Walter Hugo Khouri | 1981 | Brazil | 107' | EN subtitles

The Amsterdam Film Meeting is proud to present the first partial retrospective of Walter Hugo Khouri’s work outside of Brazil, in collaboration with the Cinemateca Brasileira and the Estate of Walter Hugo Khouri. This selection highlights Khouri’s distinctive exploration of the erotic drama genre, focusing on themes of desire, obsession, and the complexities of human relationships. Spanning multiple decades of his career, these films reflect Khouri's unique position in Brazilian film history. In Khouri's universe, unreliable narrators, mysterious women, and elements of psychological horror create an expression that stands apart from both mainstream and underground Brazilian cinema.

Entering the 1980s, Khouri directed one of his most acclaimed films, Eros, O Deus Do Amor, the culmination of his stylistic evolution. The film is a blend of experimental techniques with a voyeuristic meditation on memory and the character’s sexual encounters — a kind of Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) à la brasileira. Through the eyes of his protagonist, Khouri invites the audience into a world of obsession, violent sex, and inner turmoil, where the boundaries between observer and participant blur, and the act of looking becomes a scopophilic exploration of male desire.