49.056 --> 00:34:51.100
It would break my father’s heart

372
00:34:51.392 --> 00:34:53.602
to see his Pele de Vidro like this,

373
00:34:55.396 --> 00:34:56.605
as it does mine.

374
00:34:59.608 --> 00:35:02.319
But I see this place
has become a shelter,

375
00:35:03.070 --> 00:35:05.322
its walls protecting so many.

376
00:35:06.990 --> 00:35:08.701
And this touches my heart.

377
00:35:28.971 --> 00:35:31.515
We set up a meeting
with those leaders

378
00:35:31.765 --> 00:35:33.726
to try and arrange
for you to film.

379
00:35:34.101 --> 00:35:35.394
They said no.

380
00:35:36.228 --> 00:35:38.313
I think they’re missing
a big opportunity

381
00:35:38.647 --> 00:35:40.524
because I believe
the movement has to be open.

382
00:35:41.525 --> 00:35:42.985
Why hide anything?

383
00:35:44.528 --> 00:35:46.405
The door is closed.

384
00:35:48.782 --> 00:35:50.492
But I am not giving up.

385
00:35:52.995 --> 00:35:55.205
I go to my father’s birthplace,

386
00:35:55.497 --> 00:35:57.249
the city he would visit often.

387
00:36:00.294 --> 00:36:02.296
I’m here to meet an architect

388
00:36:02.504 --> 00:36:04.840
with a deep connection
to the Pele de Vidro.

389
00:36:06.717 --> 00:36:10.345
The first time
I went inside the building

390
00:36:13.098 --> 00:36:14.308
was thrilling.

391
00:36:22.274 --> 00:36:25.319
It was love at first sight.

392
00:36:26.820 --> 00:36:29.156
A masterpiece of architecture.

393
00:36:29.615 --> 00:36:32.826
You know immediately

394
00:36:32.910 --> 00:36:34.912
when you find work of this quality.

395
00:36:37.706 --> 00:36:40.751
That’s when we had the dream

396
00:36:41.084 --> 00:36:42.920
of creating a cultural laboratory

397
00:36:43.170 --> 00:36:45.297
in this abandoned building.

398
00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:51.470
Everyone wanted
to invest in the project

399
00:36:51.637 --> 00:36:53.764
to come participate
in this dream.

400
00:36:59.186 --> 00:37:00.479
In November of 2008

401
00:37:00.604 --> 00:37:03.690
there was the
global economic crisis.

402
00:37:04.441 --> 00:37:08.612
The funding pledges
we had for the project

403
00:37:08.946 --> 00:37:10.948
were canceled,
one after another.

404
00:37:12.825 --> 00:37:15.035
Pablo’s dream came to an end,

405
00:37:16.870 --> 00:37:18.121
But a few years later,

406
00:37:18.372 --> 00:37:21.625
the Skin of Glass
became a canvas for another vision,

407
00:37:22.417 --> 00:37:25.671
a radical street art called pixação.

408
00:37:26.797 --> 00:37:31.134
Pixação is a big part of the
culture where I grew up

409
00:37:34.429 --> 00:37:38.517
which was kind of
a violent, rough place.

410
00:37:42.271 --> 00:37:44.022
It\'s a dangerous thing.

411
00:37:47.359 --> 00:37:50.487
That night we got inside the building.

412
00:37:55.117 --> 00:37:58.787
I climbed outside, stretched out
and painted the star.

413
00:38:01.540 --> 00:38:06.795
And then we started
working our way down.

414
00:38:15.596 --> 00:38:22.895
OPUS 666 is a critique
of the corrupt system

415
00:38:24.271 --> 00:38:28.233
and the glass building
was the ultimate showcase.

416
00:38:39.369 --> 00:38:41.997
A few months after Rafael’s pixação,

417
00:38:42.331 --> 00:38:45.959
people occupied the
Pele de Vidro for the first time.

418
00:38:50.839 --> 00:38:53.800
A local filmmaker
documented them moving in.

419
00:38:58.931 --> 00:39:03.560
All this time I imagined if
I could only get into the Pele de Vidro,

420
00:39:04.186 --> 00:39:05.938
I would find my father there.

