Projeto Paradiso Bows Bold 2026 Incubator Slate at Ventana Sur (EXCLUSIVE)
Flexing its development muscle at the current edition of the Ventana Sur market, Brazil’s Projeto Paradiso is rolling out three new fiction features – Stephanie Ricci’s “Night’s Mouth,” Wara’s “Who Named the Earth?” and Luciana Bezerra’s “My Brother” – as the latest projects backed by its Paradiso Incubator, one of the country’s most coveted screenplay labs.
The trio, hailing from São Paulo, Ceará and Rio de Janeiro, sketch the kind of cinema that Projeto Paradiso – a philanthropic initiative supporting the Brazilian film sector from the Olga Rabinovich Institute – is betting on: formally ambitious, politically and socially engaged, rooted in sharply defined territories yet conceived to travel across festivals and markets.
The official announcement of the 2026 selection takes place at Ventana Sur on Wednesday, Dec. 3 during the panel “Project Development: Finding Time, Space, and Funding,” led by Programs’ director Rachel do Valle, head of studies Paula Gastaud and Gerardo Michelin, director of LatAm Cinema.
Additionally, the three projects from the 2025 Incubator edition were pitched at the event. Paradiso also confirmed that the Incubator’s 2026 edition will channel R$450,000 ($83,000) into grants, consultancies, workshops and international market access via the Paradiso Talent Network.
Designed to champion high-artistic-value productions and accelerate emerging careers, the Incubator has become a key launchpad since its 2019 bow, supporting 27 projects to date.
Reaching its eighth edition, the initiative already shows “tangible results for both talents and the audiovisual ecosystem,” according to Do Valle, who highlights that the new projects “represent diverse voices, aesthetics and territories.”
“Paradiso Incubator is a cornerstone in opening doors to the international market,” Gastaud adds.
‘Night’s Mouth’: A Senior Heroine
Leading the new line-up, “Night’s Mouth” (“Boca da Noite”) is written and directed by São Paulo-based filmmaker Ricci and produced by Ladaia’s André Bulascoschi, Pedro Formigoni, Rodrigo Lavorato and Ricci.
The film centers on Areta, a 70-year-old woman whose greatest fear is not death but being forgotten. One strange night, after losing her house keys in downtown São Paulo, she sets out to find a 24-hour locksmith and instead falls into a maze of marginal and solitary figures who push her into an absurd journey through a disappearing city.
Ricci calls “Night’s Mouth” “a walking road movie set in the heart of the largest metropolis in Latin America,” in which a 70-year-old woman discovers “a singular kind of enchantment in places and characters that are usually feared or stigmatized.”
In development, the project comes into the Incubator on the back of strong lab momentum. Under its former working title “Eu Tenho Pavor da Velhice,” it was selected for IndieLisboa Lab 2025 and TIFF Director’s Lab 2025, and received Hubert Bals Fund Script and Project Development support, which also secured Ricci’s entry into the Paradiso Talent Network.
For Ladaia, a São Paulo shingle dedicated to auteur-driven projects, the feature extends a growing international footprint that already includes FIDMarseille and Rotterdam berths and Oscar-qualifying awards.
‘Who Named the Earth?’: Indigenous Futurism
Wara’s debut feature “Who Named the Earth?” (“Quem deu nome à terra?”) leans into Indigenous futurism and sci-fi. Produced by Camilla Lapa for Ceará-based Araçá Azul Produções, the film is set in a near-future Brazil where a biometric system controls identity and the state systematizes race.
In this controlled landscape, non-binary Indigenous protagonist Hakan travels with their family to reclaim their roots, uncover hidden histories and join a resistance fighting to restore what was stolen, intertwining family bonds, ancestral memory and a broader struggle against institutional erasure.
“My creative practice is rooted in visual and narrative immersion, where storytelling is inseparable from the spaces, communities, and ancestral knowledge that inform it,” says Wara.
“Who Named the Earth?” already boasts a dense development track record. Early research and a first draft were backed by Ceará State Funding and Switzerland’s Gwaertler Stiftung, while the project has passed through BrLab Features, TorinoFilmLab Next and Cinélatino Toulouse’s Cinéma en Développement. In 2025, Wara was selected for Directors’ Factory Ceará-Brazil at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, co-directing the short “The Mangrove Beast,” and became the first Indigenous filmmaker to join the Paradiso Incubator and Talent Network.
The feature now enters a fresh phase with Brazilian producer Rachel Daisy Ellis from Desvia Filmes, the company she founded with “The Blue Trail” director Gabriel Mascaro, boarding as co-producer as the team kicks off the funding drive for production.
For Araçá Azul – a company formed by queer, non-hegemonic voices from Brazil’s Northeast – the film is conceived as a flagship collaboration foregrounding Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ perspectives for the global arthouse market.
