One of his young Brazilian generation’s first filmmakers, Bruno Ribeiro, was the winner of the 2022 Berlin Silver Bears for the short “Sunday Morning,” co-registered for Globeplay’s major hit “The Others,” and was chosen as the Cannes Critics’ next step workshop of the week.
The choice was announced on Saturday at this year’s Rio Film Festival and is the next step workshop director, Thomas Rosso, Cannes Critics’ weekly program manager. This invitation is supported by the Orgarabinovich Institute and the charitable organization Project Paradiso, supported by Brazilian talent and consistent champions of its international forecasts.
Ribeiro broke out with 2021 Doclisboa winner “Gargau”. This is an incredible semi-autobiographical comedy where Ribeiro visits Gargau’s grandmother, a six-hour drive down the coast from Rio de Janeiro, and Ribeiro visits his grandmother.
The clever portrait of Brazil’s first country generation moved to Mass to study at a major city university, “Sunday Morning,” “Sunday Morning,” the 2022 Berlin Silver Bear Jue Prize winner, and Gabriella, a young black pianist, played by real-life musician Raquel Picao, prepares for her first major recital. Troubled by her dream of her dead mother, she revisits her country family home out of guilt, but also thankes her for helping her get to where she is now. The short ends with a stunning performance of Chopin’s “Fantasie rompromptu” by Gabriella/Paixoa.
Featured in the variety show “Brazil: The 10 Next Generation Tracking,” Ribeiro will take part in the next step in 2021 with his debut feature project “Saturday Copacabana,” produced by Rio-based Red Toe Films, founded by Adler Costa, Ribeiro and Rise Deal E-Tuni Medeiros. The film follows the nocturnality and existential wanderings of a young pianist at the crossroads of her personal and professional life as she drifts through the bars, clubs and samba circles of the city.
“The “Saturday Copacabana” reflects some of the same concerns as “Sunday Morning.” Both share individual, expert and artistic dialogues, but this new piece is imagined as a more humorous and playful setting while “Sunday Morning” leaps towards introspection.
“Sunday Morning” was noted for its precise use of fixed shots and gentle camera movements.
“We would like to explore more dynamic visual language at Copacabana on Saturday,” Ribeiro predicted. “My intention is to embrace a greater movement to reflect the energy of Copacabana. At the same time, it interacts with both Hollywood screwball comedy traditions and Brazilian Chanchada comedy, accompanied by musicality, irony and vitality. Of course there are still moments of tranquility, but overall I imagine a faster, faster flow.”
Next Steps: Brazil and the World
The full selection of the next step is expected to be announced in early December. Critics’ Week, which aims to help filmmakers in making the transition from shorts to feature films, has already been bulky in recent years with Brazilian features. Leonardo Martinelli’s short film “Samba Infinite” and Valentina Homem’s “The Girl and the Pot.” The most recent Brazilian films that make the next step cut took Joanne Paulo Miranda’s “Memory House,” “Power Alley,” and Ferpe Fernandez’s “Sweet River.”
Over the next step, filmmakers can be advised by international consultants on film writing, marketing and scoring, and contacted with production companies, international sales agents and distributors during curated industry meetings.
In the 11th edition, the next step welcomed 97 filmmakers of 39 different nationalities. It reports that 38 feature films have been produced and announced at major festivals. More recently, this year, “Aisha cannot fly,” according to Morad Mostafa. “Aro Berria” by Irati Gorostidi Agirretxe, who was selected as the author of the Critics of Venice Week, Lucia Aleña Iglesias’ “Forester,” Tiff Fiplesi Award winner and San Sebastian’s prestigious new director.
The next step is backed by France’s CNC, SACEM, COPIE PRIVEE, SACD, and Mexico’s Morelia International Film Festival, and now Projet Paradiso, Brazil.