421
00:39:12.110 --> 00:39:15.697
But I am grateful
to see this glimpse of life inside.

422
00:39:22.412 --> 00:39:24.414
I sympathize with these people

423
00:39:24.748 --> 00:39:28.710
and I feel conflicted
about the situation.

424
00:39:30.170 --> 00:39:32.005
It’s right for people to occupy

425
00:39:32.005 --> 00:39:34.257
to have a home to live in,
and raise their children.

426
00:39:34.424 --> 00:39:39.721
Preserving and restoring
an architectural masterpiece

427
00:39:39.888 --> 00:39:41.723
even if it’s left empty

428
00:39:41.807 --> 00:39:42.683
is also right.

429
00:39:43.058 --> 00:39:46.979
But it’s right against right,
wrong against wrong.

430
00:39:48.814 --> 00:39:50.816
This building tells the story

431
00:39:50.899 --> 00:39:54.736
of what happened and is
happening in the world today.

432
00:41:02.971 --> 00:41:04.681
I told you to get back!

433
00:41:06.016 --> 00:41:07.934
Get back!

434
00:41:51.561 --> 00:41:52.687
Dad,

435
00:41:53.522 --> 00:41:57.734
your creation of hope
and optimism is gone.

436
00:42:00.654 --> 00:42:07.494
At least seven people died.
Many others are missing.

437
00:42:14.918 --> 00:42:17.963
The survivors
are cast to the wind

438
00:42:19.965 --> 00:42:23.218
their fragile dreams
turned to ash.

439
00:42:30.433 --> 00:42:34.771
I am losing you all over again.

440
00:42:45.740 --> 00:42:50.287
Our friends are buried in there.

441
00:42:54.040 --> 00:42:56.126
And we, the survivors

442
00:42:56.334 --> 00:42:59.838
are like a phoenix
reborn from the ashes.

443
00:43:04.259 --> 00:43:06.303
We rose from the ashes.

444
00:43:08.305 --> 00:43:09.973
Every tear that fell here

445
00:43:11.099 --> 00:43:14.019
was of sorrow but
there’s also joy in being alive.

446
00:43:18.190 --> 00:43:21.234
MISSING

447
00:43:29.201 --> 00:43:32.662
How do you feel
about the fire?

448
00:43:32.829 --> 00:43:36.833
It’s hard.
It hasn’t sunk in yet.

449
00:43:37.876 --> 00:43:39.794
I’m still all...

450
00:43:40.503 --> 00:43:42.380
It hasn’t sunk in.

451
00:43:44.007 --> 00:43:45.467
It’s such a shock.

452
00:43:46.009 --> 00:43:47.260
For everyone.

453
00:43:47.510 --> 00:43:49.137
It’s really hard.

454
00:43:49.346 --> 00:43:53.516
The biggest problem now is
where will we live?

455
00:43:55.268 --> 00:43:58.647
I wanted to talk to you

456
00:43:58.813 --> 00:44:01.149
because my father
designed that building.

457
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:04.069
Seriously?

458
00:44:06.279 --> 00:44:09.532
My God, what a surprise!

459
00:44:10.575 --> 00:44:11.952
Wow.

460
00:44:14.412 --> 00:44:16.581
Inside was cozy and nice.

461
00:44:16.873 --> 00:44:22.087
Outside looked creepy with
pixação and missing windows.

462
00:44:22.337 --> 00:44:26.049
It looked strange, but to me
it was a wonderful place.

463
00:44:28.093 --> 00:44:31.554
Before, I was
unemployed and broke.

464
00:44:31.846 --> 00:44:34.307
I ended up on the street
for five years.

465
00:44:35.058 --> 00:44:37.352
They spray water on you,
take your clothes.

466
00:44:37.560 --> 00:44:39.479
They even
take your documents.

467
00:44:40.188 --> 00:44:43.525
We want life.
We are humans, not dogs.

468
00:44:43.692 --> 00:44:45.402
And I don’t treat
my dog badly, either.

469
00:44:45.527 --> 00:44:47.487
I treat him well,
I hope that’s clear.

470
00:44:59.291 --> 00:45:00.292
The governor,

471
00:45:01.251 --> 00:45:02.252
the mayor,

472
00:45:02.836 --> 00:45:05.755
even the president
appear for the cameras.

