O2 Play, the distribution-sales arm of Brazil’s O2 Filmes group, co-owned by “City of God” director Fernando Meirelles, has boarded “Broken” (“Partido”), which is co-directed by Oscar-nominated “City of God” Dp César Charlone.
O2 Play has acquired Brazilian and world sales rights to the doc feature. O2 Play founder Igor Kupstas will introduce “Broken” to buyers at Locarno Pro, which runs Aug.3-9.
Charlone, also “The Two Popes” Dp and director of “3%,” South America’s first Netflix series, has directed alongside Sebastián Bednarik and Joaquim Castro (“Máquina do Desejo – 60 Anos do Teatro Oficina”).
Produced by Uruguay’s Coral Cine, in co-production with Brazil’s Opy Filmes, “Broken” covers Brazil’s 2018 general election from the point of view of Fernando Haddad, currently Brazil’s minister of economy and then the candidate of Brazil’s now ruling Workers’ Party put up to face off with Jair Bolsonaro.
“Broken” will have its...
O2 Play has acquired Brazilian and world sales rights to the doc feature. O2 Play founder Igor Kupstas will introduce “Broken” to buyers at Locarno Pro, which runs Aug.3-9.
Charlone, also “The Two Popes” Dp and director of “3%,” South America’s first Netflix series, has directed alongside Sebastián Bednarik and Joaquim Castro (“Máquina do Desejo – 60 Anos do Teatro Oficina”).
Produced by Uruguay’s Coral Cine, in co-production with Brazil’s Opy Filmes, “Broken” covers Brazil’s 2018 general election from the point of view of Fernando Haddad, currently Brazil’s minister of economy and then the candidate of Brazil’s now ruling Workers’ Party put up to face off with Jair Bolsonaro.
“Broken” will have its...
- 7/6/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Philadelphia-based Breaking Glass Pictures (Bgp) and Brazil’s O2 Play, the distribution arm of O2 Filmes, which is co-owned by Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles, have inked a two-way distribution partnership.
The new pact kicks off with Bgp’s North American release of a Brazilian drama by Eliane Coster, “Half Brother” (“Meio Irmão”), a timely story of a young man who films a homophobic assault and faces death threats to dissuade him from releasing the footage. Release is slated for LGBTQ celebration, Pride Month, on June 15.
“Being a life-long fan and distributor of Brazilian Cinema, it gives me great pleasure to bring titles to U.S. audiences that may not find domestic distribution otherwise,” said Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff. “This partnership was years in the making, and we are thrilled to be working with O2 Play for many releases to come.”
The new pact formalizes a relationship that began in...
The new pact kicks off with Bgp’s North American release of a Brazilian drama by Eliane Coster, “Half Brother” (“Meio Irmão”), a timely story of a young man who films a homophobic assault and faces death threats to dissuade him from releasing the footage. Release is slated for LGBTQ celebration, Pride Month, on June 15.
“Being a life-long fan and distributor of Brazilian Cinema, it gives me great pleasure to bring titles to U.S. audiences that may not find domestic distribution otherwise,” said Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff. “This partnership was years in the making, and we are thrilled to be working with O2 Play for many releases to come.”
The new pact formalizes a relationship that began in...
- 5/28/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
”Before the pandemic started it was easy to find international coproduction companies… Now we are on hold.”
Brazilian producers are fighting to find ways to get a national audiovisual industry crippled by a funding freeze back on its feet after the soaring number of Covid-19 cases has further compounded problems.
As the Covid-19 pandemic ravages the country and throws an already embattled Brazilian film industry into deeper turmoil after national film agency Ancine ceased funding in January 2019, the ongoing health crisis is scaring off international partners.
“Before the pandemic started it was easy to find international coproduction companies interested in our projects in development,...
Brazilian producers are fighting to find ways to get a national audiovisual industry crippled by a funding freeze back on its feet after the soaring number of Covid-19 cases has further compounded problems.
As the Covid-19 pandemic ravages the country and throws an already embattled Brazilian film industry into deeper turmoil after national film agency Ancine ceased funding in January 2019, the ongoing health crisis is scaring off international partners.
“Before the pandemic started it was easy to find international coproduction companies interested in our projects in development,...
- 7/24/2020
- by 245¦Elaine Guerini¦40¦
- ScreenDaily
Netflix and Un Women have launched the “Because She Watched” collection of series, documentaries, and films created for the upcoming International Women’s Day.
The collection, which will be available all year, is curated by female creators from behind and in front of the camera, including Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Yalitza Aparicio, Millie Bobby Brown, Laurie Nunn, Lana Condor, Petra Costa and Ava DuVernay. It includes “Orange Is the New Black,” “Marriage Story,” “Bird Box,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “House of Cards,” “Queer Eye,” “The Crown,” “Gravity,” “Roma” and “Paris Is Burning.”
