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Gullane+, the fast-growing distribution arm of top Brazilian production company Gullane Entretenimento, has acquired both Brazilian and international distribution rights to Lírio Ferreira and Karen Harley’s “Para Vigo Me Voy.”
The documentary, playing at Cannes Classics, is a portrait of the legendary Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Diegues told through the weaving of film excerpts and rare footage into a journey through 60 years of Brazilian cinema.
Speaking with Variety out of Cannes, Gullane co-founder and producer Fabiano Gullane calls the documentary a “tribute to one of the most important directors and producers we ever had in Brazil,” adding that Diegues was pioneering in how he “paved the way” for Brazilian cinema in the international market. It is a particularly poignant homage considering that the country recently landed its first-ever Oscar for Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and is in a prominent position at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as the Country of Honor of the Marché du Film.
Diegues, who died earlier this year, was one of the key members of Brazil’s renowned Cinema Novo movement and one of the country’s first filmmakers to land large budgets for projects geared for the domestic market. His seminal “Bye Bye Brazil” was budgeted at a whopping 2 million dollars, with “God Is Brazilian” at a 10 million dollar price point. The director was a staunch defender of imprinting Brazil’s diversity — cultural, ethnic and sociopolitical — on screen, and would come to direct 17 features in his career, as well as producing dozens more films, plays and musicals before his passing.
“To Vigo I Go” features excerpts from works and interviews with the filmmaker over a span of 60 years, as well as previously unseen footage of Diegues’s last day of filming and scenes of a final personal meeting between the director and artists who have accompanied him throughout his decades-long, history-making career.
Of Gullane+, Gullane says the distributor’s initial focus is on “movies for the Brazilian market and Brazilian movies for the international market,” highlighting how the company is distributing not only new projects but also has acquired a vast catalogue of big classics of their national cinema. This catalogue includes films such as Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna’s “Iracema,” whose new restoration played this year’s Berlinale.
“Our productions are doing really well, we have been doing this for the last 25 years and know [what we are doing],” adds the exec. “Our challenge now is to expand the distribution branch. This is our focus because we think that for the production side to be sustainable, we must also be involved in distribution. This is key for us over the next few years.”
Other highlights of Gullane+’s current slate include a much-awaited new project by “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” director Cao Hamburger, titled “School Without Borders” and Sandra Kogut’s “New Cancun,” co-created and starred by “The Second Mother” Sundance Acting award winner Regina Casé and the sequel to the lauded “Three Summers.”
“Para Vigo Me Voy” is produced by Coqueirão Pictures in co-production with Globo Filmes, Globo News, Sinedóque, Raccord Produções, and Dualito Produções.
English (US) ·