The Humanitas360 Institute launched its 2026 “Difficult Conversations” series last night (January 20) at the CIVI-CO auditorium in São Paulo, tackling a particularly timely topic in this presidential election year: the relationship between politics and religion in Brazil today.
Filmmaker Petra Costa, director of the documentary “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” and Federal Representative Otoni de Paula (MDB-RJ), a member of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, engaged in dialogue moderated by anthropologist Juliano Spyer—an unlikely encounter that brought together contrasting perspectives on power and faith.
Both were invited to discuss key moments from Costa’s film, which exposed the influence of the fundamentalist evangelical movement in Jair Bolsonaro’s government and is among the pre-nominees for the Oscar for Best Documentary.
The director explained her choice of subject matter after observing the “infiltration of Christian fundamentalism into the direction of national politics” as early as 2016, while preparing her previous work, “The Edge of Democracy” (2019).
An Assembly of God pastor, Otoni de Paula discussed his recent break from Bolsonarism, which in his view has become an “idolatry” based on the “principle of hatred,” incompatible with Christian faith.
Via videoconference, Humanitas360 Institute president Patrícia Villela Marino opened the event, stating that through the Difficult Conversations project—and this edition in particular—her intention is to “continue the fight for the greatest biblical commandment: to love.”
Watch the 8th edition of “Difficult Conversations” below:
