It's always time for Inhotim
The 90-second production, directed by Bárbara Magri at Saigon, is placing everyday gestures at the heart of the narrative that gives meaning to Latin America’s largest open-air museum.
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Instituto Inhotim launches a new commercial film celebrating its 20th anniversary. With a 90-second duration and the tagline It's always time for Inhotim, the production will be broadcast on TV, cinemas, and out-of-home (OOH) media nationwide.
Directed by Bárbara Magri, from the production company Saigon, the film breaks away from the most recurring visual repertoire of Inhotim, focused on the beauty of its landscapes, artworks, galleries, gardens, and aerial views—to center the narrative on the small daily gestures that have given meaning to the territory over two decades: a kiss, a couple, a celebration, a first discovery. The camera turns to the human appropriation of the landscape, revealing how people recreate this space at different moments through actions that seem simple at first, but prove to be poetic and inspiring. It is a portrait of the museum lived in and occupied by people: they are the ones who give and renew meaning to Inhotim's landscapes.
“It is a huge source of pride to have Inhotim’s trust to document these 20 years through my lens. I’ve been visiting Inhotim since the beginning and, over the years, I’ve built a very close and affectionate relationship with this place. It’s precisely from this intimacy that the film is born: from a desire to portray the space through a closer, sensitive, and personal perspective, adding a new layer to the many possibilities Inhotim offers to those who visit and explore it,” states Magri.
Credits
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- Production Company Saigon
- Director Barbara Magri
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Credits
View on- Production Company Saigon
- Director Barbara Magri
- Executive Producer Victoria Scaff
- DP Mauricio Padilha
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Credits
powered by- Production Company Saigon
- Director Barbara Magri
- Executive Producer Victoria Scaff
- DP Mauricio Padilha
Among the film's highlights is the participation of artist Cildo Meireles, who shares a scene with Elton Damasceno, Studio Manager and a 20-year employee of Inhotim. The scene simulates a real-life situation of assembling and maintaining the artwork Através (Through), created by Cildo himself. Throughout his career at the institution, Damasceno has been part of the teams responsible for setting up several iconic works in the collection; thus, the scene recreates an authentic experience.
The film also features 12 children from the Inhotim Music School project, a historic initiative of the institution that offers free musical education at various levels to people of all ages. All the children involved are residents of Brumadinho.
Completing the cast is museologist Alison Valentim, an Inhotim staff member playing an employee who has frequented the institution since childhood, a direct reference to Inhotim’s role as an educational hub for young people from Brumadinho and the surrounding region, where they discover new opportunities for study and professional paths.
"Among all the adjectives one could use to describe this film, I would choose 'coherent.' It truly captures the essence of Inhotim as a place that connects art and nature like no other institution. Furthermore, it reflects Inhotim’s current institutional moment: looking ahead to the future while deepening connections with the people who shape this space and the surrounding territory. We are thrilled that both behind and in front of the camera, there are staff members and students from our School of Music—something that directly aligns with our mission and vision," says Wendell Silva, Communications Manager at Inhotim.
“It is truly special to contribute to preserving the memory of a place that has inspired, transformed, and brought people closer to art, nature, and culture in such a broad way for so long. Making this film was an exercise in observation and translating the power of such a unique place into images, allowing its landscape, artworks, and atmosphere to tell this story without ever doing so in an obvious way. That was one of Bárbara's main desires: to find a way to portray Inhotim that reveals its essence without trying to explain it, allowing the imagery to provoke, suggest, and evoke sensations,” says Victoria Scaff, Executive Producer at Saigon.
