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As São Paulo State and Brazil at large gears up its funding for film, TV, vid games and beyond, there is a distinct possibility that Brazil’s Congress will approve this year a global streamer investment quota for Brazilian films and series. If that happens, it could see R$700 million-r$800 million ($122 million-$140 million) being invested in independent Brazilian production, producer Fabiano Gullane (“Senna”) estimates.

Already Brazil is Latin America’s comeback story and its players, thanks to “I’m Still Here” and “Senna” walk the world stage. Following, the often remarkable São Paulo companies known to be at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, often aided in their attendance by São Paulo State. As often frequent international co-producers, they are well worth knowing. A drill-down on companies at Berlin, with some more to come.

44 Toons, Ale McHaddo

An animation studio and, from 2016, live action producer behind toon series “Osmar” and Netflix...

Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, about artefacts being returned from Paris to present-day Benin, was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 24).

The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.

In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...

Amongst a slate of auspicious Brazilian films and series featuring in Berlin, “Cidade; Campo”– the latest from arthouse helmer Juliana Rojas – saw its world premiere on Monday, screening as part of the Encounters strand that aims “to foster aesthetically and structurally daring works from independent, innovative filmmakers,” according to the fest.

Backed by Brazil’s Dezenove Som e Imagem and Globo Filmes in tandem with France’s Good Fortune Films and Germany’s Sutor Kolonko, the loosely mystical narrative tells two disparate relocation stories fused by longing, grief and a rousing aesthetic. Italy’s The Open Reel handles international sales.

“At Globo Filmes, it’s a delight to be engaged in the co-production of ‘Cidade; Campo.’ Juliana Rojas stands out as an innovative filmmaker, offering a crucial perspective on contemporary Brazil. Juliana intricately explores the woman’s role in a society laden with oppression,” Simone Oliveira, head of Globo Filmes,...

Italy’s The Open Reel has taken on international sales for Juliana Rojas’ Berlinale Encounters title Cidade; Campo.

Cidade; Campo tells two stories of migration between city and countryside. In the first part, after a dam disaster floods her hometown, rural worker Joana moves to São Paulo but struggles to thrive in the city. In the second part, after the death of her estranged father, Flavia moves to his farm with her wife Mara. In both stories, nature forces the two women to face frustrations and cope with old memories and ghosts.

A Brazilian, German and French co-production, Cidade; Campo...

Portuguese producers Pandora Cunha Telles and Pablo Iraola, of Ukbar Filmes, are bringing a delegation of six Portuguese women helmers to the Berlinale, to showcase their ambitious project “Told by Women,” – a slate of 10 TV movies by 10 first-time women filmmakers – coproduced with Portuguese public broadcaster, Rtp.

The producers have lined up an intensive mentoring experience with leading international women producers that aims to endow them with the tools to embrace new challenges.

The first season of five films of “Told by Women” was broadcast by Rtp in October 2022, to strong ratings, and the second season of five films will bow this spring.

The mentoring program at the Berlinale involves international producers Sara Silveira, Brazilian producer and founder of Dezenove Som e Imagens, Mariela Besuievsky from Tornasol Filmes, and Gudny Hummelvoll, producer at Hummelfilm, the first woman president of the European Producers Club.

The delegation of Portuguese women directors is comprised by Ana Cunha,...

Cidade;Campo

Juliana Rojas embarks on her second solo feature as director with Cidade;Campo, a project initially scheduled to go into production last May but halted by the pandemic. Produced by Sara Silveira of Dezenove Som e Imagens, who has financed several of Rojas’ projects. Rojas is perhaps best known for a series of projects she co-directed with Marco Dutra. She shared the Cannes Discovery award with Dutra for their 2007 short “A Stem,” an award she’d also receive for her 2012 short “Doppelganger.” Their 2011 feature Hard Labor was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, and their 2017 feature Good Manners won the Special Jury Prize at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival.…...

Brazilian filmmaker Juliana Rojas’ last Locarno experience was one to remember, culminating in a Special Jury Prize for her 2017 feature “Good Manners,” which played in competition. This time around her situation is less enviable, as the filmmaker presents “Cidade; Campo” (City; Country) in Locarno’s The Films After Tomorrow competition for productions halted by Covid-19 shutdowns.