473
00:45:07.590 --> 00:45:10.010
But none of them meet
with the survivors

474
00:45:10.176 --> 00:45:11.678
just one block away.

475
00:45:18.893 --> 00:45:20.854
Here in downtown São Paulo

476
00:45:21.313 --> 00:45:24.566
we feel a shadow looming

477
00:45:24.983 --> 00:45:29.154
a danger
that a wave of evictions

478
00:45:29.362 --> 00:45:31.489
could be triggered
by this tragedy.

479
00:45:32.324 --> 00:45:34.951
We demand a housing solution

480
00:45:35.118 --> 00:45:38.997
for everyone, now!

481
00:45:43.793 --> 00:45:45.795
It’s really important
to tell you the reality.

482
00:45:46.338 --> 00:45:49.174
It would take –
and this is important –

483
00:45:49.466 --> 00:45:54.012
more than 100 years to
address the city housing deficit.

484
00:46:01.269 --> 00:46:07.359
Dad, this journey is so much
bigger than you and me.

485
00:46:10.487 --> 00:46:12.322
I came searching for you

486
00:46:12.614 --> 00:46:16.576
and found a Brazil
I was taught to ignore.

487
00:46:26.544 --> 00:46:28.088
Do you want to see a photo?

488
00:46:29.839 --> 00:46:32.008
Look how the
building used to be.

489
00:46:34.427 --> 00:46:35.595
Let me see.

490
00:46:36.763 --> 00:46:38.431
This is the building before.

491
00:46:38.807 --> 00:46:40.100
It was pretty.

492
00:46:40.225 --> 00:46:41.976
Wow, it doesn’t even
seem like it.

493
00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:44.270
Look how people used to be.

494
00:46:45.105 --> 00:46:46.606
Look at Paissandu Square.

495
00:46:47.899 --> 00:46:49.901
It was so posh.

496
00:46:50.735 --> 00:46:53.696
Then you all showed up
and it became like this!

497
00:46:54.864 --> 00:46:56.324
666!

498
00:46:58.159 --> 00:46:59.536
Remember these stairs?

499
00:46:59.869 --> 00:47:02.163
Wow! Look how
the stairs used to be!

500
00:47:02.414 --> 00:47:04.416
- Wow, so beautiful.
- Which stairs?

501
00:47:04.582 --> 00:47:05.750
In the building.

502
00:47:06.668 --> 00:47:08.670
She’s the daughter
of the guy who designed it.

503
00:47:09.712 --> 00:47:11.714
I saw her on TV.

504
00:47:13.007 --> 00:47:15.635
Chill, people, you gonna steal
the woman’s phone now?

505
00:47:17.971 --> 00:47:19.347
Wow.

506
00:47:20.348 --> 00:47:22.684
Those stairs saved our lives.

507
00:47:25.353 --> 00:47:27.814
Either go down the steps
or die.

508
00:47:29.315 --> 00:47:32.360
Your father made the building.
So cool.

509
00:47:32.986 --> 00:47:35.071
And you wanted
to make a documentary

510
00:47:35.238 --> 00:47:37.907
when it was occupied,
but there wasn\'t time.

511
00:47:38.783 --> 00:47:41.077
The coordinators didn’t let me.

512
00:47:41.244 --> 00:47:43.788
But now you’re here,
talking to us!

513
00:47:45.415 --> 00:47:47.459
I wish I could have
met your father.

514
00:47:48.418 --> 00:47:50.503
Why aren’t the
building coordinators here?

515
00:47:50.712 --> 00:47:51.713
Fear.

516
00:47:51.921 --> 00:47:52.755
Fear of what?

517
00:47:52.881 --> 00:47:54.466
Let’s put it this way.

518
00:47:54.757 --> 00:47:57.760
It’s 80% their fault
that we’re here today.

519
00:47:58.303 --> 00:48:00.096
It’s because of them.

520
00:48:01.681 --> 00:48:03.433
They spent more at the beauty salon

521
00:48:03.516 --> 00:48:05.602
on cars and beach trips

522
00:48:05.768 --> 00:48:07.312
than they did on fire extinguishers.

