Rio2C Projects Showcase Opens Up to True Crime, Sports, Impact Content  

In Brazil, a country of overwhelming scale and opportunity, it’s fully fitting that its project pitching event at the industry heart of Rio2C is equally super-sized. 

Over June 5-7, the Rio2C Market will host 30 film-TV pitches, presentations from 24 startups and 12 pocket music acts, plus both a dozen creator pitches and another dozen unveils of literary IPs looking for big or small screen adaptation.

The 30 Audiovisual Pitching Sessions also reflect powerful market forces at work in Brazil and beyond. 

There are six Sessions in all. Half of their categories are new, however: True Crime, Impact Content and Sports.

“The demand for non-fiction audiovisual content “has never been higher,” said Diego Assis, Universo Online’s general manager of special features, when drilling down on the strategic partnership between UOL, the biggest Brazilian internet portal, and LB Entertainment, behind “Sintonia,” Netflix’s biggest franchise in Brazil.

“People want to feel like they are still grounded, that they have some control, some way to positively affect their futures,” documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter told Variety in April just before delivering her MipTV keynote. 

Ranging from an expose of the slaughter of Indigenous peoples in 18th century Bahia to an analysis of recent riots in its capital Salvador, the Impact Content offers at least two titles which very obviously offer some kinds of solutions, not just problems: “Futuro Presente” and “Tic…tac.”

Sports shows have boomed ever since global streaming services began to attempt to appeal to sports fans without, in the case of soccer, making while still rolling out their service the often loss leading move of buying rights to live events. 

Turning on the personal fitness trainer Carol Vaz, “A Fada das Bundas,” a potential highlight at this year’s Rio2C Pitchings, may channel some of the appeal of “The Last Dance”: a sense of more candid behind-the-scenes immersion in the lives of sports figures. That could prove fascinating in the case of Vaz, an exuberant sadist who laughingly subjects her young female clients to physical pain which reduces some to near tears – all in the interest of a perfect butt. 

In a country’s whose identity for many is linked to the beautiful game, three other titles turn on soccer, with one, the fiction feature “Contra-ataque,” part of Audiovisual Pitchings, revealing that in 1950s Brazil women were banned from playing soccer.

Encouraging convergence, Rio2C’s Market also aims, by its own explanation, to foster the creative industries, boosting the generation of opportunities, employment, and income in the sector.

That can be seen in the breakdown of companies behind projects at the Pitching, which feature in each category the five-highest-rated projects chosen by Rio2C Market’s selection committee. 

By way of companies pitching, Rio2C offers a mix of venerable (Silvio Tindler, Liberato Produçoes Culturais) and highly established (Druzina Content, Raccord Produçoes) producers and production outfits but also a swathe of companies launched over the last 15 years. Notably, a considerable number of these are found outside the once near duopoly of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. 

They are not always even located in big cities: Set up near the western border of Bahia state, 242 Filmes will present “Ava e Oto e O Mundo Sonoro, a pre-school animated series. Selection for Rio2C was hailed by 242 Filmes’ Michel Santos, its writer-director-exec producer, as “incredible fresh news.” 

Brief profiles of titles in Rio2C’s True Crime, Sports, Impact Content, Audiovisual Fiction, Documentary/Factual and Kids Audivisual Pitching Sessions: 

True Crime

“Arquivo Aberto,” (Intro Pictures)

New facts on notorious crimes which rocked society, produced by Intro Pictures, behind “Insânia” and “Santo Maldito,” made for Star+, and extreme crime thriller “Pacto de Sangue,” co-directed by New Argentine Cinema leading light Adrian Caetano, for Space.  

“Dendê – O que aconteceu com o maior rapper do Brasil?” (Vandalo)

Created by Lautaro Núñez de Arco (“Historias Breves” 4), Nando Cola and Martin Escriche (“Días astral”) and also selected for late June’s Conecta Fiction, in its Music Series pitches. Acclaimed as Brazil’s finest rapper, Dendê’s career implodes when accused of murdering his girlfriend. 20 years later, he discovers the shocking truth. 

