New Wave (Onda Nova)

In this bright and brilliant sex comedy, once banned in Brazil on initial release, we follow the lives of a burgeoning girls' football team, and their burgeoning understandings of themselves and love. Everyone is connected to everyone, and the plot meanders deliciously.

This restored queer cult classic is now making the rounds in 2025, and my best description would be that the film is like if Hairspray (the movie, not the musical) drank some 'Bend it like Beckham' vodka and put on the oversized outfits of 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'. It's camp, filled with truly fantastic sex scenes, and has queerness laced throughout.

The film grapples with the dichotomy of women within male spaces, and so, in a spirit of balance, also grapples with men within women's spaces - the social, the feminine, and the bedroom. Some of my favourite sex scenes committed to celluloid now come from scenes in this film.

Not long into the film you realise why it was banned - just a little too liberated, just a bit too much gender bending and sex and lightheartedness. It's the kind of film you're surprised hasn't become an international cult hit, screened at midnight in your favourite repertory every year.

If you're in Brazil, you'll be able to see this in theatres from the 27th - otherwise, stay tuned! We'll hopefully have more news for you soon!