World Report: Brazil

Brazil’s box office emulated that of the world with high-end box office receipts for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian who has been number 1 for two weeks going taking away the spot from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a film that had the limelight for one week stripping it away  from Iron Man and its three week run at number one.

Local Scene: Brazil 

This week, it was announced by one of the country’s biggiest newspapers that Jose Padilha was producing a sequel to Tropa de Elite. This rumor was quickly put to rest by the producers of the movie, who claim , that at the moment, no one is actually involved in such a project. Rodrigo Pimentel (screenwriter of the first movie) would also be back and the movie would involve four new stories, including one of a reporter infiltrated on the squad.

Hollywood Style. Although sequels are not really common in the Brazilian movie industry, Se eu fosse você (“If I were you”, non-official translation) will be adding a part two – due to premier in 2009. The first film was the biggest Brazilian box-office success of 2006, registering more than 3,000,000 viewers. The romantic comedy, based on the plot exhaustively explored by the cinema of a couple on which husband and wife exchange bodies, is having its protagonists (Gloria Pires and Tony Ramos) and director (Daniel Filho) back to the continuation.

International Scene: Brazil

Cannes’s Repercussion: Beating out Arta Dobroshi (“The Silence of Lorna”), Angelina Jolie (“The Exchange”) and Catherine Deneuve, the Brazilian actress Sandra Corveloni won the award for best actress for her role in Linha de Passe (from Walter Salles). The movie marks Corveloni’s debut in the movie industry (she has a background in the theater) and tells the story of a humble family, helded together by its matriarch Cleuza, all struggling to achieve their goals. Corveloni wasn’t present at Cannes due to her pregnancy.

Polemic for exportation: “La Riña”, from the director Marcelo Galvão, had its first screening at the Marché du Film, event that takes part of the Festival of Cannes. The intention was to get an international distribution for the movie, which, by the way, had been entirely shot with the dialogues in English. According to Galvão, the movie had a good reception and he received good offers for its exportation.

During a party filled with alcohol, drugs and luxury, an empty pool is turned into a street fight ring. Rich people amuse themselves watching extreme violent fights of the poor ones. They even gamble. That’s the main plot of “La Riña”, shot with the almost insignificant (even to the Brazilian parameters) budget of U$ 150,000. It has as the only set a small ranch and part of the cast worked for free. One of the peculiar aspects of the film (and a potential polemic generator) is the fight scenes. Galvao hired professional fighters to recreate real scenes on the set. The result is scenes filled with real hits, blood and wounds. You can visit the official website here.

Packing up His Bags: Another Brazilian filmmaker is about to hit Hollywood. Padilha (mentioned above) and his critically succesful “Elite Squad” will direct for producer Gianni Nunnari with A Willing Patriot (working title). The Warner Bros. Drama based on the story of an American federal agent who goes to the border of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina to destroy a terrorist net. Jason Keller is set to write the script.