“This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women’s stories and showing women in all their diversity. It’s about making visible the invisible, and proving that only by fully representing and including women on screen, behind-the-camera and in our narratives overall, society will truly flourish,” said Anita Bhatia, Un Women Deputy Executive Director.
International...
The collection, which will be available all year, is curated by female creators from behind and in front of the camera, including Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Yalitza Aparicio, Millie Bobby Brown, Laurie Nunn, Lana Condor, Petra Costa and Ava DuVernay. It includes “Orange Is the New Black,” “Marriage Story,” “Bird Box,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “House of Cards,” “Queer Eye,” “The Crown,” “Gravity,” “Roma” and “Paris Is Burning.”
“This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women’s stories and showing women in all their diversity. It’s about making visible the invisible, and proving that only by fully representing and including women on screen, behind-the-camera and in our narratives overall, society will truly flourish,” said Anita Bhatia, Un Women Deputy Executive Director.
International...
- 3/4/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Millie Bobby Brown, Lana Condor, Ava DuVernay and 50 other women participated in selecting a curated series of Netflix shows and movies that are being presented as part of a collection available to subscribers for International Women’s Day.
Netflix in partnership with Un Women on Wednesday launched the series “Because She Watched” of movies and shows that feature women both in front of and behind the camera and aim to inspire the next generation of female viewers. Each of the 55 women who participated in the collection selected one film or show that either shaped the woman they are today or that have helped to advance the cause of women’s rights.
For instance, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” star Lana Condor selected the Netflix series, “Grace and Frankie,” “Roma” star Yalitza Aparicio selected the documentary “Knock Down the House,” and Sophia Loren selected “The Crown.
Netflix in partnership with Un Women on Wednesday launched the series “Because She Watched” of movies and shows that feature women both in front of and behind the camera and aim to inspire the next generation of female viewers. Each of the 55 women who participated in the collection selected one film or show that either shaped the woman they are today or that have helped to advance the cause of women’s rights.
For instance, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” star Lana Condor selected the Netflix series, “Grace and Frankie,” “Roma” star Yalitza Aparicio selected the documentary “Knock Down the House,” and Sophia Loren selected “The Crown.
- 3/4/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Santiago, Chile – “Marighella,” Wagner Moura’s contentious directorial debut, is slated to bow in Brazil on Nov. 20 but Moura fears that its domestic release could be hampered by ongoing calls to boycott it by conservatives and the government of President Jair Bolsonaro who claims, among other things, that Brazil’s 21 years under military rule – between April 1964 and March 1985 – was not a dictatorship.
Budgeted at an estimated $4 million, a higher-than-average budget for Brazil, “Marighella” tracks the titular Carlos Marighella before he was gunned down by the military. Described as a Marxist politician, a writer and a revolutionary, he sought to end Brazil’s nefarious military dictatorship that began with a coup d’état in1964.
A scuttled domestic release is probably not an outcome Moura wants for his directorial debut. The actor-director-producer shot to fame with his lead roles in Jose Padilha’s “Elite Squad” films but his stardom rose to new...
Budgeted at an estimated $4 million, a higher-than-average budget for Brazil, “Marighella” tracks the titular Carlos Marighella before he was gunned down by the military. Described as a Marxist politician, a writer and a revolutionary, he sought to end Brazil’s nefarious military dictatorship that began with a coup d’état in1964.
A scuttled domestic release is probably not an outcome Moura wants for his directorial debut. The actor-director-producer shot to fame with his lead roles in Jose Padilha’s “Elite Squad” films but his stardom rose to new...
- 8/20/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Worried that growing political tension in Brazil may hamper the domestic release of “Marighella,” Wagner Moura’s directorial debut about a leftist revolutionary, the movie’s producers may seek to crowd-fund its distribution independently.
“We are going to fight for it,” producer Andrea Barata Ribeiro said ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlinale on Friday. She added that she wants to launch “Marighella” in Brazil right after Berlin. “If necessary, we will launch it independently through crowd-funding.”
Actor-director Moura, best-known Stateside for his starring role in “Narcos,” has little doubt that conservatives in Brazil don’t want the story of “Marighella” to be told. The film follows a ragtag group of resistance fighters, led by former congressman Carlos Marighella, who seek to ignite a popular revolution against Brazil’s military dictatorship, which seized power in 1964 and ruled until 1985.
With civic discussion in Brazil having taken a sharp...
“We are going to fight for it,” producer Andrea Barata Ribeiro said ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlinale on Friday. She added that she wants to launch “Marighella” in Brazil right after Berlin. “If necessary, we will launch it independently through crowd-funding.”
Actor-director Moura, best-known Stateside for his starring role in “Narcos,” has little doubt that conservatives in Brazil don’t want the story of “Marighella” to be told. The film follows a ragtag group of resistance fighters, led by former congressman Carlos Marighella, who seek to ignite a popular revolution against Brazil’s military dictatorship, which seized power in 1964 and ruled until 1985.
