The Edge of Democracy

Nominated for an Oscar as Best Documentary, The Edge of Democracy is a cautionary tale for these times of democracy in crisis. We witness up close the rise and fall of Brazil’s Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva. The legislative coup against Dilma and the judicial coup that imprisoned Lula, the most popular politician in the country, opened the way for the rise to power of the most reactionary forces in the country and the authoritarian Jair Bolsonaro to the Presidency. The Edge of Democracy explores one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history. It cautions us to what can happen to democracy when progressive alternatives are cast aside.

Written, directed, and narrated by Petra Costa, she combines unprecedented access to Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff with accounts of her own family's complex political and industrial past to reveal a tragically polarized nation.