Globo Filmes Unveils New Movies, With Gabriel Mascaro Eryk Rocha  

Globo Filmes, the powerful film production arm of Brazil’s Globo, Latin America’s largest media company, has unveiled 11 new movie projects which join the biggest production slate of any company in Brazil.

Directors of new titles, all co-productions, range from star auteur Gabriel Mascaró (“Divine Love,” “Neon Bull”), and celebrated doc director Eryk Rocha (“Cinema Novo,” “Edna”) to multi-prized actor Dira Paes, who broke out in John Boorman’s “The Emerald Forest.”

Also in the cut is David Schurmann (“Little Secret”), who and Jean-Pierre Dutilleux whose 1976 “Raoni,” scored and was Oscar nomination and was championed by Marlon Brando. 

Mascaró will direct “The Other Side of the Sky,” produced by Globo Filmes and Desvía Produções, a fantasy drama set in an alternative reality Brazil where anyone over 80 is confined to a colony, to help Brazil’s economic recovery. Rocha is prepping “Elza,” a doc portrait of legendary singer Elza Soares, Paes has in development her directorial debut, “Pasárgada,” which plumbs international animal trafficking. 

Schurmann’s “Por um fío” turns on an oncologist treating his own brother for cancer. Dutilleux’s “Raoni, An Unusual Friendship,” recounts his decade long friendship with Raoni, an indefatigable activist for Indigenous communities rights. 

Unveiled at Cannes by Simone Oliveira, Globo Filmes managing director, the new projects in general add a larger arthouse edge to a Globo Filmes lineup which, Oliveira told Variety, aims to mix commercial, crossover and art pic plays. 

The announcement comes as Globo Filmes presents “Nelson Pereira dos Santos – A Life of Cinema” by Aída Marques and Ivelise Ferreira, a portrait of the much admired Cinema Novo director which screens at this year’s Cannes Classics.

Four big comedies launch from November to January – “Tá Escrito,” “Tô de Graça” “Os Farofeiros 2”and “My Sister and I.” The titles will hopefully coax Brazilians back to theaters, Oliveira told Variety at Cannes. Here, Globo Filmds and TV Globo can play a vital roll: “We saw the theaters as a priority. The films are released with strong advertising and cross-media coverage from TV Globo’s entertainment shows and journalism programs, which reach 100 million people per day! This visibility makes the film stronger for theater release and, after that, for the other windows, creating a virtuous cycle,” underscored Simone, a guest of honor at Cannes Producers Network. 

Such visibility is vital to Globo as well where nine out of ten of the most watched movies in 2022 on Globo streaming service Globoplay were Brazilian films, and also Globo Filmes co-productions.

This year, in all, Globo Filmes will invest a total $7 million in the production of Brazilian feature films. That’s not enough, Oliveira argues, adding that Globo hopes the government will raise the cap on Globo’s tax-break driven investment per film in national movies. “If the tax breaks increase, we can have high-value films, which will allow us to compete far better with movies budgeted at $20 million,” she added.

A breakdown of titles on Globo’s 2023 lineup:   

“The Battle,” (Vera Egito)

From distinguished writer-director Vera Egito, co-writer of Heitor Dhalia’s “Bald Mountain” and director of LGBTQ HBO series “Todxs Nos,” a 21 take portrayal of the final night of the Rua Maria Antônia Battle, fought in October 1968 between students and professors at the University of São Paulo Faculty of Philosophy  and members of Brazil’s military forces. Dhalia’s label, Paranoid Films produces with Globo Filmes. A title to track.

“Buddies 2,” (“Colegas 2,” Marcelo Galvão)

After the great achievements from the prequel, Marcelo Galvão follows up Stalone and Aninha’s in this decadent road trip adventure. 

“Elza,” (Eryk Rocha)

Backed by Aruac Filmes e Maria Farinha Filmes, a portrait of the personality, views and legacy, and what it represents to Black people around the world, of Brazilian singer Elza Soares, nominated singer of the millennium, along with Tina Turner, in 1999.

“Os Farofeiros 2,” (Roberto Santucci)

A sequel to the 2018 blockbuster comedy. This time, the co-workers Alexandre, Lima, Rocha and Diguinho, are in trouble after winning a trip to Bahia. Dream trip this is not. Santucci brings his comedic form and Brazilian box office touch to the project. Hitting Brazilian cinemas on Dec. 28.