With civic discussion in Brazil having taken a sharp...
- 2/15/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
“Because of the current moment we are experiencing in Brazil, this is a story that everyone wants to tell,” says Moura.
Elle Driver has acquired international sales rights to Brazilian Narcos actor Wagner Moura’s politically-charged biopic Marighella, ahead of its premiere at the Berlinale (Feb 7-17).
Set against the backdrop of Brazil in 1969, in the early years of the military regime that would remain in place until 1985, the film revolves around legendary revolutionary leader Carlos Marighella.
Brazilian singer and actor Seu Jorge, best known for his roles in City Of God and The Life Aquatic, plays a 57-year-old Marighella...
Elle Driver has acquired international sales rights to Brazilian Narcos actor Wagner Moura’s politically-charged biopic Marighella, ahead of its premiere at the Berlinale (Feb 7-17).
Set against the backdrop of Brazil in 1969, in the early years of the military regime that would remain in place until 1985, the film revolves around legendary revolutionary leader Carlos Marighella.
Brazilian singer and actor Seu Jorge, best known for his roles in City Of God and The Life Aquatic, plays a 57-year-old Marighella...
- 1/30/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Fernando Meirelles’ and his O2 Filmes shingle is boarding Ernesto Solis’ live-action feature debut “The Animal Race,” a dystopian thriller set in Rio de Janeiro.
Budgeted at roughly $5 million, it will likely be one of the most expensive films to come out of Brazil in recent times.
Variety has been given access to a teaser trailer.
Meirelles co-produces the Portuguese-language sci-fi drama with former MGM executive Vinicio Espinosa of U.S.-based 11600 Films along with O2 partners Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Bel Berlinck.
“In an extremely unusual way, ‘The Animal Race’ comments on the path that our civilization is taking,” said Meirelles, adding: “The project is very different from what you see coming out of Brazil and that’s why I decided to embrace it.”
Barata Ribeiro concurred: “What fascinated me was the originality of the story; the script caught me from the first page.”
Solis, who has been the...
Budgeted at roughly $5 million, it will likely be one of the most expensive films to come out of Brazil in recent times.
Variety has been given access to a teaser trailer.
Meirelles co-produces the Portuguese-language sci-fi drama with former MGM executive Vinicio Espinosa of U.S.-based 11600 Films along with O2 partners Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Bel Berlinck.
“In an extremely unusual way, ‘The Animal Race’ comments on the path that our civilization is taking,” said Meirelles, adding: “The project is very different from what you see coming out of Brazil and that’s why I decided to embrace it.”
Barata Ribeiro concurred: “What fascinated me was the originality of the story; the script caught me from the first page.”
Solis, who has been the...
- 5/1/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Plus: Bahamas fest winners; The Martian wins first Sffs Sloan Science In Cinema Prize; and more…
Screen Media Films has acquired Us rights from WTFilms to Pedro Morelli’s Zoom (pictured) starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Alison Pill, Jason Priestley and Tyler Labine. Rhombus Media chief Niv Fichman produced the Canada-Brazil co-production with Andrea Barata Ribeiro of 02 Filmes. The film premiered in Toronto and will open theatrically and digitally day-and-date in Q3 2016.
Michael Wilson’s Showing Roots won the Spirit Of Freedom Narrative and Director Leslee Udwin’s India’s Daughter won the Spirit Of Freedom Documentary prize as the 12th Bahamas International Film Festival (Biff) concluded at the weekend. For a full list of winners click here.The Martian producer Aditya Sood collected the San Francisco Film Society’s inaugural Sloan Science in Cinema Prize on December 13. The award, presented by a partnership between the Film Society and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation, recognises a film...
Screen Media Films has acquired Us rights from WTFilms to Pedro Morelli’s Zoom (pictured) starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Alison Pill, Jason Priestley and Tyler Labine. Rhombus Media chief Niv Fichman produced the Canada-Brazil co-production with Andrea Barata Ribeiro of 02 Filmes. The film premiered in Toronto and will open theatrically and digitally day-and-date in Q3 2016.
Michael Wilson’s Showing Roots won the Spirit Of Freedom Narrative and Director Leslee Udwin’s India’s Daughter won the Spirit Of Freedom Documentary prize as the 12th Bahamas International Film Festival (Biff) concluded at the weekend. For a full list of winners click here.The Martian producer Aditya Sood collected the San Francisco Film Society’s inaugural Sloan Science in Cinema Prize on December 13. The award, presented by a partnership between the Film Society and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation, recognises a film...
- 12/14/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The story of a circus bullet man who visits his home town in Sangue Azul (Blue Blood) emerged as the big winner as the 16th Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival came to a close on October 8.
