‘Motel Destino’ Producer Gullane Unveils Cao Hamburger, Sandra Kogut Films (EXCLUSIVE)
Brazilian production powerhouse Gullane, which is behind Netflix’s “Senna” and Karim Aïnouz’s Cannes competition title “Motel Destino,” has closed international co-production pacts on new projects from Cao Hamburger (”The Year My Parents Went on Vacation”) and Sandra Kogut (“Three Summers”).
France’s Playtime Group and Portugal’s Ukbar Filmes will co-produce Hamburger’s “School Without Walls.” A Playtime Group company will also handle international sales on the true and inspiring story of Braz Nogueira, principal of a public school in Heliopolis, one of Brazil’s biggest slums.
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Kogut will direct “New Cancun,” co-created by and starring Sundance actress winner Regina Casé. The film teams Gullane with Kogut’s regular producer in France, Gloria Films. It’s slated to shoot by the first quarter of 2025.
In the film, Casé plays Madá, who has never dwelled on her family’s tragedy in an environmental disaster. When chosen for a Christmas campaign, her tale captivates the nation, rekindling her drive for justice. Entering the world of New Cancun, a tourism behemoth in Brazil’s privileged and tense landscape, Madá reconnects with the past, aspiring to find a better path forward.
Both titles are also co-produced in Brazil with Globo Filmes, which ensures not only finance but huge marketing muscle for the titles’ domestic release.
In post are “A Wolf at the Door” director Fernando Coimbra’s noir thriller “Carnival is Over” (aka The Hanged”) and animated feature “Noah’s Ark,” directed by Sergio Machado and voiced by Rodrigo Santoro and Alice Braga. Pic turns on two mice stowaways in Noah’s Ark who are inspired by the music of Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim.
“Carnival is Over” turns on Regina and Valerio, content in their hillside villa, who seek to exit Valerio’s mobster family business after his father’s death. Financial pressures and family obligations lead to a fatal decision, spiraling into their intended escape route.
Led by Fabiano and Caio Gullane, the company is also co-producing “Technically Sweet,” the third and final film of what is deemed Italian maestro Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Escape from Civilization” trilogy, with Italy’s Viva Film, which just brought in Italian state funding.
“We asked his widow Enrica Antonioni to be an associate producer to help decide on the cast, the locations and script revisions,” said Fabiano Gullane at Cannes who added that 70% of its financing is in place.
To be directed by André Ristum, the son of Antonioni’s Brazilian art director, it centers on a journalist who goes on an unexpected vacation, which triggers his existential crisis. Complex ties with an enigmatic girl and an anthropology student, catalyzed by events, propel him into a life-defining Amazon adventure.
The announcement of new projects at Gullane – a producer on Cannes competition players in the past such as “Carandiru” and Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor” – comes as Brazil’s congress is debating an investment quota on streaming services in Brazil, such as Netflix and Prime Video.
Given streamers’ popularity in Brazil, which is one of the biggest clients for Netflix outside the U.S. in subscription and revenue terms, the measure could mean a total incremental investment of $1 billion or more. Investment would target independent producers, allowing them to share IP ownership.
The quota faces fierce opposition, however, not so much from OTT platforms as rather conservative interests in Brazil.
“If the measure is passed, Brazil’s film and TV industry will hit a historical high,” company co-founder Fabiano Gullane told Variety at Cannes. “We’d like to have the capacity to produce larger, more ambitious projects for the international marketplace,” he added.
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