Episode 3: The Mail

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.

Within Rio de Janeiro's dangerous favelas, no mail gets delivered. To compound problems, there aren't even official street addresses. So when the local residents complain about the problem, a local drug baron - acting in his capacity as the ad hoc government - assigns distribution of the mail to someone who knows everyone and where they live: Acerola (Douglas Silva). However, problems soon arise when Acerola and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) deal with a troublesome letter and try to improve the system. Directed by Kátia Lund and Paulo Lins.