Episode 1: The Emperor's Crown

After completing the critically acclaimed, Oscar®-nominated 2002 feature CITY OF GOD, filmmakers Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardner) and Kátia Lund continued their stories from a notorious slum in Rio de Janeiro in this multi-part TV series. CITY OF MEN follows the day-to-day life of Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) and Acerola (Douglas Silva), two 13-year-olds from a Rio favela. In the course of the series, the two friends must live by their wits in an environment where food and money are scarce and drug dealing and violence are ever present.

Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) and Acerola (Douglas Silva) are studying the Napoleonic wars in history class - or at least that's the lesson plan. Their teacher's bored delivery of facts and dates means little to the boys, whose understanding of the world is largely limited to the shanty favelas of Rio de Janeiro. So, to inspire her students, their teacher plans a field trip. The only catch: everyone must pay $6.50. Soon Acerola and Laranjinha are forging some extremely dangerous alliances to come up with the cash. Directed by Cesar Charlone.