HBF+Brazil pilot edition selection unveiled plus new partner Embratur

IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund has announced the 10 projects selected for the pilot edition of HBF+Brazil: Co-development Support, a unique new collaboration between the Hubert Bals Fund and leading organisations for the promotion of cinema in Brazil: Spcine, RioFilme, Projeto Paradiso and Embratur, the Brazilian Tourism Board, which HBF has newly welcomed as a partner to the initiative.

In this pilot year, 10 fiction film projects in development have been selected to receive grants of €10,000 each. Each project is directed by a second or third-time Brazilian filmmaker with a Brazilian production company attached. 

Reflecting the geographical scope and mission of the HBF+Brazil partners, the 10 grants support filmmakers and producers across Brazil, with four grants each for projects connected to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, including collaborations where producers from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro work with filmmakers from other cities. Two projects from the rest of Brazil are supported through Projeto Paradiso and the latest collaborator on the initiative, Embratur, the Brazilian Tourism Board, whose participation makes this 10th grant possible. Additionally, the screenwriter of one of the awarded national projects, Madiano Marcheti, was selected to enter the Paradiso Talent Network – which brings together professionals supported by the philantropic organisation in their career-building efforts.

The selected projects are: 

• Bicho, dir. Madiano Marcheti, prod. Terceira Margem, rest of Brazil (director and producer)
• Brasa, dir. Marcelo Caetano, prod. CUP Filmes, São Paulo (director and producer)
• Enquanto não voltam, dir. Anita Rocha da Silveira, prod. Kromaki, Rio de Janeiro (director and producer)
• Irmã mais velha, dir. Rafaela Camelo, prod. Lupa Filmes, Rio de Janeiro (producer), director from rest of Brazil
• LAGUNA, dir. Maurílio Martins, prod. Filmes de Plástico, rest of Brazil (director and producer)
• Um longo despir-se, dir. Pedro Geraldo, prod. Alento, São Paulo (producer), director from rest of Brazil
• Múmia tropical, dir. Lucas Parente, prod. Besta Fera Filmes, Rio de Janeiro (producer), director from rest of Brazil
• Olhos de Yara, dir. Lincoln Péricles Pinto, prod. Quarta-feira Filmes, São Paulo (director and producer)
• Papiloscopista, dir. Carlos Segundo, prod. A Manduri, São Paulo (producer), director from rest of Brazil
• Sobre noix, dir. Luciano Vidigal, prod. Dualto, Rio de Janeiro (director and producer)

Marcelo Freixo, Embratur President, said: “We are very pleased to be part of this initiative. Embratur believes in the power of audiovisual content as a strategic platform to promote Brazil’s image, culture, and destinations abroad. By encouraging the diversification of production hubs across our country of continental dimensions, we help ensure that Brazilian diversity and authenticity gain increasing visibility on screens around the world. Our administration has expanded investments to support national productions in reaching international audiences. This is another way to promote Brazil and strengthen tourism, which remains a key driver of income, jobs, and revenue for our country.” 

Leonardo Edde, President of RioFilme, said: “We are truly honored to see the first selected projects from the initiative being celebrated on such an important international stage. This milestone reaffirms RioFilme’s strategic commitment to fostering talent and positioning Rio de Janeiro as a global hub for bold, original and diverse storytelling. By investing in development, we are not only empowering new voices – we are laying the foundations for a vibrant, independent audiovisual industry, driven by innovation, creative freedom, and the strength of Brazilian cultural identity.”

Josephine Bourgois, Executive Director of Projeto Paradiso, said: “It’s extremely important for us that this partnership has resulted in the selection of projects with strong potential to reach both domestic and international audiences. The HBF has proved to take a long-lasting interest in Brazilian cinema, but this specific initiative is a reflection of the country’s momentum within the global market at a moment of growing international visibility. From the success of I’m Still Here to the outstanding path currently trailed by The Secret Agent, the involvement of this world-renowned fund reinforces our confidence in the sustainability of this moment. Projeto Paradiso is proud not only to have helped bring together this one-of-a-kind partnership, but also to support national grants, turning this into a truly nationwide opportunity thus ensuring it reflects the diversity of voices from a country of continental scale.”

Tamara Tatishvili, Head of the Hubert Bals Fund, said: “The launch of  HBF+Brazil Co-Development Support marked an exciting new chapter for the Hubert Bals Fund, with this initiative offering a truly unique collaboration as multiple sectors come together to create such a joint effort. Completion of the pilot edition was thanks to close cooperation with our Brazilian partners and is built on shared trust, curiosity, and a commitment to long-term vision. Together, the ten selected projects reflect the strong momentum of Brazilian filmmaking today, forming a remarkably diverse range of voices and approaches. Brazilian cinema is alive and well, and will undoubtedly keep its place in the spotlight in coming years, fueled by the talent and creative ambition of this round of supported filmmakers.”

Anna Paula Montini, President Director of Spcine, said: “This landmark Hubert Bals Fund initiative is a symbol of the collective power of cinema and the audiovisual sector. The collaboration between institutions to support films in development ensures that the selected projects benefit from deeper research and more carefully crafted screenplays – decisive elements for the final work. The participation of the Hubert Bals Fund also enables the selected films, which embody Brazilian narratives at their core, to emerge with international visibility and credibility, expanding the global reach of contemporary Brazilian audiovisual production. For Spcine, promoting strong stories alongside partner institutions such as Projeto Paradiso, Rio Filme, and Embratur, within an initiative as renowned as the Hubert Bals Fund, is both an honor and a step that will certainly yield many positive outcomes for innovative projects in the years to come.”