“Dorothy,” (Ocean Films)

A true crime series, so able to portray in larger depth, the figure of Dorothy Stang, the U.S.-born nun assassinated in the Amazon in 2005 after dedicating decades to defending its rainforest from destruction by agriculture. From Ocean Films, behind David Schurmann’s “Little Secret” and “Transamazônica Uma Estrada Para o Passado,“ by Jorge Bodanzky.

“Faces de um Justiciero: Cabo Bruno,” (Luzcena Filmes)

A feature exploring the figure and legacy of Corporal Bruno, part of Brazil’s military police and a psychopath who became a vigilante on the outskirts of 1980s’ São Paulo. 

“Rede Oculta,” (Operahaus Features)

Dubbed Europe’s New Red Light District” by Time in 2003, the sleepy town of Bragança in Portugal saw a highly publicized police  closure of four brothels there a year later. The feature asks who were the real culprits and innocents.

Impact Content

“Banquete,” (Dúa Filmes)      

A brutal extermination of Indigenous peoples in the 18th century still casts a shadow over a city in the interior of Bahía state. In the present day, Jacy, aided by a shaman, investigates strange disappearances in the city’s church and square. A series.

“Desordeiras,” (Mata Virgem)

In Salvador, the Brazilian capital with the highest percentage of Black Brazilians, rioters dispute access to work and power and protest incarceration of its Black population. A feature.

“Futuro Presente,” (Feel Filmes de Impacto)

Produced by São Paulo-based Feel Filmes de Impacto, which backed Sebastião Braga’s fest hit “Coragem,” a doc feature tracking three young Brazilian women who join forces to battle climate collapse, gaining U.N. recognition.

“Guerra de Narrativas, A História de Século,” (Ana Claudia)

An essay series arguing that the internet is driving users mad and aiding a resurgence of fascism. 

“Tic…tac,” (Mighty Mama Films)

An upbeat horizon-broadening series billed as an “engaging and transformative reality show”: Contestants race to introduce practical innovative solutions opening new pathways for communities and beyond. 

Audiovisual Fiction

“Guerra das Baianas,” (Movioca)

A movie project from Movioca, based out of Sao Paulo and Salvador, which produces across a spectrum from features (“O Segredo de Davi”) to series and realities (“Drag Me As a Queen”). Here, a dispute between two acarajé – cowpea fritter – women vendors for the best sales point in the city goes viral, endangering the future of the trade. 

“Brilhante!” (Limonada Content House)

A young gay man dreams of entering a Drag Queen Art school. To do so, he will have to face up to a conservative father and his own insecurities. Developed by Limonada, focused on content with female protagonism or LGBTQ elements. 

“Contra-ataque,” (TDC Conteúdo)

Distrusting her dreams of going pro as a soccer player, her parents send Caroca to live with her great grandmother who, it turns out, was a member of a clandestine women’s team in the 1950s, when soccer was forbidden for women in Brazil.

“O Barco e o Rio,” (Tem Dendê Produções)

During a mission trip along the rivers of the Amazon, an evangelical woman rethinks her choices and life. A potential feature from the up-and-coming Tem Dendê Produções, who made a splash at an arresting Pitching Paradiso showcase at Ventana Sur with “Tempo à Faca,” from Ruy Guerra and Diogo Oliveira.

“Puto,” (Surreal Hotel Arts) 

Launched in 2021, based in São Paulo and New York, Surreal Hotel Arts focuses on advertising, entertainment and branded content. In “Puto,” Ramon, a nice guy from Salvador’s outskirts hesitates between supporting his family as a delivery man or becoming a dancer of pagode baiano, a local music genre.

Sports

“A Fada das Bundas,” (Bug Filmes)

The story of personal fitness trainer Carol Vaz, who has become an international phenomenon by pushing to torture the physical suffering of her clients, now millions, first working out of a small gym in Grajaú, North-West Brazil. 

“Bocha,” (Manjericão Filmes)

An unemployed single mom, a precariously employed lesbian and a Korean immigrant turn to a Bocce tournament in Italy to solve their financial dramas. Produced by Manjericão Filmes, a producer on Cannes Critics’ Week Fipresci Prize winner “Power Alley.”