The drama, shot by Lírio Ferreira – best known for Árido Movie – took three prizes for best feature, best director and best supporting actor for Romulo Braga.
The Redentors, the awards inspired by the statue of Christ The Redeemer, were handed out for the Premiere Brasil category at a ceremony held at the festival’s downtown Armazem 6 dockland pavillion.
Among the fiction features, Chico Teixeira’s Ausencia (Absence) and Gregorio Graziosi’s Obra took two prizes each. A drama about a boy in transition to adulthood, Ausencia earned best actor for Matheus Fagundes and special jury prize.
Obra, which follows the path of a man in search of his dark origins, won prizes for best cinematography for Andre Brandao and for...
The drama, shot by Lírio Ferreira – best known for Árido Movie – took three prizes for best feature, best director and best supporting actor for Romulo Braga.
The Redentors, the awards inspired by the statue of Christ The Redeemer, were handed out for the Premiere Brasil category at a ceremony held at the festival’s downtown Armazem 6 dockland pavillion.
Among the fiction features, Chico Teixeira’s Ausencia (Absence) and Gregorio Graziosi’s Obra took two prizes each. A drama about a boy in transition to adulthood, Ausencia earned best actor for Matheus Fagundes and special jury prize.
Obra, which follows the path of a man in search of his dark origins, won prizes for best cinematography for Andre Brandao and for...
- 10/9/2014
- by elaineguerini@terra.com.br (Elaine Guerini)
- ScreenDaily
Stephen Daldry’s Trash to be one of the co-pro cases featured at RioMarket.
Stephen Daldry’s Trash, produced by UK’s Working Title Films and PeaPie Films with Brazil’s O2 Filmes, will be one of the co-production cases studied at the seminars of RioMarket (Sept 27 - Oct 9), the industry side of the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.
The legal aspects and the production process of this coproduction deal will be addressed by Natasha Pilbrow (head of business and legal affairs at PeaPie) and the producers Andrea Barata Ribeiro (O2) and Kris Thykier (PeaPie) at the International Coproduction Forum.
Based on the Andy Mulligan’s novel of the same name, Trash is a drama currently being shot in Rio and spoken mostly in Portuguese.
To create new possibilities for collaboration and coproductions between Brazilian and international film companies several guests will talk about different aspects of partnerships between Brazil and UK, Argentina, England...
Stephen Daldry’s Trash, produced by UK’s Working Title Films and PeaPie Films with Brazil’s O2 Filmes, will be one of the co-production cases studied at the seminars of RioMarket (Sept 27 - Oct 9), the industry side of the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.
The legal aspects and the production process of this coproduction deal will be addressed by Natasha Pilbrow (head of business and legal affairs at PeaPie) and the producers Andrea Barata Ribeiro (O2) and Kris Thykier (PeaPie) at the International Coproduction Forum.
Based on the Andy Mulligan’s novel of the same name, Trash is a drama currently being shot in Rio and spoken mostly in Portuguese.
To create new possibilities for collaboration and coproductions between Brazilian and international film companies several guests will talk about different aspects of partnerships between Brazil and UK, Argentina, England...
- 9/26/2013
- by elaineguerini@terra.com.br (Elaine Guerini)
- ScreenDaily
Cannes film review, In Competition Blindness
Do you suppose an apocalyptic fable would ever possess any lightness or even rogue humor? No, social disintegration and degradation are the order of the day, and Fernando Meirelles' Blindness is no exception.
There is an extraordinary visual plan and considerable cinematic challenges to overcome for the Brazilian filmmaker (City of God) in adapting Nobel laureate Jose Saramago's 1995 novel to the screen so there is much here to quicken the pulse and engage the mind. Blindness is provocative cinema. But it also is predictable cinema: It startles but does not surprise.
An appreciative critical response will be needed stateside for Miramax to market this Brazilian-Canadian-Uruguayan co-production. Other territories may benefit from the casting of an array of international actors with some boxoffice draw.
The script by Don McKellar bears witness to a mysterious plague of blindness, a "white" disease in which people's eyes suddenly see only white light. As a cosmopolitan city struggles to cope with the horrifying fallout, a panicked government orders the immediate quarantine of those infected. The herding of shunned people into prison-like camps clearly provokes images of any number of 20th-century atrocities.
The film follows a few characters into a filthy, poorly equipped asylum where social order swiftly breaks down into gang conflict between republicans and royalists, between democracy and dictatorship. The republicans have a ringer though. The wife (Julianne Moore) of a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) -- an eye doctor in a deliberate irony -- can actually see but tells no one.
As in Lord of the Flies or even Animal Farm, the order that establishes itself is elitist, corrupt and lethal. A bartender (Gael Garcia Bernal) in the next ward is soon demanding valuables, then sexual favors for the distribution of the food, which he unaccountably controls. His ringer is a nasty old man (Maury Chaykin), blind from birth, who knows how to navigate in the world of sightlessness.
