Despite its artistic merits, the original 1983 release suffered from poor distribution. It played in a handful of independent theaters in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo before vanishing into the archives of Rede Globo and TV Cultura, airing sporadically at 6 AM on Saturdays.
The team manually corrected the color temperature scene by scene. The vibrant greens of the Brazilian caatinga (scrublands) and the warm brown of the horse’s mane are now visible. The "updated" scan reveals pencil textures on the cels that were invisible in the 80s broadcasts. a menina e o cavalo 1983 updated
| | 2026 Reassessment | |-------------------|----------------------| | “Too slow for children, too simple for adults” – Jornal do Brasil | “A masterclass in visual restraint” – Revista Cinética | | “Melodrama with hooves” – Folha de S.Paulo | “Proto-eco-feminist gem” – Sight & Sound | | “Rocha is a natural, but the film wanders” – Veja | “One of Brazil’s great films about grief” – IndieWire | A Menina e o Cavalo (1983): A Reappraisal
