A World Cup Final and a Teen’s Quest for Belonging in “Amarela”

André Hayato Saito’s short drama “Amarela” centers on a Japanese Brazilian teen-ager, Erika, who is eager to watch the Brazilian national team compete against France in the 1998 World Cup final. Saito chose to set the film against the backdrop of the World Cup because it is a rare moment when the country feels truly unified. “In Brazil, especially in 1998, it carried this overwhelming sense of collective euphoria, national pride, and belonging,” Saito told the New Yorker. But, for Erika, the day is far more complicated. At home, Erika feels disconnected from her family’s Japanese traditions. Elsewhere she knows that some people don’t see her as fully Brazilian—a dynamic that comes to a head when she is out watching the game with her friend and other fans. The film moves from the boisterous, public space of watching the match to an intimate moment back at home, where Erika grapples with a set of pressures: “the subtle violences, the feeling of invisibility, the inner pressure to belong.”