RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Ella Rumpf (“Raw,” “Couture”), Júlio Andrade (“Under Pressure”) and Ana Flávia Cavalcanti (“Baby”) are set to star in Andrea Štaka’s “Ibicaba: O Paraíso Prometido.”
The new film by the Golden Leopard-winning director will be produced under Brazil’s MyMama Entertainment banner in co-production with Switzerland’s Cinédokké Sagl and Brazil’s MMM Carioca.
“Ibicaba: O Paraíso Prometido” (“Ibicaba: Promised Paradise” in literal translation) is adapted from Eveline Hasler’s novel “Ibicaba: O Paraíso nas Cabeças” and based on real-life events that took place in the titular farm in rural São Paulo. The film will be shot next year in Switzerland and Cordeirópolis, a municipality in the central region of the state of São Paulo.
Set in 1855, the historical drama follows a Swiss working-class single mother who travels to Brazil, drawn by the promise of a better life but who is confronted instead with a system of debt, surveillance and exploitation within a society deeply structured by slavery. Her path crosses with that of Inocência, an enslaved Black woman who possesses healing knowledge, knows the land, and devises her own strategies of resistance.
The historical research aiding the film is conducted in collaboration with Caróu Oliveira, a Black historian dedicated to the study of slavery and the daily lives of Black women in the 19th century. Štaka’s connection with the story dates back to her adolescence, when she discovered Hasler’s novel. The director has been learning Portuguese in preparation for the film, seeking direct communication with the cast and crew and greater proximity to the characters’ dialogues and experiences.
Štaka won the Golden Leopard at Locarno and the best film award at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2006 for “Das Fräulein.” Her following films have played at Locarno and Berlin. “Ibicaba” secured the co-production development award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market last year.
Speaking with Variety at the Rio Film Festival, MyMama Entertainment co-founder and CEO Mayra Faour Auad says she considers her label to be “an international production company.”
“I don’t work only with Brazilian auteurs,” she adds. “I want auteurs whose stories we are passionate about. We also don’t rely solely on Brazilian funds for financing. We know how to fundraise in Europe, the U.S., and countries like Lebanon. I’ve worked in the U.S. for six years on major films like Noah Baumbach’s ‘White Noise,’ and my DNA comes from learning how to fundraise in a market like the American market and ensure directors whose voices we believe in get to make their films.”
Faour Auad also notes how important it is to have international directors and productions shoot in Brazil, a movement that has grown in recent years, with films like Michael Almereyda’s “Zero K” shooting in São Paulo. “I think it is very important because we have a wealth of locations, of cast and capable crews,” she says.
“We also have several new regional incentives and the caliber of our heads of department is one of the greatest in the world,” notes the producer. “We have incredible cinematographers, art directors and costume designers who are all attracting major international directors. I also think it’s interesting that international projects are not only shooting in Brazil to double for another location; they are also interested in telling stories that have Brazil as the background, as it’s the case with ‘Ibicaba.’”
The production company was present at this year’s Rio Film Festival with the short film “A Casa de Dona Carlota,” directed by Lili Fialho and famed actress Bruna Linzmeyer (“Medusa”) in her directorial debut. Based on Aira Bonfim’s in-depth research, the short film tells the story of Dona Carlota Rezende, the coach of the pioneering female football team Primavera Atlético Clube, in the 1940s. Last year, the banner was at the festival with another high-profile short film, André Hayato Saito’s “Amarela,” which played at the Cannes Film Festival and made the shortlist for Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars.
MyMama is currently in post-production with João Paulo Miranda Maria’s “I Don’t Even Know Who I Was,” starring Selton Mello and Pia Marais’s “Whyte Lies,” which will see the director return to shoot in Brazil following “Transamazonia.”