SYNOPSIS
The trajectory of Berenice Menegale is inseparable from the cultural history of Minas Gerais, in which the Artistic Education Foundation (FEA) has played a significant role, especially in the field of music. The matter of education through the arts permeates everything. Berenice remembers with impressive vitality her first contacts with her mother’s piano, at the age of 3. Her enthusiasm for education and culture was also influenced by her father, Heli Menegale. A journalist, poet and teacher, he was an advisor to Darcy Ribeiro as Minister of Education. In adolescence, Berenice studied piano in Paris and then in Vienna, where she graduated as a pianist. The rigor of an European education and a career as a concert pianist did not fulfill her. She returned to Belo Horizonte determined to renew the city’s cultural scene – a purpose she has been fulfilling for over 60 years. She began by creating, alongside a group of young musicians, the FEA, a cradle of talents of national and international relevance, such as Uakti. She kept working, leading the implementation of the Secretariats of Culture in her state and city, creating and welcoming proposals for artistic training and dissemination. As mirrors endlessly reflecting something placed in the center, her principles of freedom and inventiveness are noticed both in the public and private spheres. When asked about what stories she would like to tell, Berenice pauses and, squinting, replies: “It’s not about the stories… it’s about the possibility for so many things to happen”.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
Between 2022 and 2025, the author recorded and collected footage for the Ressonâncias project. Part of this material makes up the short film completed in November 2025 – produced with sponsorship from BDMG through the Belo Horizonte Municipal Culture Incentive Law, in 2022 public notice. Another part of the material is being selected for the production of a feature-length documentary with the same name. The project for the development of the script, editing, and finalization of the feature film was approved in the public notice of the same law this year. In addition to raising funds from ISSQN, the project has been presented in markets and submitted to laboratories and other funding calls.

PRESENTATION MATERIALS (PT – EN – ES)