Boy & the World

"Some dreams survive."

2014 1h 20m PT

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 265

AnimationFantasyAdventureFamily

Synopsis

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Suffering because of his father's departure to the big city, a boy leaves his village and discovers a fantastic world dominated by bug-engines and strange beings. An unusual animation with various artistic techniques that portrays the issues of the modern world through the eyes of a child.

“Some dreams survive.”

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Cast

Vinicius Garcia
Kid (voice)
Lu Horta
Mother (voice)
Marco Aurélio Campos
Father (voice)
Felipe Zilse
Young Boy (voice)
Alê Abreu
Old Man (voice)
Cassius Romero
Dog (voice)
Nestor Chiesse
Colonel (voice)
Alfredo Rollo
News Anchor (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alê Abreu
Writers: Alê Abreu
Languages: Portuguese
Countries: Brazil

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

80 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ruben Feffer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alê Abreu shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Vinicius Garcia and Lu Horta and Marco Aurélio Campos carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Some dreams survive.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3183630 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alê Abreu directs. Ruben Feffer scores. Alê Abreu cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Brazil. Dialogue in Portuguese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

180 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 12 years ago.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Original score by Ruben Feffer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Alê Abreu shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Vinicius Garcia and Lu Horta and Marco Aurélio Campos carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Some dreams survive.".
8IMDB entry: tt3183630 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "journey around the world", "modernity", "coming of age", "travel".

The technical file

Original score: Ruben Feffer
Editing: Alê Abreu
Runtime: 80 min · 1h 20m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $121,000
Original language: PT
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Boy & the World (2014)

Awards

CICFF Programmer's Choice Award
Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Alê Abreu

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-07-24
★ 8/10
We live gloriously, but we won't let the world. The film was nominated at the 88th American Academy Awards for best animated feature and lost to 'Inside Out', but won one at Annie Awards out of three nominees. Originally from Brasil, a 80 minutes long, I mean short film, excluding the opening and end credits which makes it even shorter. The tale was told with the beautiful visuals and music, without any dialogues to reach the audience making no complication. Because it was not just an entertainer, but a message bearer. The animation type was simple, yet awesome. All the drawings were done by the director himself. Totally colourful crayons sketches. It was supposed to be a documentary, but later became a feature film. The story about a boy who lives with his parents in the rural growing up loving all the wonders of the nature. He observes the changing world as his father bids a goodbye to him to look for a better job in the city, but never returned. So the curious little kid who loves his father very much takes us an adventure when industrial revolution taking place. The rest of the film tells whether he finds what he's looking for. There were many animations got released in the same year, but this film got the Oscars nod because of the strong message. Especially in the present world this kind of film brings more awareness to the people. It focused the theme man destroying the beautiful world for the profit and dumping the waste everywhere. I am sure you might have seen several documentary films on this topic, but this one was different which was somewhat close to 'Earth 2100'. Although it talks about the past and present than the distant future. The pollution was one of the biggest concerns today and nobody cares to curb it. The industrial revolution is not defining our progressive, but threatening to our future generation. Besides the poors are directly affected by the loss of the employment. The human development in on the right direction, but the path we have chosen was not. So by now you know it is not for just the kids. The film offers a lot for adults to learn from it than the children. But surely a film to them both watch together and have a good time. At one point, for a quick, a few real clips were shown to let us know what the real world looks like after such thing happened as it was shown in the film. I loved the comparison between the city and the rural, from lifestyle, fading culture to everything. The real heartbreaking scene is when the boy revisits his old place to learn it is destroyed. Surely we all have similar kind of experience in our life about the place we had admired some time ago is now completely ruined. It might have not won the Oscar or not popular as the one won, but definitely not ignorable film. All the other four nominees stood behind creativity and entertainment, but this one was with dual intention and it succeeded. It wins our heart more than any prestigious awards in the world, yet I agree the awards leads to the wider recognisation. So I urge everybody to watch it sooner or later, but never to miss it. It is not your Disney, Pixer or Ghibli films, but surely you would enjoy it. I don't know the director, but I think if he resumes with the same intensity for the future projects, he would definitely become the South American Tomm Moore with his unique animation and storytelling. 8/10
SunParakeet2017-02-20
★ 9/10
Yes, this film is, though you may not suspect it at first, about our broken relationship with nature. The city is the bad place, technology is bad, and nature is good and pure. And you can be sure that this message is not handled with any subtlety - at all. But, I loved this film. And not just because of its magnificent images or because of its brilliantly cute character design. The message of the film may be an old one and one we have heard many times before. But the way it is shown is unique and utterly impressive. I sat in the cinema today and cried, which I did not do for a very long time. Yes, it is very emotional and extremely passionate, and also relentlessly honest. I was ashamed and deeply sad when I left the theater. And because of its honesty I love it. And because there is truth in this message, there is no way around it. We hurt and destroy our world. And how can we bear seeing this cute boy watching all these grown-ups acting like this, destroying this wonderful, wonderful nature? We can't. And there is a reason why we can't. I think it is because we know that it is wrong. Well, you'll have to experience it for yourself. Please do. I can promise you that you have never seen anything like it before.