523
00:48:08.980 --> 00:48:12.192
If we’d had what the fire department
wanted us to get

524
00:48:12.817 --> 00:48:14.944
the building would still be standing.

525
00:48:17.614 --> 00:48:19.032
That night

526
00:48:19.365 --> 00:48:21.951
the lobby was full of people
trying to get out

527
00:48:22.160 --> 00:48:24.412
and the gate was locked.

528
00:48:25.663 --> 00:48:28.875
One guy quickly noticed
the gate was locked

529
00:48:29.375 --> 00:48:32.587
and nobody knew
who had the key.

530
00:48:33.046 --> 00:48:36.424
So he picked up a piece of
wood and broke the glass

531
00:48:36.799 --> 00:48:39.469
and we got out
through the glass.

532
00:48:45.517 --> 00:48:47.060
You can already tell
it’s missing.

533
00:48:48.186 --> 00:48:49.979
- It was visible from here.
- Yeah.

534
00:48:55.193 --> 00:48:56.861
That’s a big void.

535
00:49:11.417 --> 00:49:15.964
I can’t wrap my head around it.
To me, it’s still there.

536
00:49:37.318 --> 00:49:41.614
Pablo and Philippe have come
from France to honor my father‘s dream,

537
00:49:42.657 --> 00:49:43.658
and their own.

538
00:49:56.588 --> 00:49:58.923
Coming back to redo
this drawing together,

539
00:49:59.090 --> 00:50:00.550
10 years later

540
00:50:01.759 --> 00:50:04.178
Pablo and I

541
00:50:04.345 --> 00:50:06.848
didn’t expect it
to be this intense.

542
00:50:08.558 --> 00:50:12.061
It’s this feeling of love and freedom
the building gave us

543
00:50:12.228 --> 00:50:14.981
and the powerful tragedy
of this story.

544
00:50:19.694 --> 00:50:21.696
The first design was a project

545
00:50:22.989 --> 00:50:25.783
and this design is a requiem

546
00:50:28.620 --> 00:50:30.496
to the building itself

547
00:50:30.747 --> 00:50:32.373
to its architect

548
00:50:34.208 --> 00:50:38.046
to the people
who died in that awful fire

549
00:50:40.506 --> 00:50:43.468
and maybe also

550
00:50:45.094 --> 00:50:48.348
to the dream
we had back then

551
00:50:48.890 --> 00:50:51.726
that we keep alive today.

552
00:51:09.035 --> 00:51:11.704
One year later,
our lives have changed.

553
00:51:13.539 --> 00:51:16.793
Today my daughter, Rafaela,

554
00:51:16.959 --> 00:51:19.337
was born after
seven months of pregnancy.

555
00:51:20.755 --> 00:51:22.548
Cover her up.

556
00:51:28.680 --> 00:51:30.056
This is so awesome.

557
00:51:31.265 --> 00:51:32.725
Can I carry her up the stairs?

558
00:51:34.394 --> 00:51:36.854
I don’t get to carry her at all!

559
00:51:37.772 --> 00:51:39.232
It’s my turn now!

560
00:51:40.566 --> 00:51:43.236
I can’t get no respect!

561
00:51:45.029 --> 00:51:49.450
Rafaela, welcome
to your humble home.

562
00:51:57.291 --> 00:52:00.795
Let’s have a conversation,
just the two of us.

563
00:52:32.118 --> 00:52:33.578
Dear Dad

564
00:52:36.372 --> 00:52:40.126
I came home, hoping
to fill an emptiness within me.

565
00:52:41.502 --> 00:52:44.797
And I found you everywhere

566
00:52:46.841 --> 00:52:48.843
in the work you created

567
00:52:50.052 --> 00:52:52.138
in the people you touched.

568
00:52:53.222 --> 00:52:56.642
Finally, I feel I understand you.

569
00:52:57.351 --> 00:52:59.812
My heart is full.

570
00:53:05.109 --> 00:53:06.986
And your Pele de Vidro

571
00:53:07.445 --> 00:53:09.781
the great mirror of Brazil

572
00:53:10.239 --> 00:53:11.741
even in its absence

573
00:53:12.033 --> 00:53:15.203
calls on us
to dream a new future

574
00:53:16.537 --> 00:53:21.375
a future that includes us all.