Empress of Carnival

Empress of Carnival (Imperatriz do Carnaval) is a feature documentary about the preparation of a samba-school for the carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Offering an entertaining look at the intricate, nine-month preparation work, the documentary also features never-before-seen parade images and surround-sound recordings of the samba-school's renowned percussion ensemble. The journalist Sérgio Cabral, Brazil's leading authority on the history of the samba-schools, has hailed Empress of Carnival "the best, the deepest, and the most complete audio-visual x-ray ever taken of a samba-school."