![\"Gustavo](\"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gustavo-castro-1024x768.jpeg\")
One of the foundations of the documentary\u2019s analytical tone\u2014an 80-minute feature film\u2014is the director\u2019s first-person narration. The film unfolds across three timelines: the journey itself, the historical context, and the present day. Castro\u2019s perspective guides viewers through all these periods, from the occupied West Bank of 2018, marked by movement restrictions, Israeli occupation, and attempts at resistance, to historical archives and videos shared on social media by Palestinian victims of the attacks that followed October 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A documentary filmmaker with 20 years of experience, Castro already had an established career in cinema when he became interested in the subject of Palestine around 14 years ago, through his connection with the current president of the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal), Ualid Rabah, who lives in Paran\u00e1. \u201cIn today\u2019s world, where does colonialism take place?\u201d Castro asks. Palestine became a natural subject for someone addressing colonialism in his work. In 2017, the filmmaker had also directed a documentary about Arab immigration to Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trip to Palestine was made possible through an invitation from a Holy Land travel agency for Castro to accompany a group and film there. It was the family of Ualid Rabah that welcomed him during the trip and shared their experience living in occupied Palestine. \u201cThe most striking testimony is from the mother-in-law of Rabah\u2019s sister, a refugee from 1948, an elderly woman who received us in her home and told us about the exile, when they were sent to the Jordanian desert,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was first supposed to be a film about possibilities became a brutal reflection on apartheid and the colonization of Palestine<\/p>Gustavo Castro<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n That period of exile appears both in the interviewee\u2019s life story and in some of the earliest recorded images of Palestinian refugees in the desert in 1948. \u201cToday\u2019s images are, in some ways, very similar to what happened back then\u2014people leaving their homes, moving elsewhere, living in tents,\u201d the filmmaker explained, highlighting how this is a story repeated throughout the lives and generations of Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notes on an Exile<\/em> was completed last year and premiered at the Olhar de Cinema\u2014Curitiba International Film Festival. Since then, it has been screened at festivals in Brazil and abroad. In the Arab world, the film was shown in Jordan at the Karama Human Rights Film Festival. At the 19th<\/sup> Iran International Documentary Film Festival, it received the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary. Castro said the recognition means a great deal because of Iran\u2019s artistic tradition, especially in cinema. He also sees the film\u2019s selection for several festivals as an important endorsement of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After being selected in a public distribution grant from Brazil\u2019s Ministry of Culture, the film\u2019s next step is release in commercial theaters. Screenings are also being held at universities, unions, and similar venues in Brazil and abroad. \u201cWhat we want is to reach the largest audience possible, for the film to find its audience, whether inside a movie theater or not,\u201d Castro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notes on an Exile<\/em> is Castro\u2019s first feature-length film. The filmmaker from Paran\u00e1 has directed 12 short documentary films and worked as cinematographer on several other projects, totaling around 30 productions, including his own and those of other directors. Graduated in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paran\u00e1 (UFPR), he turned to cinema after traveling across Latin America during college, identifying with social and human rights causes that he first explored through photography and later through his own documentaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film about Palestine was written by Gustavo Castro, Juliana Sanson, and Ticiano Monteiro. Cinematography is by Castro and Rafael Oliveira, while production is by Castro, Juliana Sanson, and Oliveira. Editing is by Monteiro, sound design by Ulisses Galetto, music by Grace Torres, and art direction by Jonas Sanson. The film was produced by Fabul\u00e1rio Filmes<\/a>, a production company owned by Juliana Sanson and Castro. Watch the trailer<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nGustavo Castro<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Last week, Gustavo Castro was received at the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (ABCC<\/a>) headquarters in S\u00e3o Paulo by Marketing Vice President Silvia Antibas and International Relations Vice President & Secretary-General Mohamad Orra Mourad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n