Rojas is among Brazil’s most exciting film and TV writing-directing talents with a resume loaded with festival plaudits, including two Cannes Discovery Awards for “A Stem” in 2007 and “Doppelgänger” in 2012. But even a filmmaker with such a stellar track-record can’t escape the dire effects of the pandemic on the industry.

Rojas and her team are presently finalizing the script and looking at ways to adjust the project to its post-shutdown budget, which has suffered a hit, according to producer Sara Silveira of Dezenove Som e Imagens.

“Cidade; Campo” is a film in two parts,...

Directed by Caetano Gotardo and Marco Dutra, Brazilian Berlin competition entry “All the Dead Ones” kicks off in Belle Epoque 1899 São Paulo. Ana, the daughter of a plantation owner and her nun sister attempt persuade a reluctant Ina, a former slave, to perform an ancient African ritual to cure their mother. A time warp at the hour mark moves part of the drama to contemporary high-rise São Paulo, as Ana in 1899 becomes obsessed by ghosts of dead black slaves.

“‘All the Dead Ones’ talks about how Brazil is much richer than we maybe think. Although a period film, it talks in a very original way about something still happening today,” says Carlo Chatrian, Berlin artistic director. The directors talked to Variety about the film.

The film uses an arresting time warp to ask how much Brazil has really changed.

Gotardo: The way that Brazilian society was organized after the end...

A combined €314,000 in production and distribution funding has been awarded to 10 international projects.

A combined €314,000 has been awarded to 10 projects in the latest funding round of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf).

Recipients include Brazilian filmmaker Juliana Rojas’ second feature Cidade; Campo which continues Rojas’ long-standing collaboration with veteran producer Sara Silveira following the award-winning short Um Ramo in 2007.

The Wcf also picked Daughter Of Rage, the feature debut by Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister, whose short Ombligo De Agua had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam at the beginning of the year. Daughter Of Rage won...

A combined €314,000 in production and distribution funding has been awarded to ten projects.

A combined €314,000 has been awarded to ten projects in the latest funding round of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf).

Production funding recipients include Brazilian filmmaker Juliana Rojas’ second feature Cidade; Campo which continues her long-standing collaboration with veteran producer Sara Silveira, following the director’s award-winning short Um Ramo in 2007.

The Wcf also picked Daughter Of Rage, the feature debut by Nicaraguan filmmaker Laura Baumeister, whose short Ombligo de agua had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam at the beginning of the year.

Dutra whose credits include 2011 Un Certain Regard entry Hard Labor and Good Manners, which won the Locarno jury prize in 2017.

Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired world sales rights to Brazilian director Marco Dutra’s upcoming period drama All The Dead Ones, set against the backdrop of Sao Paolo in the late 19th century, shortly after the abolition of slavery.

The film revolves around three women from a formerly wealthy coffee plantation-owning family that has gone into financial decline amid the rapidly changing backdrop of Brazil at the turn of the century.

The death of their long-time maid, a former black slave from their farm,...

Madrid — Mauricio Osaki’s “The Paths of My Father,” Angeles Cruz’s “Nudo Mixteco” and Joan Gómez Endara’s “The Red Tree” will screen at San Sebastian’s Films in Progress, in a 36th edition which drinks from the seemingly bottomless well of directorial new talent in Latin America – all six of the pix-in-post are first features.

Sourced from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay , the titles, which will seek completion finances, sales agents and distribution at San Sebastian, also draw a telling portrait of Latin America and beyond – paradoxically both the ever more connected globalized structures of its film financing and story telling and a world ravaged by broken families and a desperate need to reunite.

Maybe the most telling case in point is “The Paths of My Father. It is produced by Brazil’s Dezenove Som e Imagens, whose Sara Silveira has indefatigably supported new talent, and Poland’s Kraków Film Claster,...

Participating in San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum, Paula Kim’s debut feature “Butterfly Diaries” is pitched along the lines of controversial series “13 Reasons Why” and Marti Noxon’s anorexia drama “To the Bone,” both on Netflix.

