Juliana Rojas: Last News

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSetting the agenda for much top Brazilian cinema bowing over 2022-25, Globo Filmes has boarded 20 new Brazilian movies, powering up by far the biggest production slate of any company in Brazil.New titles from many of Brazil’s good and great range from Cinema Novo veteran Zelito Viana to Oscar-shortlisted Cao Hambuger. The production slate features obvious big commercial plays for domestic audiences such as “Tô de Graça, o Filme,” a movie spin-off from the hugely popular sitcom franchise.The lineup, however, displays a far larger auteurist edge than in the past, with awaited new movies from young female auteurs such as Juliana Rojas and Beatriz Seigner and battling Black filmmakers Jeferson De, Grace Passo and Sabrina Fidalgo.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Three decades into his career, lauded Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes (“Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures”) is finally stepping into television with the HBO/Max series “Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically.” The five-episode drama, based on the true story of a group of Brazilian flight attendants who set up a scheme to smuggle HIV treatment from the US in the 1980s, will have its first bow as part of this year’s Berlinale Series Market Selects. Set in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1980s, “Oxygen Masks Will (not) Drop Automatically” stars Johnny Massaro (“Hidden Truths”) as Nando, a gay flight attendant who, after being diagnosed with HIV at the height of the epidemic, begins smuggling the groundbreaking treatment AZT into his home country despite the drug not being yet approved by local health authorities.

Brazil has selected Walter Salles’ well-received comeback feature I’m Still Here to represent it in the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Holly Jones 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.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Brazil’s film industry hits Berlin with a new stride in its step, bringing 46 producers and 80-plus films and projects, according to promotional org Cinema do Brasil, led by chairman André Sturm and manager, Maria Marta. It is also in the process of receiving part of Brazil’s Paulo Gustavo Law funding, which is pouring RS2.8 billion ($571.1 million) into Brazil’s audiovisual sector, from rich states such as São Paulo to small town video stores.

Holly Jones Paris-based Urban Sales has swooped on international sales rights to Brazilian writer-director Carolina Markowicz’s awaited debut feature film “Charcoal” (“Carvão”), which is set for its world premiere at at Toronto’s prestigious Platform showcase before heading to San Sebastian for a Europe bow as part of its just-revealed Horizontes Latinos lineup.Urban Sales has also shared with Variety a first look still from the film.Distribution in Brazil is handled by Pandora Filmes, founded by André Sturm, which launched the country’s first classic film streaming platform Belas Artes in 2019, bringing big-name, cult, and regional classics to audiences nationwide.Markowicz has written and directed six short films that have been selected by 400 festivals including Locarno, SXSW, Toronto and AFI.  Her short film,“The Orphan,” a gritty tale about a young queer boy who tries to navigate his most recent adoption after being placed with a well-off conservative family, premiered at Directors’ Fortnight and won the Queer Palm at Cannes in 2018. “We’ve always felt close to Brazilian cinema, working with filmmakers such as Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas, Sandra Kogut, Esmir Filho,” said Louise Ronzet, Urban Sales’ head of sales.She added: “We found Carolina Markowicz’s debut to be simply mind-blowing.