First-time director Walter Thompson-Hernandez is Tribeca Festival 2025’s Viewpoint Award Winner for his captivating film Kites which explores the duality of gang culture in the crowded Santo Amaro favela of Rio de Janeiro.
His central character Duvo (Daniel Ferdnando do Prado Dorea Lima) isa murderous street hustler who lives behind a gun to survive the mean streets of Rio. Despite efforts to escape the ever-mounting violence with his partner Larissa (the late Actor Larissa Borges), he is forced time and again to resort to violence to maintain his primacy. Enter Duvo’s guardian angel Phil (Phillipe Augusto da Silva Souza) the wing-wearing apparition of a former comrade-in-arms who appears periodically to Duvo counsel and console him in times of trouble. Phil sees the good in Duvo and recognizes his sincere desire to change the direction of his life.
An opportunity for redemption arrives on the spot. A local kite festival that is the one bright spot in Duvo’s bleak surroundings, is abruptly canceled, leaving the youth of the community bereft of their one beacon of hope. Risking all, including his reputation as a tough guy, Duvo rises to the occasion and works diligently and earnestly to revive the festival.
Kites is supposedly based on a true story. Presciently, it has elements of truth throughout. Duvo’s angel/protector Phil is the ghost of the colleague who was killed by police. Duvo, himself, has all the earmarks of a man desperately trying to outrun his past while standing in quicksand.
The symbolism of the kites is profound. They represent the desire of the human spirit to rise above the social muck and mire and the tenuous hold on reality that we all have in the winds of fate and circumstance.
Kites is a marvelous and revealing film that speaks directly to the paradox of inspiration and criminal reality. It also addresses the painful crucifixion of youth and innocence in the ruthless crucible of urban society.
In cities like Chicago, where the reality of young life is not unlike that of the characters in the film, there are no kites soaring overhead to inspire young imaginations. Unlike Rio, there are no beautiful mountains and seas or the spectre of a giant crucifix looming in the cosmos.
Kites is a film with many layers of meaning. Sadly, many of those who need to see this film the most, may never have an opportunity. Like the crucifix that hovers in the mountains above Rio and the gossamer image of kites floating in the sky, Kites has a message of redemption that transcends rude circumstance and uplifts the spirit.
Cinematographer Michael Fernandez does a masterful job of differentiating the elements of fantasy and reality in this message-driven film. The guardian angels, for example, appear in a stark setting against a fantastically blue sky. The faces of the children and of Duvo’s fellow hoodlums are often shrouded in shadow.
