‘Voices,’ ‘Luiza’s Desert,’ ‘Clamor’ Among Films From Rio 2016-17 Projects at Ventana Sur
Felipe Sholl’s “Voices,” Alan Minas’ “The Luiza’s Desert” and Malu de Martino’s “Clamor” feature among the six Brazilian titles that Films From Rio, the movie project incubator set up at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, is bringing this year to Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film market.
Films From Rio will also present at the Buenos Aires mart, which runs Nov. 29-Dec. 3, Renato Martins’ real-events inspired drama “Sugarcane,” Rita Toledo’s Amazon forest-set story “The Man Who Talked to Butterflies,” and Ennio Torresan’s animation feature “Wrath of God.”
Part of Films From Rio 2016-17 edition, the six projects and their producers will arrive at Ventana Sur for a round of meetings and pitches to potential international co-producers and partners.
Produced by Daniel Van Hoogstraten at Syndrome Films, multi-plot drama “Voices” offers a mosaic formed by six characters -including a wannabe drug dealer and a crooked attorney- drawing a portrait of a contemporary Rio de Janeiro. Co-produced by Brazil’s Migdal Films, “Voices” marks helmer Felipe Sholl’s follow-up to “The Other End,” which scooped best film and actress awards at this year’s Rio de Janeiro Festival.
A family drama about a woman who suffers a psychotic episode while taking care of her mother, her younger sister and the house, Alan Minas’ “Luiza’s Desert” is produced by Daniela Vitorino at Caraminhola Films, who already teamed with Minas for 2015 U.K. co-production “The Dionti Family.” At final script stage, “Luiza’s Desert” is co-produced by Brazilian exhibitor Ponto Cine.
Helmer-producer Malu de Martino’s “Clamor” teams Modo Operante, De Martino’s film and TV production outfit, with Brazil’s FM Productions on a project also based on true events, highlighting one of the most significant initiatives taken by Brazilian group Clamor, aimed at helping refugees from South American countries living under military dictatorships. Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor (“Thursday Till Sunday”) is developing a new draft of the script.
Renato Martins’ project “Sugarcane” follows a middle-class couple who discover that their eldest son was arrested for drug trafficking. Developed through funds by Binger Film Lab and Ibermedia, it is produced at Republica Pureza Films by Marcello Ludwig Maia (“The Hungarian Passport,” “Brazilian Western”).
“The Man Who Talked to Butterflies” focuses on Manuela, a linguistic scholar whose husband Patrick, an experienced French anthropologist, mysteriously disappears in the Amazon Forest. When she travels to the indigenous tribes to find him, she will discover aspects of Patrick’s life unknown to her.
Winner of a development award from Brazil’s Audiovisual Sectorial Fund, Rita Toledo’s “Butterflies” is produced by Daza Produçao Cultural co-founder Carol Benjamin, screenwriter and producer of documentaries such as “Divine Divas” and “Capoeira, Inside the Game” and co-creator of trilogy “The Sonia Silk Operation,” a trilogy awarded with two Rotterdam Festival Hubert Bals Fund prizes.
Set in 1920’s Brazil, Ennio Torresan’s “Wrath of God” tells the story of Francisco, a cowboy from the barren plains of Bahia who joins Corisco’s outlaws to avenge the murder of his father and brother by corrupt government troops. Produced by Renata Fazzio at 2DLAB and Apocalipso Produçoes, the project is scheduled to shoot second half next year.
The Cannes Film Market, one of FFR’s backers, will organize at Ventana Sur a pitching session dedicated to those six projects and producers on Wednesday, Nov. 30. On the same day, the FFR will also co-sponsor a cocktail at the Producers’ Network where the producers will talk up their projects.
The Brazilian producers will attend one-to-one coaching meetings with two Paris-based international specialists: Marie-Pierre Macia, producer at MPM Film, and Licia Eminenti, a creative script advisor at Key Writing. The FFR producers will also participate over Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 at the Producers’ Network Industry Lunches.
Now in its third edition, the FRR is supported by some of Rio de Janeiro’s major cultural industrial and training agencies, such as RioFilme, Brazil Inter-State Audiovisual Industry Union producers assn. (SICAV), the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FIRJAN) and the Brazilian Agency for Entrepreneurship (SEBRAE).
The six projects selected by Films From Rio 2016-17 were first pitched at Rio Festival’s RioMarket in October. After Ventana Sur, their next market will the Producers’ Network in Cannes next year.
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