Written in 1625 by the British playwright Ben Jonson, the play “The Staple of News” provides a historic root for this discussion about the role of the press in modern day Brazil. Journalists of several generations discuss the dilemmas of the selection and focus of their subjects, the resistance of the media in accepting itself as a political agent, the inevitability of interpretation as there are no hard facts in nature, and above all the search for an always complex balance between credibility and the public’s growing demand for news.

A lonely beach on the southernmost coast of Brazil is the scene for two friends, on the brink of adulthood, to explore their understanding of themselves and one another. Martin has been sent by his father to retrieve what appears to be an inheritance-related document from the family of his recently deceased and estranged grandfather. Tomaz accompanies him, seemingly hoping to regain some of their former closeness. The two boys shelter themselves in a glass house, in front of a cold and stormy sea.