"Private Desert is a movie about encounters. Since 2016, with the coup that removed the democratically-elected president from power in Brazil, my generation, which grew up in the post-dictatorship era, is experiencing the most dramatic time in its lives. After the coup, the country sank into a spiral of hatred that culminated in the election of a fascist to the presidency. After the election of Jair Bolsonaro, all minorities, women, indigenous people, LGBTQI+ community, and blacks, among others, began to be systematically persecuted and the country was divided between the conservative south and the progressive north / northeast. There were many times when we were on the brink of armed confrontation. And these times of hate motivated me when it came to deciding what my next film would be. I decided that I would make a film about an encounter. In these hateful times, I decided to make a movie about love." [Aly Muritiba]
Aly Muritiba was born in a small city in northeastern Brazil and worked as a prison guard while he put himself through school. The experience inspired two of his short films and a documentary: the short A fábrica, nominated for an Oscar®; the short Pátio, selected for the International Critics' Week at Cannes; and A gente, a documentary starring Muritiba himself, about his experience working in the prison system. In 2015, his short Tarantula premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival. The same year, he directed his first feature film, To My Beloved (Global Filmmaking Award/Sundance Institute 2013), which was screened at the San Sebastian Festival, among others. His next feature Rust premiered at Sundance in 2018. Muritiba has worked extensively in television as well, making series for HBO, Globo, Netflix, and GloboPlay.
