The 50-year-old unemployed, mentally ill actress Malu lives with her mother in a Rio de Janeiro favela. She dreams of her glorious past and a comeback on the big stage, but instead has to look after her elderly mother Lili. When her daughter Joana comes to visit after years away, old wounds open up. After a moment of harmony, the situation escalates and Joana vows not to return until Malu seeks psychiatric help.

When Malu also throws Lili out of the house, she is left alone. Years later, Malu is diagnosed with a severe neurological disorder. Joana returns to her mother, who is getting worse from day to day. She accompanies Malu to the clinic in São Paulo to look after her in her remaining months. On the way there, reconciled with her daughter, Malu can finally find peace.

Pedro Freire is a film, theater and TV director and writer. He graduated from Cuba’s Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (EICTV) where he currently works as a professor. His short films were shown in competitions at numerous festivals including Venice, Locarno, Havana, Torino, Cinéma du Réel in Nyon/Switzerland, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Furthermore, he worked as screenwriter for Ruy Guerra, assistant director to Karim Aïnouz and collaborated in a total of 16 feature films. On top of this, he directed theater plays, a number of TV series and teaches drama direction at several institutions in Brazil, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. MALU is his first feature film.

Filmography (selection): 2009 SE POR ACASO, 2016 O TEU SORRISO (both short films), 2023 MALU