First comes acquiescence by the other wards, then rapes, murders and finally rebellion. Only then do the prisoners discover the guards have long disappeared. The entire world is caught in the throes of this plague. The ragged survivors stumble into a city of starvation and brutality.
Meirelles bathes the screen in a kind of white overexposure and other times a blurriness to convey the terrifying sense of dislocation and fear. You see the characters -- and the digusting filth they do not -- yet feel their helplessness when the screen jars or distorts your vision.
For this part, screenwriter McKellar creates two points of view -- initially that of the sighted wife, who tries to create order without giving away her ability to see, then switching occasionally to a man with an eye-patch (Danny Glover), whose philosophical commentary on metaphorical blindness expresses an authorial point of view.
One considerable problem with the first viewpoint is the character's slowness to act. She could easily have prevented any number of murders and rapes (including her own). Her failure marks an inexplicable failure of both nerves and morals that warps this not always convincing fable. And Glover's intellectual postures amid such physical distress come off as slightly pompous, perhaps cruelly so.
This philosophical coolness is what most undermines the emotional response to Meirelles' film. His fictional calculations are all so precise and a tone of deadly seriousness swamps the grim action. (Only a Stevie Wonder song and a line about volunteers raising their hands draw laughs.) Even the eventual lifting of the state of siege, while a welcome ending, has the arbitrariness of an author who has made his point and simply wants to sign off.
Removing a fable from the comfort of the printed page to the photo-reality of film can sometimes lead to its own kind of blindness.
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya. Director: Fernando Meirelles. Screenwriter: Don McKellar. Based on the novel by: Jose Saramago. Producers: Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Sonoko Sakai. Executive producers: Gail Egan, Simon Channing Williams, Tom Yoda, Akira Ishii, Victor Loewy Director of photography: Cesar Charlone. Production designer: Tule Peake. Music: Marco Antonio Guimaraes. Costume designer: Renee April. Editor: Daniel Rezende.
Production companies: Miramax Films presents a Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures production
Sales: Focus Features.
Do you suppose an apocalyptic fable would ever possess any lightness or even rogue humor? No, social disintegration and degradation are the order of the day, and Fernando Meirelles' Blindness is no exception.
There is an extraordinary visual plan and considerable cinematic challenges to overcome for the Brazilian filmmaker (City of God) in adapting Nobel laureate Jose Saramago's 1995 novel to the screen so there is much here to quicken the pulse and engage the mind. Blindness is provocative cinema. But it also is predictable cinema: It startles but does not surprise.
An appreciative critical response will be needed stateside for Miramax to market this Brazilian-Canadian-Uruguayan co-production. Other territories may benefit from the casting of an array of international actors with some boxoffice draw.
The script by Don McKellar bears witness to a mysterious plague of blindness, a "white" disease in which people's eyes suddenly see only white light. As a cosmopolitan city struggles to cope with the horrifying fallout, a panicked government orders the immediate quarantine of those infected. The herding of shunned people into prison-like camps clearly provokes images of any number of 20th-century atrocities.
The film follows a few characters into a filthy, poorly equipped asylum where social order swiftly breaks down into gang conflict between republicans and royalists, between democracy and dictatorship. The republicans have a ringer though. The wife (Julianne Moore) of a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) -- an eye doctor in a deliberate irony -- can actually see but tells no one.
As in Lord of the Flies or even Animal Farm, the order that establishes itself is elitist, corrupt and lethal. A bartender (Gael Garcia Bernal) in the next ward is soon demanding valuables, then sexual favors for the distribution of the food, which he unaccountably controls. His ringer is a nasty old man (Maury Chaykin), blind from birth, who knows how to navigate in the world of sightlessness.
First comes acquiescence by the other wards, then rapes, murders and finally rebellion. Only then do the prisoners discover the guards have long disappeared. The entire world is caught in the throes of this plague. The ragged survivors stumble into a city of starvation and brutality.
Meirelles bathes the screen in a kind of white overexposure and other times a blurriness to convey the terrifying sense of dislocation and fear. You see the characters -- and the digusting filth they do not -- yet feel their helplessness when the screen jars or distorts your vision.
For this part, screenwriter McKellar creates two points of view -- initially that of the sighted wife, who tries to create order without giving away her ability to see, then switching occasionally to a man with an eye-patch (Danny Glover), whose philosophical commentary on metaphorical blindness expresses an authorial point of view.
One considerable problem with the first viewpoint is the character's slowness to act. She could easily have prevented any number of murders and rapes (including her own). Her failure marks an inexplicable failure of both nerves and morals that warps this not always convincing fable. And Glover's intellectual postures amid such physical distress come off as slightly pompous, perhaps cruelly so.
