E! Entertainment Brazil to Bow LC Barreto’s Singing Reality Competition Series ‘Vocalizando’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Brazilian romantic comedy “Perfect Endings” has sold to distributors in North America and several territories in Europe. Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal is handling world sales rights.

Billie Boullet (A Small Light) is set to star opposite Yahya Abdul-Mateen ll in Man on Fire, Netflix‘s upcoming drama series adaptation.

Mark your calendars, “Yellowstone” fans: Taylor Sheridan’s hit family crime/drama show returns to the Paramount Network on November 10. The first of six episodes left in the show’s final season premiere on that date in the US and Canada.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Brazil’s Ventre Studio is readying a powerful slate of scripted series mining the rapidly growing Portugal-Brazil co-production axis, which Ventre itself has helped forge with “Godless John,” produced by Ventre Studio and Canal Brasil as well as Coral Europa and TVI in Portugal. First up in titles is dramedic mini-series “Coligay,” directed by Oscar-nominated Paulo Machline (“A Soccer Story”) and Rafael Gomes, helmer of LGBTQ romantic drama “45 Days Away From You.” Canal Brasil has boarded “Coligay” licensing Brazilian first window TV rights.

Brazil and Portugal, and global company Boat Rocker have struck a co-production-distribution deal on fantasy mystery TV series project “Human Nature.” Created and executive produced by Denis Nielsen (“3%,” “Rensga Hits!”), with Joe Mallozzi (“Stargate Atlantis”) attached as showrunner, “Human Nature” marks Glaz’s entry into English-language TV drama production. Inspired by real-life facts, the TV show is set at an Azores surfing event. There, a young surfer discovers strange occurrences in his seemingly idyllic island community as competitors suddenly begin to disappear.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Now on its 8th edition, the international TV forum Conecta Fiction & Entertainment (CF&E), held in the ancient Spanish city of Toledo from June 18 to 21, is turning its focus to Brazil and Portugal. The South American country is haltingly reactivating its audiovisual industry under President Lula de Silva’s new government, which earmarked nearly $1 billion for the sector last year.

Ben Croll In a sign of Folivari’s widening ambitions, the French animation powerhouse will handle world sales of the Sherlock Holmes spinoff “The Baker Street Four” through its newly launched distribution branch Folivari International. Adapted from a local comic book series that pairs Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective with four streetwise urchins, the title was developed in-house, with Folivari and Blue Spirit (“Blue Eye Samurai”) tackling creative duties and Canal+ set as commissioning broadcaster.

Marcelo Cajueiro RIO DE JANEIRO — Top Brazilian production company Gullane Entretenimento will make a feature-length doc and the third season of an animation series about Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, company directors Fabiano and Caio Gullane told Variety. Produced by Gullane for Netflix, the highly anticipated “Senna,” a bio drama TV series helmed by Vicente Amorim and Julia Rezende, is due to open late this year. Designed for global audiences, “Senna” is the highest-budgeted Brazilian series ever.

Running back Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers said that the team and its fans will have to be cautious about which colors they wear when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil.

Anna Marie de la Fuente As part of a strategy to build a new cinephile audience and revive the filmgoing experience in Brazil, São Paulo-based distributor O2 Play is theatrically releasing a selection of classic films, starting with A24’s 4K restored version of the seminal ‘80s Talking Heads concert docu, “Stop Making Sense” by Jonathan Demme. The company has also launched an app called “carteirinha de cinéfilo” (cinephile card), to offer moviegoers special discounts, collectibles and foster the theatrical experience.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix Brazil is bringing Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage to the screen. The streamer has greenlit a film adaptation of the Brazilian author’s novel, which will shoot in Brazil and Spain.

Marcelo Cajueiro RIO DE JANEIRO — Canal Brasil, a key Brazilian industry player as the country’s pay-TV channel focused on national titles from independent producers, has announced a package of four fiction and doc TV series and a feature-length doc, which are set for release over 2025-2027. Feature-length doc “Dona Onete” is produced by Hysteria, the division dedicated to developing female narratives of top production company Conspiracao. It delivers a portrait of 84-year old singer Dona Onete, the “Queen of Carimbo,” a music genre traditional of Para, the Northern Brazilian state located in the Amazon Rainforest region.

