BUENOS AIRES – Locarno Film Festival’s Carte Blanche showcase, which this year focuses on Brazil, announced its full lineup today, with seven films in postproduction, which will be showcased to industry professionals and compete for a money prize.
Promotion agency Cinema do Brasil received 45 submissions for Carte Blanche showcase, and the final seven will be screened and introduced by their producers and directors will introduce to international sales agents, funders, distributors and festival programmers.
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“The great number of submissions to the Carte Blanche and the variety of genres and styles coming from many regions of Brazil reaffirm the maturity of the Brazilian production,” said Cinema do Brasil’s Chairman Andre Sturm. “We’ve sought to send to Locarno films that reflected this diversity, and the Festival has finished the selection of these seven titles, which have now a great opportunity in their hands. The fact that these films are being shown in the postproduction stage to such important international players increases a lot the chances of these titles in the international market, not only in sales, but also in the selection of renewed festivals throughout the world.”
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The seven films will also compete for a prize of 10,000 CHF (USD $11,000) to the most promising film in order to help with its completion. The jury is comprised of Vincenzo Bugno (World Cinema Fund), Christian Jeune (Deputy General Delegate, Festival de Cannes) and Eva Morsch Kihn (Cinema en Construction Toulouse/San Sebastian).
Brazil’s presence in Locarno extends beyond these seven titles, as a delegation of more than 50 Brazilian professionals are expected to attend, including the “ambassador” of this year’s Carte Blanche, Alice Braga (I Am Legend, The Ardor) who is also a juror of the Concorso Internazionale. Also, Locarno’s distribution initiative, Step In, will offer a special focus on the Brazilian market on 10 August through a public panel featuring Andre Sturm, Renata de Almeida (Programming Director, Sao Paulo International Film Festival), Jean-Thomas Bernardini (President, Imovision), Marcos de Oliveira (General Manager, Europa Filmes), and Sara Silveira (Producer, Dezenove Som e Imagem).
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This is the fourth year in a row that Carte Blanche has focused on Latin America, with previous editions addressing Chile, Mexico and Colombia.
The seven selected films are:
– ASPIRANTES (Hopefuls) by Ives Rosenfeld, produced by Luiz Alberto Gentile (Crisis Produtitvas) and Tatiana Leite (Bubbles Project)
– BECO (Alley) by Camilo Cavalcante, produced by Camilo Cavalcante and Caio Zatti (Aurora Cinema)
– NISE DA SILVEIRA by Roberto Berliner, produced by and Rodrigo Letier (TV Zero)
– O TOURO (The Bull) by Larissa Figueiredo, produced by Rafael Urban (Tu i Tam Filmes)
– ORACAO DO AMOR SELVAGEM (Wild Love Prayer) by Chico Faganello, produced by Andre Gevaerd (Cineramabc), Chico Faganello (Filmesquevoam) and Flavia Castro (Orbital)
– PONTO ZERO (Point Zero) by Jose Pedro Goulart, produced by Aleteia Selonk (Minima) and Graziella Ferst (OKNA)
– QUE HORAS ELA VOLTA? (Where is She?) by Anna Muylaert, produced by Fabiano Gullane, Caio Gullane (Gullane Films) and Africa Filmes