“Fome de Gol,” (Insólito Audiovisual)

A young trashman and striker for a humble rural soccer team, Pita dreams of getting a big break when his side is drawn against one of Brazil’s biggest clubs in the Copa de Brazil. Dream on?

“Gol de Letra,” (Plano 9 Produçoes)

A series from Plano 9 Produçoes, based out of Pernambuco, in Brazil’s North-East, collecting Brazilian writing on soccer. Now in production.

“Radicais Libres,” (Liberato Produções Culturais)     

Two sailors take on the challenge of navigating the whole length of Brazil’s over-200 kilometer Praia Cassino, battling strong winds off the longest beach in the world. A mini-series set up at Bahía’s Liberato Produçoes Culturais, a historic animation and doc production house. 

Documentary/Factual

“As que ficam,” (Butterfly)

Described as a “sensitive” doc feature delivering “a feminine perspective on the tragedy of desertification.” “When everything dries up and there’s no more hope, they are the ones who remain,” the synopsis runs. 

“Clenk Show,” (Clenk)

A reality competition to find Brazil’s next new star of magic and illusionism, backed by famed Curitiba-based illusionist Maicon Clenk.

“Jorge Lafond: Verão e Inverno,” (Raccord Produções)

From established Rio de Janeiro production house Raccord Produces, whose recent titles taken in “Corriendo Atrás,” from Jeferson De and Rosanne Svartman’s “Pluft,” a biodoc series on Lafond, renown for his creation of the drag queen character Vera Verão on Brazilian TV channel SBT and a trailblazing champion of Black and LGBTQ representation in Brazil.     

“Via Crucis,” (Sapucaia)

A feature film portrait of Christian women who are challenging the patriarchal foundations of churches and holy scriptures “in search of a progressive vision of faith.”

“Não Existe Sushiman,” (Dos Perros)

Produced by São Paulo’s Dos Perros, a portrait of a Brazilian chef specialized in Japanese cuisine who is obsessed with his inner demons, living in a violent city such as São Paulo, the synopsis explains.

Kids Audiovisual

“Marrom – Nem Preto, Nem Branco?” (Caliban Cinema e Conteúdo)

A feature film, “Marrom” turns on Linda, 8, the daughter of a black mother and a white father, who constantly experiences racism. “When she needs to do a school project on identity, she goes through a crisis and wants to escape to a place where everyone can be just like her,” the synopsis runs. The latest from Caliban, headed by resilient documentarian Silvio Tindler (“Os anos JK – Uma trajetória política,” “O Mundo Mágico dos Trapalhões,”  “Jango”). 

“Ava e Oto e O Mundo Sonoro,” (242 Filmes)

A pre-school animated series: Oto, who has a visual discapacity, connects Ava, his twin brother, with magical bird Gûyrá, which guides them to experience adventures and discoveries in a fantastical dimension, the Sound World. Set up at Bahia state’s 242 Filmes, and co-produced with Submarino Fantastico.

“A Sensacional Vilabarca,” (Iluminuras Estúdio)

From Iluminuras, a 2D/3D animation studio based out of Belem, capital of Pará state in Northern-most Brazil, on the banks of the Amazon. Behind films and TV, entertainment or edutainment, focusing on Amazon-related themes, Iluminuras produced animated series “Icamiabas na Cidade Amazônia” (2017) and “Brinquedonautas,” which aired on Nat Geo Kids.  

“Carnivalia,” (Kaplow Studio)

Rio’s Kaplow ( “Depois do Fim do Mundo”), a 2D film/TV production house, will pitch “Carnivalia.” In it, two children from the Rio’s North Zone smuggle themselves into Carnivalia, a world inhabited by Carnival beings, in order to find King Momo, without whom the Carnival can’t begin.  

“Maçã,” (Druzina Content)

A feature film play from Druzina Content, Brazil’s ADVB/APEX Export Award winner for three consecutive years. Here, distraught at the death of his dog, Maçã, Gil uses magic powers from his necklace Muiraquitã to invade the Natural Astral Realm and rescue his spirit, the synopsis suggests.