00:00Flavio Falcone is a psychiatrist dressed as a clown he helps the lost the broken the crack
00:13addicted in Crackalandia a vast drug zone in Sao Paulo Brazil his costume affords him access to
00:21people who've got no one left who've lost everything to addiction
00:3030 years ago a new drug unleashed an addiction epidemic in the heart of Sao Paulo
00:42the tiny yellow crystals have ravaged South America's biggest city ever since
00:50half of Brazil's crack users have landed here
00:57more than half a million people barely surviving in plain sight before the indifferent eyes of
01:05locals around loose train station a kind of parallel world has formed a city within the
01:12city called Crackalandia Crackland many here are hooked on a drug that's cheaper and more
01:19addictive than any that came before Flavio Falcone made the decision to devote his life to helping
01:28the people of Crackland I come from a very privileged family white for starters and I had the good
01:39fortune to study at the best medical school in the country but those elites always felt foreign to me
01:50I came up with the clown during a theater workshop back then I was teaching classes for drug addicts
02:06one day I was supposed to give a lecture as a psychiatrist as a street doctor and I just decided to dress up as a clown
02:22I went out on the street and suddenly all the users just started talking to me
02:29that day I realized how powerful that mask is
02:39from down on I used it as a kind of tool like my surgical kit to use the medical term
02:48the clown is a powerful figure it lets you reach the annex he's the archetype of the failure people laugh
02:59at clowns because they stumble not because they walk tall that's how I'm able to connect with the
03:09people of Crackalandia they're seen as the failures of capitalist society
03:16Flavio's not alone in his fight he's gathered a team addicts who are now sober and residents of
03:36Crackland together they form the TTT collective in Portuguese the T's stand for shelter work treatment
03:45a three-pronged approach to help addicts heal once a week his crew head straight into Crackland to the beat of Brazilian funk
03:54into the Fluxu the largest open-air drug market in the world
03:59it gets its name from the constant flow of people coming and going wandering aimlessly through clouds of ammonia fumes
04:10thousands of addicts get their fix here it's cheap for 20 hair eyes about the price of a loaf of bread
04:19you can buy a hit of crack many used then and there trying to forget as quickly as possible they often collapse
04:27just steps away from the dealers stalls Flavio had to negotiate with the gangs for a long time just to be allowed into the Fluxu with his drums
04:37now he's one of the few people who can enter without fear
04:42welcome to Crackalandia
04:46Mafalda I'm not giving you a 10
04:51you're getting a 10,000
04:53next contestant Tocino
04:56as a clown he runs an American style talent show
05:05it's performed and judged by the people of the Fluxu
05:09the prize is a symbolic sum of money
05:13next contestant
05:15who's this gent over here
05:17from Milsson
05:19Rommielson
05:20Rommielson
05:22Rommielson
05:36with the song contest
05:38contest. I can really get through to the addicts. It wakes up something inside them, that pulse of life and death, the energy behind everything that's alive.
06:08As a psychiatrist, I try to see how much life is still in them. There's always something left, and art is the best way to sense that pulse of life.
06:24The clown laughs, while the psychiatrist observes, each contestant becoming a potential client.
06:38Behind the show's colorful backdrop, he's asking questions, listening, evaluating, ever hopeful he'll be able to get someone off the street.
06:50Crack, cocaine, alcohol. People use these substances to numb the pain. The pain of being poor in a society that wants to get rid of them.
07:08I used to be on coke. I stole from my mom to buy drugs. She kicked me out after I stole her phone and sold it.
07:32Didn't even get 50 eyes for it. I never saw her again.
07:47Then I took my first hit of crack. And that was that. That was that.
07:54Now I'm just some junkie in the fluxu. Trying to scrape together money for my next fix.
08:09I'm going to make money for my next fix.
08:16From the moment he wakes up, Renato roams aimlessly through Crack-a-lanja, his withdrawal gnawing at him.
08:27He digs through trash for food scraps, looking for anything he can trade for a hit.
08:33A piece of copper to sell, something someone threw away.
08:37I swore no one would ever see me sitting in a corner of Crack-a-lanja, smoking crack.
08:57I was always afraid of other people.
09:06Now I'm afraid other people are afraid of me.
09:13As a kid, I used to be scared of the homeless.
09:17This morning I saw a kid run away from me.
09:26You get that?
09:29I don't hurt anyone. No one.
09:32No one.
09:45I haven't danced in eight years.
09:49Eight whole years without dancing.
09:51Dancing used to be my life.
09:58I started when I was four.
10:01I was born to dance.
10:06TTT reminded me of what I can do.
10:08You know what's most important to me now?
10:16Knowing I can still do something.
10:19With the collective's support, Renato has got an audition at the city's biggest samba school.
10:29A dancer's dream.
10:32For the first time in eight years, he leaves the street behind.
10:38First day of class.
10:41Man, I'm so stressed.
10:43Seriously.
10:48That's how I'll cut back, too.
10:50But damn, it's gonna be tough.
10:53Four short hours without crack.
10:57I've never been here before.
11:03Look at this place.
11:05Man.
11:06Insane.
11:10With every step, I get more nervous.
11:12That stupid fear of failing.
11:24I hate it.
11:25Especially now that I'm actually here.
11:37Dressed in style.
11:39Hanatu has found an escape.
11:43Each step carries him further from the harshness of day-to-day life.
11:52He sinks into music, into the familiar sway of the samba groove.
11:58For a few hours, Hanatu's pain and fear drift away.
12:02Mastering one step, faltering on the next.
12:05He charities every moment, rediscovering the man who once believed dance could be his life.
12:14A quiet triumph for the clown of Kragalanga.
12:18And her life.
12:19She loves them.
12:20She loves the man who once believed she would not be.
12:21She wants to smile.
12:22She's sick and she looks so, she loves to have the beard.
12:23And her life.
12:24A quiet beauty.
12:25And she feels like all the years.
12:26She's sick and she's dead.
12:27And she that's not too bad.
12:29A quiet beauty.
12:30She's not very different.
12:32She's not too bad.
12:33She's not even too good.
12:35When she sees it.
12:36When she's too bad.
12:38She's too bad.
12:40But she's just too bad.
12:42And that's right.
12:43To keep the same.
12:44And that's so bad.