“The film addresses a very important issue that afflicts many young girls, made by a director who is also a young woman,” said co-producer Sara Silveira, of Dezenove Som e Imagens, Brazil.

In “Butterfly Diaries,” a Brazilian exchange program student in London struggles not only with the onset of puberty but with a mental disorder.

“As an artist, I believe that sometimes, a person has to go through a very painful trial just to have a glimpse of what he or she truly holds within himself or herself,” said Kim, adding: “It is a film about existential crisis.”

Drama, penned by Kim, will be shot in Portuguese with some English in the U.

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– The Orchard has acquired the North American rights to Jordan Ross’s directorial debut “Thumper,” starring “Orange is the New Black’s” Pablo Schreiber. The gritty crime thriller debuted at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and was written and directed by Ross. The movie also stars Eliza Taylor, Lena Headey, Ben Feldman, Grant Harvey and Daniel Webber. Set in a town of low-income and fractured families, “Thumper” is centered around a group of teens that are lured into working for a dangerous drug dealer. A new girl arrives into town hiding a dangerous secret that will impact everybody and change their lives forever.

Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: Mubi Buys Philippe Garrel’s ‘Lover for a Day,’ FilmRise...

The film had its world premiere in the Panorama Special section in Berlin.

Music Box Films has acquired Us rights to Vazante, Daniela Thomas’ first solo-directed feature.

Vazante, set in Brazil in 1821, centres on a slave trader who finds out that his wife died in labour. While forced to live on the farmhouse with numerous African slaves, the trader marries his wife’s niece. A restless soul, he returns to his trading expeditions, leaving his young wife behind alone with the slaves.

Brazilian filmmaker Thomas previously co-directed the Cannes selection Linha De Passe, Midnight, and Foreign Land alongside Walter Salles.

Sara Silveira of Dezenove Som e Imagem and Cisma Produções’ Beto Amaral produced in association with Ukbar Filmes in Portugal.

“We are pleased to be working with Daniela Thomas to bring her eloquent depiction of the often untold history of early 19th century Brazilian mining life to American audiences,” Music Box president William Schopf said.

Films Boutique CEO [link...

Films and projects travel from Sundance to Rotterdam and Rotterdam’s love affair with Latin America becomes apparent.

Making their way from Sundance to Rotterdam, “Lemon” was Opening Night in the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sloan Prize Winner “Marjorie Prime” played in Voices while director Michael Almereyda was on the Jury of the Hivos Tiger Competition. His documentary, “Escapes” also played in the Regained section of the festival.

“Marjorie Prime”: Director Michael Almereyda, Lois Smith and Jon Hamm

“Chile’s “Family Life” by Alicia Scherson and Cristian Jimenez, Singapore’s “Pop Aye”, “Lady Macbeth” and “Sami Blood” all screened here after premiering in Sundance as well.

Pop Aye director Kirsten Tan won the Big Screen Competition and in addition to the cash prize may also count on a guaranteed release in Dutch cinemas and on TV.

“The Wound” by John Trengove has even longer legs, reaching from Sundance World...

Richard Linklater’s 12-year project beats Ida, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Winter Sleep.

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood has been named the best film of the past year by the members of the International Federation of Film Critics, Fipresci.

The poll for the Fipresci Grand Prix 2014 - Best Film of the Year gathered votes from 553 members throughout the world.

In the first phase, participants nominated feature-length films that received their world premiere no earlier than July 1, 2013. This led to a final round between the four finalists: Boyhood by Richard Linklater, Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski, The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, and Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

This is the first Linklater has won the prize, which has previously gone to Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, among others, since its establishment in 1999.

Boyhood will have a special screening at the San Sebastián Film Festival on Sept...

Film-maker Kleber Mendoça, who won the Fipresci Prize at Rotterdam and Wroclaw’s New Horizons for his fiction feature debut Neighbouring Sounds in 2012, will be in Locarno next month as part of an almost 60-strong Brazilian delegation.