About the selection

Anita Rocha da Silveira is a two-time recipient of the Rio Film Festival’s Best Director award for her first two features Kill Me Please (Venice Orizzonti 2015) and Medusa (IFFR 2022). Set in Rio de Janeiro in 1986 around ‘Night of the UFOs’, her third feature Enquanto não voltam follows the extraterrestrial encounters of three young music-lovers who seek to heal wounds and scars left by the military dictatorship.

Following the eclectic urbanism of São Paulo’s gay scene in his 2024 hit Baby (Cannes Semaine de la critique 2024, HBF Development 2017, NFF+HBF 2020), Marcelo Caetano turns his attention to colonial-era Brazil with the period drama Brasa.

Lucas Parente’s most recent feature The Many Deaths of Antônio Parreiras – freely inspired by the life of the Brazilian painter of the same name – was selected for the International Competition at FIDMarseille in 2025. Once again, Parente investigates a historical figure with his supported project Múmia tropical, this time the colonial Emperor, Dom Pedro II, tracing an 1876 journey to Egypt and his encounter with ancient deities.

Pedro Geraldo’s first feature, Sofia Foi won the First Film Prize at FIDMarseille 2023. Also turning to the past, they are supported for their second, Um longo despir-se. The film follows a textile worker in 1930s São Paulo countryside who steals fabric to make a dress for her brother Mateus – and the trans woman Jun’s search for the same dress many years later.

From the Capão Redondo neighbourhood, a housing project in São Paulo, filmmaker, screenwriter and beatmaker Lincoln Péricles (LK) is known for his “cine-sample” style incorporating elements of Hip Hop culture into his work. He is supported for Olhos de Yara where, after a third eye appears on her forehead, 16-year-old hip hop lover Yara must navigate rap battles, friendships and the suffocating noise of institutional politics to claim her own voice.

A member since 1990 of the renowned Brazilian theatre and art organisation Nós do Morro based in the Vidigal favela of Rio de Janeiro, filmmaker and actor Luciano Vidigal is supported for his second feature Sobre noix, telling the story of Joana and Drica, two Black women from the favela, who set out to adopt a child in hopes of building a family.

Minas Gerais filmmaker and co-founder of the production company Filmes de Plástico, Maurílio Martins is awarded for his second solo feature Laguna, following Leo, a free man after two years in prison, looking for a new beginning from ghosts of the past. He co-directed the IFFR 2019 Tiger Competition selection No coração do mundo.

Born and raised in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s Amazon region, Madiano Marcheti’s feature debut Madalena premiered in the Tiger Competition at IFFR 2021. With his second and upcoming feature Mother of Gold supported by the HBF and presented at CineMart in 2022, he receives support for his third feature Bicho. The film follows a calf’s escape into the unsparing wilderness of the Brazilian Cerrado, and the war this triggers between an obsessive farmer and his neighbour.

Rafaela Camelo’s debut A natureza das coisas invisíveis had its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2025 in Generation Kplus. Her second, Irmã mais velha, continues a focus on children, as the unstable mother Verônica uses supernatural powers to try to comfort her daughter Isabel following the tragic death of her sister.

Carlos Segundo’s award-winning films include shorts Big Bang (Pardino d’oro, Locarno 2022) and Sideral (Cannes 2021), and debut feature Leite em pó, supported by HBF Development in 2022. In his second feature Papiloscopista, a mysterious woman leads a double life as a fingerprint analyst by day and an elusive chameleon by night, seamlessly adopting new identities and immersing herself in a web of danger, intrigue and vengeance.

Brazilian Talent at IFFR 2026

Brazilian filmmakers and artists can be found across the IFFR 2026 programme. Kleber Mendonça Filho, whose career was marked by early support from the Hubert Bals Fund for Neighbouring Sounds, brings The Secret Agent and on Saturday 31 January he’ll be in Rotterdam for an IFFR Big Talk with Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón. 

Neighbouring Sounds was first screened in IFFR’s flagship Tiger Competition, which this edition features the Brazilian title Yellow Cake by Tiago Melo: a pulpy, politically charged sci-fi fusing local myth, dark humour, working-class grit and radioactivity in Brazil’s Northeast.  

Two HBF development -supported Brazilian projects feature in the first IFFR Pro’s CineMart x HBF line-up Lillah Hallah (Levante, IFFR Youth Jury Award 2024) presents the surrealist satire Golden Balls, whilst Leonardo Martinelli tackles the gig economy in musical style in Neon Phantom, following the award-winning short of the same name.

As well as a further number of features and shorts across the programme, including a short Focus programme on the Japanese Rio-based multidisciplinary artist Tetsuya Maruyama, Brazilian talent can be found in the Art Directions programme with Jonathas de Andrade’s Raftsmen and Canoeists, following jangadeiros – traditional fishermen – and canoeists in Alagoas, Brazil presented as an installation in the Kijkmodule at Rotterdam Central Station, in collaboration with Boijmans van Beuningen.