Marcelo Cajueiro RIO DE JANEIRO — Latin America’s largest creativity event, Rio2C, will gather over June 4-9 at the Cidade das Artes complex, in Rio de Janeiro, about 50,000 participants, up from 44,000 last year, including some 1,600 speakers and representatives of about 1,100 companies. Modelled after SXSW, the fifth in-person edition of Rio2C will feature over 500 panels designed to promote the convergence of film/TV, music, innovation, tech, games, publishing, science, fashion, sustainability and sports. Rio2C 2024, which has “The Age of Awareness” as the central theme, opens Tuesday, June 4 with five summits, followed by three days of conferences and the market.

Marcelo Cajueiro RIO DE JANEIRO — Paris Entretenimento, the production arm of top Brazilian distribution company Paris, will produce two features, “My Life with Shurastey” and “Bahamas Club,” helmed by Afonso Poyart, director of Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins starrer “Solace” and just out Brazilian Netflix action thriller “Bionic.” “My Life with Shurastey”(“Minha vida com Shurastey”) is to be lensed in the U.S. and Argentina in the first semester of 2025, while “Bahamas Club” is scheduled to go into production in Brazil in the second half of 2025. Each pic has a budget about RS25 million ($5 million), Veronica Stumpf, head of Paris Entretenimento, told Variety. Based on the homonymous travel diary of Jesse Kozechen, “My Life with Shurastey” turns on a young Brazilian who quits his boring job in order to travel the Americas in a Volkswagen Beetle with his dog Shurastey.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent LB Entertainment, behind “Sintonía,” Netflix’s biggest Brazilian hit, has signed a first-look deal with Universo Online (UOL), the biggest news website in Brazil which had 99 million unique users in March 2024. In a groundbreaking swing for Brazil, but in line with the deal struck in 2022 by Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and The Washington Post, the Brazilian strategic partnership will expand UOL’s brand of storytelling to all forms of filmed entertainment. Owned by Folha de São Paulo, Brazil’s No.

Siddhant Adlakha Directed by Oliver Stone (and co-directed by Rob Wilson), the 90-minute political portrait “Lula” covers a vast amount of historical and contemporary ground. However, despite its handful of rousing moments, the documentary — about Brazil’s current pro-worker president, Lula da Silva — comes from a limited perspective that prevents a fuller examination of the man, his myth and the people who believe in him.

Motel Destino, directed by Karim Aïnouz, begins with a burst of energy and intrigue, setting up a promising neo-noir thriller set against the vibrant backdrop of Northeastern Brazil. The film follows Heraldo (Iago Xavier) and his brother, whose favorite pastime of beach outings and capoeira practice belies their darker side as petty criminals indebted to a local madam. Their latest assignment — a high-stakes murder — plunges them into a realm of danger and desperation. However, despite its gripping start and lush cinematography, the film ultimately loses its way, bogged down by a sluggish middle act and narrative inconsistencies.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Shot between his directing Alicia Vikander in “Firebrand” and Kristen Stewart in “Rosebushpruning,” “Motel Destino,” which bows in Cannes Competition on May 22, can be seen as a return by Brazil’s now most international director to his Brazilian roots. This axis between international and local, plays out in “Motel Destino” and Aïnouz insists, in now his whole career. An erotic thriller, “Motel Destino” turns on Dayana, the young wife of a roadside sex hotel owner who seduces on-the-run minor mobster Heraldo for great sex.

Jamie Lang Announced from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Projeto Paradiso – a Brazilian private foundation that supports local film and TV professionals – is teaming with the Centre des Écritures Cinématographiques (CECI) – an artistic cultural center in Moulin d’Andé, France – on a new screenwriting residency for Brazilian filmmakers. The initiative, part of the Projeto Paradiso Residencies Program, has also received support from the French Embassy in Brazil.

Martin Dale Contributor Porter+Craig Film and Media Distribution, run by veteran industry executives Jeff Porter and Keith L. Craig has acquired worldwide rights to Gonçalo Galvão Teles’ “Nothing Ever Happened.” The film has enjoyed considerable success on the festival circuit, including awards in the CinEuphoria Awards, Cinequest, Chicago Latino Film Festival, Mostra Internacional de São Paulo and Punta Del Est Film Festival in Uruguay, as well as 11 nominations in the Portuguese Film Academy’s Sophia Awards. Produced by Luis Galvão of Portugal’s Fado Filmes and co-produced by Raquel Morte and Antonio Gonçalves Junior, the pic is a co-production between Fado Filmes, Entre Chien et Loup (Belgium) and Grafo Audiovisual (Brazil).