This philosophical coolness is what most undermines the emotional response to Meirelles' film. His fictional calculations are all so precise and a tone of deadly seriousness swamps the grim action. (Only a Stevie Wonder song and a line about volunteers raising their hands draw laughs.) Even the eventual lifting of the state of siege, while a welcome ending, has the arbitrariness of an author who has made his point and simply wants to sign off.
Removing a fable from the comfort of the printed page to the photo-reality of film can sometimes lead to its own kind of blindness.
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya. Director: Fernando Meirelles. Screenwriter: Don McKellar. Based on the novel by: Jose Saramago. Producers: Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Sonoko Sakai. Executive producers: Gail Egan, Simon Channing Williams, Tom Yoda, Akira Ishii, Victor Loewy Director of photography: Cesar Charlone. Production designer: Tule Peake. Music: Marco Antonio Guimaraes. Costume designer: Renee April. Editor: Daniel Rezende.
Production companies: Miramax Films presents a Rhombus Media/O2 Filmes/Bee Vine Pictures production
Sales: Focus Features.
- 5/14/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A spin-off of the Brazilian television series that was itself derived from Fernando Meirelles' 2002 Art House hit "City of God", this film directed by longtime Meirelles collaborator Paulo Morelli similarly explores the sex- and violence-drenched lives of those living in the slums, or favelas, of Rio de Janeiro.
"City of Men" revolves around two of the central characters from the series, Ace (Douglas Silva) and Wallace (Darlan Cunha). Both approaching their 18th birthday, the best friends are coping with separate crises: the former is struggling to raise the young son he sired far too early, while the latter is desperate to track down the father he never knew. When Ace discovers the identity of his own father's killer and Wallace finally reconnects with his dad, a hardened ex-con who has skipped out on his parole, it sets off emotional repercussions affecting their friendship, as does a local gang war involving Wallace's cousin in which they find themselves on opposite sides.
Less hyperkinetic and more character driven than its predecessor, "City of Men" ultimately is not fully involving enough to sustain interest, though it offers plenty of undeniably pungent atmosphere along the way. From the rickety shantytowns perched in the hills to the sun-drenched beaches to the music clubs throbbing with loud dance music, the film delivers a visceral sense of its milieu, with the hand-held cinematography matching the restless energy of the characters on display.
Elena Soarez's screenplay blends melodrama, comedy and violence to sometimes awkward effect, but director Morelli keeps the pacing fast enough to compensate for the stylistic inconsistencies. And the youthful cast delivers terrifically naturalistic and convincing performances that provide the proceedings with an emotional immediacy not always evident in the script.
CITY OF MEN
Miramax
Fox Film, Globo Filmes, O2 Filmes
Credits:
Director: Paulo Morelli
Producers: Paulo Morelli, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Bel Berlinck, Fernando Meirelles: Executive producer: Mariza Figueiredo
Director of photography: Adriano Goldman
Production designer: Rafael Ronconi
Music: Antonio Pinto
Costume designer: Ines Salgado
Editor: Daniel Rezende
Cast:
Wallace: Darlan Cunha
Ace: Douglas Silva
Madrugadao: Jonathan Haagensen
Nefasto: Eduardo BR
Heraldo: Rodrigo dos Santos
Cristiane: Camila Monteiro
Camila: Naima Silva
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"City of Men" revolves around two of the central characters from the series, Ace (Douglas Silva) and Wallace (Darlan Cunha). Both approaching their 18th birthday, the best friends are coping with separate crises: the former is struggling to raise the young son he sired far too early, while the latter is desperate to track down the father he never knew. When Ace discovers the identity of his own father's killer and Wallace finally reconnects with his dad, a hardened ex-con who has skipped out on his parole, it sets off emotional repercussions affecting their friendship, as does a local gang war involving Wallace's cousin in which they find themselves on opposite sides.
Less hyperkinetic and more character driven than its predecessor, "City of Men" ultimately is not fully involving enough to sustain interest, though it offers plenty of undeniably pungent atmosphere along the way. From the rickety shantytowns perched in the hills to the sun-drenched beaches to the music clubs throbbing with loud dance music, the film delivers a visceral sense of its milieu, with the hand-held cinematography matching the restless energy of the characters on display.
Elena Soarez's screenplay blends melodrama, comedy and violence to sometimes awkward effect, but director Morelli keeps the pacing fast enough to compensate for the stylistic inconsistencies. And the youthful cast delivers terrifically naturalistic and convincing performances that provide the proceedings with an emotional immediacy not always evident in the script.