Mendoça, who is also the director of Recife’s Janela International Film Festival, will be joined by, among others, festival director colleagues Renata de Almeida and Ivan Melo of the Sao Paulo Iff as well as Manoel Rangel and Eduardo Valente of film funder Ancine, André Sturm of Cinema do Brasil, producers Sara Silveira (Dezenove Som et Imagem), Eliane Ferreira (Muiraquita Filmes) and Elias Ribeiro (Urucu Media), distributors Jean-Thomas Bernardini (Imovision) and Marcos De Oliveira (Europa Filmes), and sales agent Sandro Fiorin (Figa Films).

Carte Blanche focus on Brazil

The fourth edition of Locarno’s Carte Blanche showcase will be the focus of the Brazilian presence at the Swiss festival with the presentation of new Brazilian features and documentaries by their...

Brazilian filmmaker to be patron of sixth La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde.

Walter Salles has been announced as the patron of the sixth edition of La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde.

The Brazilian film-maker will hold a master class on May 16 for the ten selected teams of directors and producers who have been selected to take part in the Fabrique programme, organised by the Institut français working closely with the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Festival de Cannes and the Marché du Film.

“I want to share my views but also hear from young directors from different cultures who are working on their first films. For me, there is no more fascinating way to learn about the world than through the eyes of others,” commented Salles.

Bangladesh, Cuba, Syria, Laos and Venezuela will be represented for the first time at this year’s Fabrique. The ten projects, selected from 125 entries, are:

Algeria...

Once again the top Latino works in progress that we will see in the coming year's festivals are showing along with the best completed films selected for these March film festivals and events: Cartagena Film Festival in Colombia (Ficci), Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) in Mexico and Cinélatino in Toulouse, France in partnership with the San Sebastian Film Festival, Cinefondation in Paris, France, The Morelia Lab (Mexico) and the Br Lab (Brazil).

All of these events will be bringing to a select public of professionals selected projects to expand their networks, to train and support Latin American talents.

Toulouse Cinélatino

Approximately twenty projects from Latin America or from the Region Midi-Pyrénées, but related to Latin America, at different stages (idea, development, financing...) with various profiles and formats (feature-length fiction films, documentaries and short films), will be presented by their director or producer.

Toulouse Cinélatino: Cinema in Construction (Works in Progress)

Cinema Under Construction (Cinéma en Construction), the 24th edition Toulouse also takes place in March. This double annual event is jointly organized by two European festivals (Toulouse and San Sebastian) with the aim of contributing to the completion, distribution and promotion of Latin American films encountering difficulties at the stage of post-production.

A selection of six films is be presented to an audience exclusively composed of film professionals who can contribute decisively to ensure that these works reach the public.

The complete selection and registrations for individual meetings will be available on-line at the beginning of March.

Cinema Under enjoys the support of the following companies and institutions: Cine Sin Fronteras (Csf), Daniel Goldstein, Deluxe Spain, Dolby Iberia, Laserfilm Cine y Video, Media Mundus, Nephilim producciones, No Problem Sonido, Programa Ibermedia, V_rtigo Films, and the collaboration of Caisse Centrale d’Activit_s Sociales (Ccas), Centre National du Cin_ma et de l’Image Anim_e (Cnc), Cetim, CINƒ +, Cinefondation, Commune Image, Conf_d_ration Internationale des Cin_mas d’Art et Essai (Cicae), Conseil G_n_ral de la Haute Garonne, Conseil Regional Midi-Pyrenees, Crous de Toulouse, Eaux Vives, ƒcole Sup_rieure d’Audiovisuel (Esav), EP2C – Post-production Training Programme, Europa Distribution, Fila 13, Firefly, La Trame, Mactari, Mairie de Toulouse, Minist_re de la Culture et de la Communication, Producers Network, Signis and Titra Tvs.

Toulouse Cinélatino: Cinema in Development

Cinema in Development (Cinéma en Développement), the ninth edition, provides a meeting space for professionals wanting to discover talents and to update themselves about Latin American projects which are now in development. This year the Morelia Lab (Mexico) and the Br Lab (Brazil) have joined Cinélatino in bringing their previously selected projects to expand their networks, to train and support Latin American talents. This synergy already exists between La Cinéfondation and Cinélatino, who integrate into the selection of Cinéma en Développement the projects of Cinefondation’s Latin American residency program.

