The story of a man who represents a town, a country, and a planet
Ilha Grande, in Piauí, is the land of the mud men. Antônio Júlio, or Seu Julinho, is the island’s most famous resident. The mud man who founded the mud town. He is called both an activist and a poet. He moves through the halls of power and draws attention. He raised a family of more than 100 people. He was offered a blank check by businessmen for the sale of his land—and refused it. Thanks to him, prejudice against crab fishermen is a thing of the past. Seu Julinho seemed to have Ilha Grande in the palm of his hand.
But during the month Beatriz Trevisan spends in the city, she’ll discover that’s not quite the case. Cidade de Lama is a podcast by Pachorra Felitti Áudios, Livros e Filmes, supported by the Pulitzer Center. It is a series about a family’s intimate and profound relationship with the town and the nature around them. It is a story about difficult and invisible labor, the transformations of nature, and the dynamics of power. Above all, it is a story about the human condition.
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Episode 1: The Crossing
It is November 26, 2025. Antônio Júlio has been navigating the Parnaíba Delta toward a mangrove forest for two hours. Júlio talks about the sand dunes, the creeks, and the islands as if he were talking about loved ones. During the trip, he recounts how he learned to unravel the mysteries of the mangrove. And how being a crab gatherer requires very specific skills and a keen sense of perception.
Episode 2: The Mangrove Forest
It’s almost seven in the morning when the small boat approaches the edge of a mangrove forest on Pontal Beach, on Ilha Grande. The forest is alluring. Clécio and Zé are swallowed up by the mangrove swamp. They move quickly and with ease. They arch their bodies, press their faces into the mud, and thrust their arms into the crab’s burrow in one swift motion. In this battle, the man suffers, but it is the animal that always loses.
Episode 3: The People
Antônio Júlio tells the story of how he became Seu Julinho, the man whom the entire town follows blindly. The man who wields so much power that he was given a blank check by foreign businessmen who wanted to build a luxury resort on the island. The man’s connection to the mangrove forest was passed down to Julinho, and he carried on the tradition. But even the greatest of prophecies does not last forever.
Episode 4: Power
Júlio founded an association of crab gatherers and the Crab Festival, the city’s largest cultural and tourist event. But by 2025, Julinho’s authority is more symbolic than practical. The impression that he has voting power in the halls of power is false. And it seems that the crab gatherers are valued more in the sculpture of a happy crab at the city’s entrance than in real, practical life.