CITY OF MEN
Miramax
Fox Film, Globo Filmes, O2 Filmes
Credits:
Director: Paulo Morelli
Producers: Paulo Morelli, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Bel Berlinck, Fernando Meirelles: Executive producer: Mariza Figueiredo
Director of photography: Adriano Goldman
Production designer: Rafael Ronconi
Music: Antonio Pinto
Costume designer: Ines Salgado
Editor: Daniel Rezende
Cast:
Wallace: Darlan Cunha
Ace: Douglas Silva
Madrugadao: Jonathan Haagensen
Nefasto: Eduardo BR
Heraldo: Rodrigo dos Santos
Cristiane: Camila Monteiro
Camila: Naima Silva
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/29/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- [Exclusive Image - click on picture for larger version. Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore in Blindness. Photo Credit: Ken Woroner/ Courtesy of Miramax Films. © 2008.] #4. Blindness Director: Fernando MeirellesWriters: Don McKellar (Childstar)Producers: Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Niv Fichman, Sonoko Sakai Distributor: Miramax Films The Gist: Scripted by Don McKellar, the English-language film based on the 1995 novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, is a philosophical thriller about an epidemic of blindness that sweeps through an unnamed contemporary city and pushes society to the brink of breakdown. Fact: Think a Children of Men-like apocalyptic narrative texture. See It: Cidade De Deus (City of God) and The Constant Gardener are of a high pedigree - I only expect the same with this feature. For a great read on the project check out the LATimes article. Release Date/Status?: August 8th. I imagine a Cannes premiere is more than likely. ...
- 2/1/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- #90.City of Men Director: Paulo MorelliScreenplay: Elena SoarezProducers: Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Bel Berlinck, Fernando Meirelles and Morelli Distributor: Miramax Films The Gist: Scripted by Elena Soarez, turning 18 is a highly-charged moment for anyone but when you’ve grown up in the slum of Pool Hall Hill crammed into Rio de Janeiro’s hillside where life is cheap and prospects are minimal, coming of age has its added tribulations. Wallace (Darlan Cunha) and Acerola (Douglas Silva) are inseparable childhood friends and closer than brothers. Fact: Cidade De Deus (City of God) has produced a spin-off television show and of course, this sequel. See It: The explosive original film was an Ioncinema.com top film of the year - I'm not sure about you people, but this is perhaps the most anticipated "sequel" this year. Release Date/Status?: Miramax Films releases this in limited theaters on February 29th. ...
- 1/28/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
More Toronto news
Latest festival reviews
TORONTO -- Miramax Films on Saturday nabbed U.S. rights to Fernando Meirelles' dramatic thriller "Blindness" for just under $5 million.
Meirelles' follow-up to "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener" chronicles a city overtaken by a plague of blindless through the eyes of a small band of quarrantined citizens. The film stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Don McKellar's screenplay is adapted from Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago's acclaimed 1995 novel. Principal photography is currently underway in Toronto, where the film was acquired Saturday during the film fest.
Miramax president Daniel Battsek has a long history with the director, having released "God" when he was at Buena Vista International.
The $25 million Brazilian-Canadian co-production is produced by Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Sonoko Sakai. The executive producers are Gail Egan and Simon Channing-Williams.
The deal was negotiated by Miramax's Michael Luisi with Fichman, Sakai and attorney Steve Saltzman at Loeb & Loeb.
Latest festival reviews
TORONTO -- Miramax Films on Saturday nabbed U.S. rights to Fernando Meirelles' dramatic thriller "Blindness" for just under $5 million.
Meirelles' follow-up to "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener" chronicles a city overtaken by a plague of blindless through the eyes of a small band of quarrantined citizens. The film stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Don McKellar's screenplay is adapted from Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago's acclaimed 1995 novel. Principal photography is currently underway in Toronto, where the film was acquired Saturday during the film fest.
Miramax president Daniel Battsek has a long history with the director, having released "God" when he was at Buena Vista International.
The $25 million Brazilian-Canadian co-production is produced by Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Sonoko Sakai. The executive producers are Gail Egan and Simon Channing-Williams.
The deal was negotiated by Miramax's Michael Luisi with Fichman, Sakai and attorney Steve Saltzman at Loeb & Loeb.
Anywhere Road and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment have acquired the award-winning North American rights to Antonia, the Brazilian musical drama from writer/director Tata Amaral. Antonia follows four friends who dream of becoming a professional hip-hop R&B band. The film is co-written by Roberto Moreira and produced by Amaral and Georgia Costa Araujo with Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Bel Berlinck and Fernando Meirelles serving as co-producers. It will open theatrically in the U.S. on Aug. 17.
- 6/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Pathe has picked up U.K. and some French rights for a slew of features from last month's Festival de Cannes, executive vp Francois Ivernel said Wednesday.
The distributor has acquired joint territory rights to Focus Features International's "Blindness", directed by Fernando Meirelles, and Edko Films' "Blood: The Last Vampire" as well as U.K.-only rights to Fortissimo's "Mama's Boy", and 2929 International's "What Just Happened?"
