Saci: the Newspaper Letters of 1917

Published 25 October 2026 · text produced with AI under human direction and review; quoted passages were checked word for word against the digitized editions cited.

A black horse lies in a pasture at dawn, its mane in fine braids, with a lit oil lamp and a knife beside it; Portuguese words meaning Braided mane appear above.

The short answer

In 1917 a São Paulo newspaper asked readers what they knew about the Saci, a small one-legged figure said to spin whirlwinds and ride horses at night. This film reads the letters that came back. It begins with a woman whose mother used the story to quiet children, then follows the darker accounts that arrived later. It premieres on 25 October 2026 at 8 p.m. Brasília time (UTC−3).

Film facts

Title: Saci: the Newspaper Letters of 1917.
Premiere: Sunday, 25 October 2026, 8 p.m. Brasília time (UTC−3), on YouTube.
Length: about 14 minutes, estimated; seven chapters.
Language: narrated in Brazilian Portuguese. This page is the English reading guide to the film.
Audience: adults. This is folk horror, not a children’s film.
Sources: O Sacy-Perêrê (Monteiro Lobato, org., 1918), O Selvagem (Couto de Magalhães, 1876) and São Paulo state law 11.669/2004.
Narration: synthetic, under human research, direction and review.
Images and animation: generated with AI.
Production: Águas Profundas, under human direction.

Where the story comes from

The inquiry opened in O Estado de S. Paulo on 25 January 1917. Monteiro Lobato gathered its readers’ answers in a book in 1918. Its request was direct:

Our translation
The "Estadinho" opens its columns to this investigation and asks its readers for an honest account
Original (Portuguese)
O “Estadinho” abre suas columnas para esta investigação e pede aos seus leitores um depoimento honesto
— O Sacy-Perêrê, Monteiro Lobato (org.) (1918), lines 1602 to 1603 of the digitized text · read it in the archive

These are readers’ memories of stories told by mothers, servants and farmhands. Some correspondents used their own names; others used pen names or remained anonymous. The book preserves testimony and editorial choices. It does not establish that the events happened. Read the Saci guide for the versions and earlier record.

Only the 1918 text is used. The modern introduction in the digitized reprint is excluded.

Chapters

The mother and the sedative
The girl and the water tank
1917: a newspaper asks about the Saci
The horses in the letter, and the Saci’s origins
The darker letters
How a Saci is caught and set free
The sedative that remained

These are the chapter subjects. No unverified timestamps are supplied.

Frequently asked questions

When does the film premiere? On Sunday, 25 October 2026, at 8 p.m. Brasília time (UTC−3), on YouTube.

Is the film in English? No. It is narrated in Brazilian Portuguese. This page is an English reading guide to it; if English subtitles are added, this page will say so.

What is the film based on? The readers’ answers to the Saci inquiry opened in 1917 and published in O Sacy-Perêrê in 1918, alongside the earlier record in O Selvagem.

Is it suitable for children? It is made for adults. The source material includes disturbing stories, even though the narration is calm.

How is AI used? Narration is synthetic. Images and animation are AI-generated. Humans direct the research, select the sources, check quotations and review the result.

One account at a time

Cite this page

Vigil Page. "Saci: the Newspaper Letters of 1917." Published 25 October 2026. https://vigilpage.com/films/saci-letters-1917/

Revision history

25 October 2026: First publication.