7 Prisoners

To provide a better life for his family in the country, 18-year-old Mateus accepts a job in a junkyard in São Paulo for his new boss, Luca. But when he and a few other boys become trapped in the dangerous world of human trafficking, Mateus will be forced to decide between working for the very man who imprisoned him or risk his and his family’s future.

18-year-old Mateus (Christian Malheiros) hopes to provide a better life for his working-class family in the countryside. Accepting a new job in São Paolo, he is shuttled into the city with a handful of other teenage boys from his town, unaware of what awaits them: exhausting work in a scrapyard and their identity cards seized by a vicious taskmaster and exploiter, Luca (Rodrigo Santoro), who threatens them with the unthinkable if they try to escape.

But, as Mateus learns, even the boss has a boss. And if he wants to find a way out, what will he have to become?

Torn from the dark side of today’s economic desperation, 7 Prisoners is a tense thriller, one that deepens into a masterful study of power, solidarity and betrayal. Produced by the Oscar-nominated filmmakers Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and Ramin Bahrani (The White Tiger), the film is the second feature from writer-director Alexandre Moratto (Sócrates), who confirms his status as a major new voice of Brazilian cinema.