"Blindness" brings to life Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's tale of humanity under siege from an epidemic of blindness. The film, in preproduction with filming scheduled to begin in the fall, has been adapted by Don McKellar and produced by Niv Fichman, Sonoko Sakai and Andrea Barata Ribeiro. Executive producers are Simon Channing-Williams and Gail Egan.
Based on the novel of the same name by Art Linson, "What Just Happened?" -- starring Robert De Niro and directed by Barry Levinson -- centers on a fading movie producer trying to salvage his career while caught up in a maelstrom of ex-wives, teenage daughters and movie-industry insiders.
The distributor has acquired joint territory rights to Focus Features International's "Blindness", directed by Fernando Meirelles, and Edko Films' "Blood: The Last Vampire" as well as U.K.-only rights to Fortissimo's "Mama's Boy", and 2929 International's "What Just Happened?"
"Blindness" brings to life Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's tale of humanity under siege from an epidemic of blindness. The film, in preproduction with filming scheduled to begin in the fall, has been adapted by Don McKellar and produced by Niv Fichman, Sonoko Sakai and Andrea Barata Ribeiro. Executive producers are Simon Channing-Williams and Gail Egan.
Based on the novel of the same name by Art Linson, "What Just Happened?" -- starring Robert De Niro and directed by Barry Levinson -- centers on a fading movie producer trying to salvage his career while caught up in a maelstrom of ex-wives, teenage daughters and movie-industry insiders.
CANNES -- Hot Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles is in talks to set up a joint venture between his production shingle, O2 Filmes, and Madrid-based sales consortium 6 Sales to co-develop, produce and distribute Brazilian films worldwide.
"We produce a lot of great films out of Brazil, but they never leave the country because there isn't the (distribution) infrastructure in place to handle it," Meirelles said in an interview. "This is what this new company will do."
Set up by Meirelles, Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Paolo Morelli, 02 is one of Latin America's leading production houses, having created Meirelles' Academy Award-winning City of God as well as Morelli's upcoming City of Men and Meirelles' Blindness, set to shoot in 2008.
Spain's 6 Sales specializes in commercial art house fare and features for the international market in English and Spanish, produced by independent companies from the U.S., Latin America and Europe and is now handling O2 co-production Antonia, Tata Amaral's second feature film.
Meirelles is finalizing cast on dark drama Blindness, meeting with actors to take on the lead role of a Doctor Who is the only man who can see in a village where everyone else is struck blind.
"We produce a lot of great films out of Brazil, but they never leave the country because there isn't the (distribution) infrastructure in place to handle it," Meirelles said in an interview. "This is what this new company will do."
Set up by Meirelles, Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Paolo Morelli, 02 is one of Latin America's leading production houses, having created Meirelles' Academy Award-winning City of God as well as Morelli's upcoming City of Men and Meirelles' Blindness, set to shoot in 2008.
Spain's 6 Sales specializes in commercial art house fare and features for the international market in English and Spanish, produced by independent companies from the U.S., Latin America and Europe and is now handling O2 co-production Antonia, Tata Amaral's second feature film.
Meirelles is finalizing cast on dark drama Blindness, meeting with actors to take on the lead role of a Doctor Who is the only man who can see in a village where everyone else is struck blind.
- 5/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Quick Links > Fernando Meirelles > Blindness > Focus Features > The Constant Gardener > City of God > Don McKellar Continuing the relationship the fostered with his last film The Constant Gardener, Fernando Meirelles' next project has been picked up by Focus Features – they will most likely serve as the distributor and will handle international sales for the film which should see a 2008 release. Scripted by Don McKellar (who should play a part in the film), the English-language film entitled Blindness is based on the 1995 novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, is a philosophical thriller about an epidemic of blindness that sweeps through an unnamed contemporary city and pushes society to the brink of breakdown. Variety reports that Niv Fichman of Toronto's Rhombus Media, Sonoko Sakai of Tokyo's Bee Vine Pictures and Andrea Barata Ribeiro of Sao Paulo, Brazil's O2 Filmes will produce. London-based Potboiler Prods. principals Simon Channing Williams
- 11/1/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
NEW YORK -- Miramax Films has acquired North American rights to City of Men (Cidade dos Homens), the big-screen sequel to Fernando Meirelles' Academy Award-nominated Brazilian drama City of God. It also picked up U.K., Australian, New Zealand and South African rights to the film. The feature also is an adaptation of the Sundance Channel series of the same name, which continues the story of two young friends who find themselves on opposite sides of a gang war in the rough slums of Rio de Janeiro. Miramax president Daniel Battsek sealed the deal at this month's Toronto International Film Festival after vp acquisitions Peter Lawson brought in the project. The executives based their decision on a five-minute promo reel of the film, which is now being edited. Meirelles, who received an Oscar nomination for best director for God, will produce the new film, with Paulo Morelli helming a screenplay by Elena Soarez. Morelli, Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Bel Berlinck are producing with Meirelles through their 02 Filmes outfit.
- 9/25/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.