Five new Latin American projects will be presented in Toulouse at Cinéma en Développement #9. The information on these 5 projects is available on Toulouse Cinélatino's website starting on the 25th of February.

Connecting the selected participants with European professionals will occur during the Industry Days of Cinélatino (26, 27, 28 of March 2014). The participants will benefit of a personalized program :

Presentation of their project in the framework of the One to One of Cinéma en Développement,Meetings with key players of the industry,Case studies,Participation to the Cinéma en Construction screenings.

La Cinéfondation (France)

La Résidence du Festival de Cannes every year welcomes a dozen young directors working on their first or second fiction feature film project, in two sessions lasting four and a half months (from October 1st to mid February, and from the end of February to mid July). Since its creation in 2000, the Résidence has welcomed more than seventy filmmakers from more than forty different countries. It makes available a place of residence in the heart of Paris, a personalized program accompanying the writing of their scripts, and a collective program of forums with film industry professionals.

http://www.cinefondation.com/en/generalinformation. Its selection for :

Las Herederas (The Heiresses) by Marcelo Martinessi (Paraguay). Presented in Toulouse by the director, Marcelo Martinessi, First feature of Marcelo Martinessi, who has directed the short film El Baldio. Marcelo has been selected by the Br Lab and by the new Paraguayan residency, Mua.

Todos Os Mortos (The Dead) by Caetano Gotardo and Marco Dutra (Brazil). Presented in Toulouse by the director Caetano Gotardo. Produced by Sara Silveira, the script is written and the film is going to be directed by two Brazilian talents.

Hablemos Del Tiempo (Small Talk) by Marcela Said (Chile). Presented in Toulouse by the director, Marcela Said, Second feature of Marcela who has directed The Summer of the Flying Fish (supported by Cinéma en Construction) and selected by La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in May 2013.

Morelia Lab (Mexico)

The Morelia Lab Workshop, created by the Morelia International Film Fest (Ficm) in collaboration with the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (Imcine), is proud to be the most important workshop for young producers in Latin America. As a result of its drive and continuity, it has created a fertile space for exploration, reflection and creation, offering young producers a special place to develop in their field.

http://moreliafilmfest.com/en/convocatoria-morelia-lab/ Its selection:

Las Tinieblas (The Darkness) by Daniel Zimbron Castro (Mexico). Presented in Toulouse by the producer, Pablo Zimbron, from the company Varios Lobos. This project is the second episode of a trilogy started by Tau, starring Brontis Jodorowksy, feature film premiered at Morelia Film Festival.

Br Lab (Brazil)

BrLab reaffirms itself as a reference point for Latin American projects’ development in Brazil, thanks to the constant work that allowed us to consolidate our place in the international calendar of similar initiatives. It is undeniable that encounters such as those promoted in the lab naturally foster opportunities for international cooperation and exchange between professionals, boosting different countries’ filmmaking and, in the same sense, encouraging the promotion of Brazilian audiovisual production abroad. BrLab has become a space where Latin American and European professionals spontaneously converge, with an interest in establishing contact with projects that are either fresh or under development – and this approach often results in invaluable partnerships.

http://www.lab-br.com.br/brlab/apresentacao/ Its selection:

Paterno (Paternal) by Marcelo Lordello (Brazil). Presented in Toulouse by Marcelo Lordello, director and producer. Third feature film of Marcelo Lordello, spotted in 2013 by Rotterdam Film Festival with his movie Eles Voltam.

Trabalhar Cansa (translation: work makes you tired) a.k.a Hard Labor is the feature film debut from the filmmaking team of Juliana Rojas and Marcos Dutra. Selected in this year's Un Certain Regard section, this is actually the third participation at the Cannes Film Festival; short films O Lençol Branco and Um Ramo were previously shown in 2004 and 2007's Critics' Week. This tells the story of Helena, a housewife who decides to open a small business: a supermarket. She hires Paula, a housekeeper, to take care of her house and Vanessa, her daughter. When her husband Otávio loses his job, their lives begin to change and a major trauma occurs , threatening Helen’s new business. I had the chance to speak to one part of the filmmaking team before they took off for the festival. Anny Gomes: Can you tell us your inspiration behind Trabalhar Cansa? Marco Dutra:...