Hit and Back Copacabana | feature-film | fiction
Director: Juliana Antunes
Producer: Marcella Jacques
Paulinha (17) lives on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte and has never seen the sea. She has been in love with her neighbor Gabi (18) since she was a kid. Michele (19) is running from the police and laying low at Paulinha’s home after a fight with her ex-girlfriend.
When Paulinha learns that Gabi is going on a day trip to Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro, she convinces Michele that they should rob a taxi driver to be able to afford to join the trip. They succeed in their plan and depart to Rio, excited to see the sea. Paulinha dreams about finally having a shot with Gabi, but, much to her dismay, the girl starts flirting with Michele instead. When the sexual tension between them reaches a breaking point, Paulinha is unable to keep them from acting on it. Desolate, she walks away on her own and gets lost in the maze of one of Rio’s favelas. When the three girls meet again, night has fallen and their bus has already departed. Now they must find a way back home, together and without any money.
Hit and Back Copacabana was selected as the best project in the following labs: Brasil CineMundi (2017), Lobo Lab (Argentina/2017), BrLab (2019). It was also selected for the Porto Iracema das Artes lab with Karim Aïnouz and crew. It was selected for the grant BRDE/FSA “Arranjos Regionais – Feature-film projects" and counts with Globo Filmes’ support.
Welles in a Silent Land | feature-film | documentary
Director: Laura Godoy
Producer: Marcella Jacques
In 1942, American filmmaker Orson Welles came to Brazil to film It’s All True. Vague records point to the possibility that the shooting might have gone beyond Ceará and Rio de Janeiro: Welles might have gone to Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais. These rumors were never confirmed, and the movie became an unfinished enigma, fragmented into lost archives.
Truth or myth? Was Welles ever in Minas Gerais?
Over the last ten years, Laura has been researching archives in Brazil and the US searching for clues: it’s been the only way to piece together what happened between Ouro Preto, the Vargas government, Hollywood, and one of the most complex figures in the history of Cinema along with his crew during that Holy Week, back in 1942.
Selected for the grants Codemge/MG 2017 and BRDE/FSA “BH nas Telas.”
Cartoleiras | feature-film | documentary
Director: Juliana Antunes
Producer: Laura Godoy
Glauça Pinheiro, 60 years old, is originally from the northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil. She has been living in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, since the ‘70s. Owner of Cantinho da Glau, a small bar on the east side of the city, the ex-soccer player keeps the bar as a meeting point for all of her old friends. In the old days, they met at the soccer field. Now, as seniors, they get together to watch soccer matches and compete against each other on the fantasy soccer app Cartola.
Selected for the grant BRDE/FSA “BH nas Telas”.
Empty Orchestra | feature-film | stop-motion animation
Director: Maria Leite
Producer: Marcella Jacques
“Empty Orchestra” is a psychological drama hidden in layers of mystery telling the story of Jana, a young entrepreneur and hotel owner, who sees her routine upended after she starts hearing strange noises at the hotel. The film feeds the audience misleading clues until, eventually, normality is shattered into painful memories Jana must deal with. In the end, the audience understands that the hotel is a metaphor for Jana’s inner world and the characters are all different parts of herself who must face the memories that are coming up.
Selected for the grant Codemge/MG 2017 and winner of the CTAv award - 13th CineMundi
(2022).
Mermaid's Wing
stop-motion animation series | 7 episodes | 10min
Director: Maria Leite
Producer: Marcella Jacques
“Mermaid's Wing” is an animated series telling the stories of the LGBTQI+ ward of a men’s prison. From the drawings that Tiffany (the most popular cross-dressing tattoo artist in prison) tattoos on her fellow prisoners, we learn about their past and their stressful present in prison. The screenplay development is based on the research by anthropologist Vanessa Sander, who wrote her doctoral thesis as an ethnography of the LGBTQI+ ward of a men’s prison in Belo Horizonte between 2015 and 2019.