“O Haiti É Aqui,” (Fabio Mendonça, Teodoro Poppovic & Maurício Bouzon)
International Emmy Kids winners Mendonça, Teodoro Poppovic (“Pedro & Bianca”) join with Bouzon to direct this drama. It follows Clarens who loses jobs daily, life’s tough. He then meets Diana a journalist with eyes to make him a character for her piece.

“My Sister and I,” (Susana Garcia)

Bowing Jan 4, and reuniting Ingrid Guimarães and Tatá Werneck, stars of 2012’s “De Pernas pro Ar” 2, a blockbuster comedy in Brazil, one of Globo Filmes’ biggest comedy box office plays, co-produced with Paris Filmes and directed by Garcia, a comedy specialist (“My Mom is a Character”). 

“Nelson Pereira Dos Santos – A Life Of Cinema,” (Aída Marque, Ivelise Ferreira)

Directed by Marques (“Expedito,” “Em Busca de Outros Nortes,” “Abdias Nascimento”) and Ferreira, a portrait of one of the leading lights of Brazilian cinema, whose career began before Cinema Novo, positioning him as a conscience of Brazil.

“Novas Severinas,” (Eliza Ribeiro Capai)

The multi award winning director of doc “Your Turn,” Capai returns with an intimate generational portrait tracking the impact of the autonomy of a first generation of women freed from hunger and with access to health and education in Brazil. 

“The Other Side of the Sky,” (Gabriel Mascaro)

Having dazzled at Sundance with “Divine Love,” “limber, sensual sci-fi movie, Mascaro returns with another tale set in a a near alternative future Brazil where a 77 world from Muriti, in Amazonia, facing imminent internment in a colony for over 80s, embarks on an intriguing journey away from the eyes of the officers, amidst rivers, boats and the underworld, trying to secretly make her last dream come true, to flight on an airplane.” Rachel Ellis’ Desvia Produções, Mascaro’s long-term production house, produces with Globo Filmes. 

“Pasargada,” (Dira Paes)

Set up at Muiraquitã Filmes, the awaited directorial debut of highly respected actress Paes, about a a solitary and mysterious biologist, who departs on a research trip to a remote forest in order to find and trap a rare bird species, for animal trafficking. In the forest, connecting with its indigenous communities, the begins to have second thoughts about her work.

“Precisamos Falar Sobre Nossos Filhos,” (Rebeca Diniz & Pedro Waddington)

Set in São Paulo, two upper-middle class couples are surprised by a cruel crime; their opposite reactions condemn both families to be bound together forever in this debut drama from co-directors Diniz and Waddington.

“Por Um Fio,” (David Schurmann) 

From Schurmann, director of 2014 Brazilian foreign-language Oscar candidate “Little Secret,” co-produced by Imagem Films, one of Brazil’s biggest distributors, a portrait of an oncologist whose expertise and human empathy is tested by various cases.  

“Raoni, an Unusual Friendship,” (Jean-Pierre Dutilleux)

A follow-up, nearly 50 years on, to Belgian director Dutilleux’s Cannes hit “Roani,” charting the lifelong dedication of Raoni, a charismatic leader of the Matto Grosso’s Kaiapó people to the rights of his community and the Amazon rainforest.

“Sisters,” (Manas, Marianna Brennand) 

Described by Globo FIlmes as a “beautiful and intense coming-of-age family drama, set in lush Amazon forests and rivers,” the first fiction film from Brennand (“Francisco Brennand,” “The Coconut, the Ring, the Tire, and The Lighthouse,” set up at her banner Inquietude and co-produced by Globo Filmes and Fado Filmes.

“Tá Escrito,” (Matheus Souza)

Souza broke on the scene in 2008 with festival standout “That’s It,.” His latest tracks Alice who has dreams to strike influencer gold. She receives a mysterious astrological book as a freebie which may well make all her wishes come true, but at what cost?

“Tô De Graça – O Filme,” (César Rodrigues)

Based on the hit TV series of the same name, which has run to five seasons, from Brazilian powerhouse Conspiraçao Filmes. Venice TV Award winner (“Os Roni,”) Rodrigues directs.  The comedy brings back protagonist Graça, who after receiving an unexpected compensation, decides to blow all her money taking her family on a holiday in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro. Released in Brazil on Dec. 7.

“Two Summers and an Eternity,” (“Dois Verôes e Uma Eternidade,” Sandra Kogut)

The next film from distinguished auteur Kogut, whose “Mutum” (2007) played Directors’ Fortnight, while 2019’s “Three Summers” topped the Havana Festival. Gullane produces, with the action moving to a New Cancún resort – described by Globo Filmes as a “megalomaniac predatory tourism enterprise in a Brazil surrounded by social injustice.”