Oscar winner Walter Salles has previewed the first two episodes of his upcoming documentary series about the legendary Brazilian football player Sócrates and spoken about the enduring spirit of his subject’s activism.
Salles, whose I’m Still Here won Brazil the international feature film Oscar in 2025, got the idea for the five-episode series after he had a conversation in 2022 with Raí, the late Sócrates’ younger brother and a former professional player himself.
The series, financed and produced by Globoplay in co-production with VideoFilmes and Anonymous Content Brazil, shot mostly in São Paulo and Rio and uses archival footage of Sócrates and interviews with journalists, football coaches, players, and members of the family.
The first episode begins in 1950s Brazil, a pre-dictatorship era when Sócrates’ parents, both self-taught civil servants who named their first-born Sócrates’ Brasileiro in part after the Greek philosopher, were part of the dream of building a free nation. The second episode covers the arrival of a young Sócrates at the Corinthians football club in 1978 and the movement he initiated alongside other players, Democracia Corinthiana (Corinthian Democracy).
Democracia Corinthiana was a revolutionary, self-managed movement within the club during the 1980s that used a democratic voting system for all decision-making, transforming the team into a symbol of resistance against the military dictatorship.
Still resonant
“It’s extraordinary,” Salles said when he presented the episodes at São Paulo International Film Festival, known as Mostra de São Paulo. “I never speak of Democracia Corinthiana in the past tense, because it continues to resonate to this day. It’s proof of just how revolutionary this was, a movement from which we still have so much to learn.”
The series is described as an “affectionate portrait” of one of the most fascinating figures in recent Brazilian history. A physician by training, Sócrates developed a progressive political consciousness that placed him at the forefront of the major civil campaign in 1983-84 known as Diretas Já (Direct Elections Now) demanding an end to the dictatorship and the restoration of direct presidential elections.
“Initially, there was some uncertainty as to whether it should be a feature film or a series,” producer from Maria Carlotam from VideoFilmes said. “However once we began our research, which was both extensive and time-consuming, we decided on a series. This format would allow us to properly explore such a complex figure: a doctor and soccer player who became a cultural and political icon in the 1980s. Consequently, we reached out to Globoplay, having already established a partnership with them for I’m Still Here.”
The series bears particular resonance today, in light of presidential incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s astonishing victory over far-right candidate Flavio Bolsonaro on October 25, following popular demonstrations that drew up to a million supporters in major cities across Brazil. In his youth, Lula was a central figure in the Diretas Já movement as an opposition leader.
Bruno added, “The production process was delayed due to the release of I’m Still Here. We only resumed the post-production phase last year. Perhaps the universe conspired in our favour in this case, allowing us to show two of the series’ five episodes at Mostra de São Paulo, at a crucial moment in the fight to defend democracy.”
Socrates Brasileiro will stream on Globoplay.
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