In 2008, a corpse was found in the ruins of an occupied building in Lapa with writer João Paulo Cuenca’s birth certificate. The film investigates the theft of the author’s identity in a ghostly Rio de Janeiro undergoing huge changes. If in fiction and in police reports it is commonplace for the living to steal the identities of the dead in order to start a new life, this story is just the opposite: someone who steals the identity of a living man in order to die instead of him.
João Paulo Cuenca
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1978. He is the author of four novels and an anthology of stories. In recent years, he has written for the theater, cinema and television, such as the series Nada tenho de meu (2013). His books have been translated into eight different languages. The Death of J. P. Cuenca, made with the support of the Venice Film Festival’s Bienale College Cinema, is his first feature film.
