A group of boys kicks up dirt as they run over a soccer ball under the scorching sun of northeastern Brazil. For all but one person, Gugu’s energy is directed elsewhere. It’s an arrogant dance number on the sideline of an improvisational field. Director Alan Debarton’s The World of Goo-Goo, which will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, follows the titular boy as a poignant depiction of the hardships of childhood for those who don’t fit in.
This gentle drama stars newcomer Yugi Gomez as Gugu, and other heavyweights also participate. “Madame Sata” star Lazaro Ramos plays the boy’s father, while veteran Teka Pereira (“Divine Love”) plays Gugu’s charming grandmother Dilma. His lively social life is painfully disrupted by his rapidly escalating dementia. Carlos Francisco, who broke out in “The Secret Agent,” also appears in a small role as Dilma’s affair partner. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Ahead of the film’s Berlin premiere, DeBarton said in an interview with Variety that the film grew out of screenwriter Andre Araujo’s “very personal memories.” The two previously worked together on Deverton’s directorial debut, Pacarrete. The film tells the story of a retired dance teacher who dreams of performing in a big, daring dance spectacle in front of the entire small town.
“I immediately realized that I was in the same emotional realm,” he recalls of the early stages of the creative process. “Both of us come from the same hometown, in Lussas, a rural area in the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil, where we were both “different” and “out of place,” raised by our grandmothers for most of our childhoods.The energy of this film comes from memories of love and vulnerability, from that space where care is both a refuge and a fear of losing it.”
The screenwriting duo took the script to several writing labs and eventually partnered with Bionica Film through Projeto Paradiso’s fruitful incubator initiative, which also resulted in another much talked about Brazilian Berlin premiere, Grace Passo’s “Our Secret.”
Casting the right child for the role of Gugu was essential to the success of the process, and Debarton saw over 600 children during the extensive casting process. “We were looking for a child with a rare combination of fragility, strength, kindness and a very lively inner energy. Yuri Gomez has all of that. He can hold emotions without acting them out, and he makes silence feel alive. That was essential to the language of this film.”
The director added that casting Pereira was a “dream” from the early stages of writing the script. “Grandma had to be the whole universe,” he added, recalling that the actor’s “contagious presence” had stuck with him ever since he saw her on stage in the Brazilian production of Christopher Duran’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.” As for Ramos, Deverton said his presence in the film came in “an amazing way.”
“When he saw Paccarete at its Brazilian premiere, he said he wanted to work with me,” he points out. “He’s a Brazilian icon, and I’m a big fan, and his interest felt like a gift. The character of Batista was developed specifically for him. We knew that Lázaro would make him complex, human, contradictory, and shaped by fear and social pressure.”
Ramos told Variety that he was drawn to DeBarton as a creative collaborator because of the “sensitive perspective” DeBarton displayed as a director. The actor feels that “The World of Goo Goo” “resonates” with other major films of his career, including Karim Ainus’ “Madame Sata” and Sergio Machado’s “Lower City,” in which he co-starred with his longtime friend and collaborator Wagner Moura. “Here I play a character who has a tender relationship with the main character, a child, and a character who has a lot to say to the world. This is the humanist film that I love the most.”
Asked about playing with a young newcomer from a veteran’s perspective, Ramos was quick to praise Gomez, calling him an “extraordinary talent.” “He comes from Projeto Acce, a project in Bahia that I cherish very much, which has been providing art to children in that part of Salvador for many years,” he added. “When he came to this film, he felt both an identification with the character and a sense of rejection, which was very interesting to see. I think it’s such a rare moment when a character chooses an actor. And it was very clear to me from the beginning that I wanted this character to be played by Yuri.”
“Executive Order” provided by Lelebee Productions
As for how he feels after seeing his longtime friend and collaborator Moura recently become the first Brazilian to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Secret Agent, Ramos says he is “very proud.”
This pride extends to director Kleber Mendonça Filho and the main promoters of Northeastern Brazilian cinema, such as Gabriel Mascaro and Karim Ainouz, whom he calls “people who really think about the language of cinema.” “After the pandemic, in order to survive in the market, there was a tendency to make films that didn’t really explore what the language of Brazilian cinema is or what the stories we want to tell,” added the actor, who is also the director of successful films such as “Executive Order.”
“I’m happy for my friend Wagner, with whom I’ve made a lot of films, and also for Kleber,” he continued. “I feel that 2026 and 2027 are going to be very beautiful years. Films that can captivate audiences while keeping one foot firmly planted in their identity are a very important path for our cinema, and I hope that continues. That’s what I’m pursuing in future projects, both as an actor and as a director.”
As for the future, Ramos and DeVerton are already working on a follow-up to the manager. The “World of Goo Goo” director is preparing “The Adaptation,” and while Ramos is still working on a secret project, he says it feels “right” to be in Berlin to “gather inspiration for the next work.”
“The Adoption is a very intimate project for me,” says Debarton. “I was an adoptive father, and at that time I was a single father taking custody of my child. It was an experience that changed me a lot. And it also changed my partner Marcelo, who also became a father. I borrowed some of the emotions from that experience and put it into the film, which has already been shot with a wonderful Brazilian cast.”
“Gugu’s World” is produced by Bionica Films and Debarton Films. M-Appeal will be in charge of global sales.
