Embaúba Filmes, a Brazilian film distributor, is preparing to release ten national productions in cinemas throughout the year 2024. Among the premieres are films that have been awarded in various festivals in and outside of Brazil. “We have strong films in our lineup, which can combine cinematic and artistic quality with a very strong audience appeal, which resonate well with different audiences. The question now is how to turn this into actual audience numbers in cinemas and good negotiations with channels and platforms in the subsequent moments. But we don’t just move based on numbers; Embaúba aims to be increasingly a ‘seal of quality,’ a reference for the audience interested in Brazilian cinema, so they can follow our releases, aware that we hold an important place in the Brazilian audiovisual chain,” said Daniel Queiroz, director of Embaúba Filmes, in an interview with Portal Exibidor. Among the 2024 premieres, the first one, set to hit theaters on April 11, is the documentary “As Linhas da Minha Mão,” directed by João Dumans, which was the grand winner of the Aurora Showcase at the 2023 Tiradentes Festival. The plot follows actress Viviane de Cássia Ferreira addressing themes such as art and madness. On May 2, “A Filha do Palhaço” is set to premiere, one of the most renowned films which toured festivals in Brazil, receiving audience awards at Tiradentes and Gostoso. Directed by Pedro Diogenes – and starring Jesuíta Barbosa, Demick Lopes, and newcomer Sutter Lis – the film follows a teenage girl who spends a week with her father, a local clown. Winner of the Brasília Festival – and showcased in important international festivals like Docville (Belgium), where it received the award for best international documentary – “A Invenção do Outro,” directed by Bruno Jorge, follows the Funai expedition, led by the indigenous activist Bruno Pereira (who was assassinated in 2022), who tried to locate and establish contact with an isolated group of the Korubos tribe. Its release is scheduled for May 23. Programmed for July 13, “O Estranho” – which was displayed at the Berlin Film Festival and awarded at the International Human Rights Festivals of Nuremberg and Havana – is set at Brazil’s largest airport, built on an ancient indigenous territory. Directed by Flora Dias and Juruna Mallon, the film follows not the moving passengers but the people who remain there. Directed by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Massora, “A Flor de Buriti” was showcased at the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes. Starting in 1940, the film follows two children from the Krahô indigenous people who find a bull near their village in the forest darkness. It was a prelude to a brutal massacre carried out by the region’s farmers. The premiere is on July 4. “Estranho Caminho,” by Guto Parente, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York, where it took home all awards in the narrative feature competition: Best Film, Photography, Screenplay, and Performance (Carlos Francisco), awarded by a jury that included actor Brendan Fraser. It was also awarded at the Rio Festival for Best Screenplay and Supporting Actor. The plot follows a young filmmaker who visits his hometown while the pandemic rages and tries to reunite with his father, with whom he has not spoken for a decade. The release is on August 1. A fiction by Rafael Conde, based on the story of José Carlos da Mata Machado, “Zé” follows a leader of the Brazilian Student Movement who joins a resistance group against the military dictatorship in Brazil and, after leaving his middle-class family to live among the poor and perform literacy and political awareness work, goes underground. The film is scheduled for August 29. Written and directed by Michelline Helena and Amanda Pontes, the fiction “Quando eu me Encontrar” was displayed at the International Cinema Show in São Paulo last year. Set to hit theaters on September 19, the film follows a young woman’s family after her departure and shows how everything changes in the lives of those left behind. The documentary “Termodielétrico” was displayed at the Rio Festival and the São Paulo Show. The director Ana Costa Ribeiro investigates the trajectory of her grandfather, Joaquim da Costa Ribeiro, one of the fathers of experimental physics in Brazil, responsible for discovering the Termodieletrico Phenomenon. The film arrives in cinemas on October 10. Finally, the documentary “Corpo Presente” had its premiere at the Tiradentes Showcase and presents the body as a form of art, expression, and identity, showcasing works, artists, and thinkers reflecting on the theme. Directed by Leonardo Barcelos, the premiere is on October 31. “We are fully aware of our place where we operate. Our success benchmark is not measured in millions of viewers. For some works, reaching 10,000 people is already very satisfying, and 100,000 (a result we achieved with “Marte Um”) is reason to celebrate. Naturally, we always want more. We have a strong belief in the importance of wide circulation of diverse Brazilian cinema that doesn’t underestimate the audience,” Daniel shared. All these films arrive in a year where national productions are achieving excellent numbers. According to Ancine’s Cinema and Audiovisual Observatory, almost 25% of ticket market share in 2024 is for Brazilian films. In comparison, last year the percentage was below 2.5%. “I believe the current positive outcome for Brazilian cinema is heavily supported by a few titles. The fact is we cannot generalize for all Brazilian cinema. It is very important for our industry, for our market, to have more Brazilian blockbusters competing with Hollywood cinema. However, the vast majority of Brazilian titles still face difficulties in reaching a significant audience,” Daniel emphasized. One of the challenges, then, is to increase the audience for these lower-reach films, something that, in the director’s view, should concern the entire Brazilian audiovisual chain. Even within the national film segment, it’s possible to see two extremes: films with lower audience levels and blockbusters, with a substantial difference in the number of spectators for each. “If I said that expectations are at their best, I would be lying because we know the scenario is challenging. We work with films acclaimed by critics, well circulated in showcases and festivals, both in Brazil and abroad, accumulating awards. Still, they have a limited circuit for showing in the country. Our goal is precisely to expand the spaces and audiences for these films, and that’s the direction we will focus our efforts on. We choose the films we work with, for reasons beyond their market potential, taking into account their artistic dimension and content, such as social and political issues addressed,” Daniel explained. Specialized in Brazilian cinema, Embaúba Filmes was created in 2018 with the aim of contributing to the wider circulation of national authorial films. In its catalog, there are over 50 released titles, and the distributor also operates through the Embaúba Play platform, which showcases works from other distributors, with over 500 productions in its repertoire. So far, the distributor’s biggest success in theaters was “Marte Um,” released in 2022 and winner of the Grand Prize of the Brazilian Cinema in 2023 and selected to compete for a spot in the Best International Film category at last year’s Oscar. List of releases: – 04/11: “As Linhas da Minha Mão,” by João Dumans; – 05/02: “A Filha do Palhaço,” by Pedro Diogenes; – 05/23: “A Invenção do Outro,” by Bruno Jorge; – 06/13: “O Estranho,” by Flora Dias and Juruna Mallon; – 07/04: “A Flor do Buriti,” by João Salaviza and Renée Nader Massora; – 08/01: “Estranho Caminho,” by Guto Parente; – 08/29: “Zé,” by Rafael Conde; – 09/19: “Quando eu me Encontrar,” by Michelline Helena and Amanda Pontes; – 10/10: “Termodielétrico,” by Ana Costa Ribeiro; – 10/31: “Corpo Presente,” by Leonardo Barcelos.
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