‘My Brother’: A Trans Sibling Drama
Rounding out the slate, “Meu Irmão” (“My Brother”), from Rio de Janeiro-based actress and director Luciana Bezerra, turns to intimate family drama in the Vidigal favela where Bezerra was born and has long worked as an arts educator with local NGOs and collectives. Conceived as an animated feature, the project is produced by Maria Fernanda Miguel for Favela dos Filmes, in co-production with Brazil’s Coqueirão Pictures and Dualto Produções and Germany’s Cinemanegro Filmproduktion.
In development, “Meu Irmão” follows Sofia, “the glue that holds her family together,” as a crisis erupts from her mother’s negative reaction to her brother’s gender transition. When Vivi goes to live with their father, Sofia fights to keep everyone united, becoming the emotional bridge between tradition and transformation as gender identity and physical distance threaten to fracture the household.
“‘My Brother’ brings an urgent and deeply human story about family, acceptance and resilience,” says producer Miguel. “Through Sofia’s perspective, we explore how love can overcome prejudice and how a young person can become the bridge between tradition and transformation.” Positioned as a high-quality animated feature with “authentic Brazilian stories and universal emotional resonance,” the film aims to reach audiences worldwide.
Backed by selections at Frapa and Filmecine, “Meu Irmão” fits Favela dos Filmes’ strategy of socially engaged, internationally co-produced animation. Working alongside Coqueirão Pictures – which adds experience in production and cross-border partnerships – the company is building a model that marries strong local identity with global reach, targeting multi-platform distribution while keeping underrepresented Brazilian voices at frame center.
The trio, hailing from São Paulo, Ceará and Rio de Janeiro, sketch the kind of cinema that Projeto Paradiso – a philanthropic initiative supporting the Brazilian film sector from the Olga Rabinovich Institute – is betting on: formally ambitious, politically and socially engaged, rooted in sharply defined territories yet conceived to travel across festivals and markets.
The official announcement of the 2026 selection takes place at Ventana Sur on Wednesday, Dec. 3 during the panel “Project Development: Finding Time, Space, and Funding,” led by Programs’ director Rachel do Valle, head of studies Paula Gastaud and Gerardo Michelin, director of LatAm Cinema.
Additionally, the three projects from the 2025 Incubator edition were pitched at the event. Paradiso also confirmed that the Incubator’s 2026 edition will channel R$450,000 ($83,000) into grants, consultancies, workshops and international market access via the Paradiso Talent Network.
Designed to champion high-artistic-value productions and accelerate emerging careers, the Incubator has become a key launchpad since its 2019 bow, supporting 27 projects to date.
Reaching its eighth edition, the initiative already shows “tangible results for both talents and the audiovisual ecosystem,” according to Do Valle, who highlights that the new projects “represent diverse voices, aesthetics and territories.”
“Paradiso Incubator is a cornerstone in opening doors to the international market,” Gastaud adds.
‘Night’s Mouth’: A Senior Heroine
Leading the new line-up, “Night’s Mouth” (“Boca da Noite”) is written and directed by São Paulo-based filmmaker Ricci and produced by Ladaia’s André Bulascoschi, Pedro Formigoni, Rodrigo Lavorato and Ricci.
The film centers on Areta, a 70-year-old woman whose greatest fear is not death but being forgotten. One strange night, after losing her house keys in downtown São Paulo, she sets out to find a 24-hour locksmith and instead falls into a maze of marginal and solitary figures who push her into an absurd journey through a disappearing city.
Ricci calls “Night’s Mouth” “a walking road movie set in the heart of the largest metropolis in Latin America,” in which a 70-year-old woman discovers “a singular kind of enchantment in places and characters that are usually feared or stigmatized.”
In development, the project comes into the Incubator on the back of strong lab momentum. Under its former working title “Eu Tenho Pavor da Velhice,” it was selected for IndieLisboa Lab 2025 and TIFF Director’s Lab 2025, and received Hubert Bals Fund Script and Project Development support, which also secured Ricci’s entry into the Paradiso Talent Network.
For Ladaia, a São Paulo shingle dedicated to auteur-driven projects, the feature extends a growing international footprint that already includes FIDMarseille and Rotterdam berths and Oscar-qualifying awards.
‘Who Named the Earth?’: Indigenous Futurism
Wara’s debut feature “Who Named the Earth?” (“Quem deu nome à terra?”) leans into Indigenous futurism and sci-fi. Produced by Camilla Lapa for Ceará-based Araçá Azul Produções, the film is set in a near-future Brazil where a biometric system controls identity and the state systematizes race.
In this controlled landscape, non-binary Indigenous protagonist Hakan travels with their family to reclaim their roots, uncover hidden histories and join a resistance fighting to restore what was stolen, intertwining family bonds, ancestral memory and a broader struggle against institutional erasure.
“My creative practice is rooted in visual and narrative immersion, where storytelling is inseparable from the spaces, communities, and ancestral knowledge that inform it,” says Wara.
“Who Named the Earth?” already boasts a dense development track record. Early research and a first draft were backed by Ceará State Funding and Switzerland’s Gwaertler Stiftung, while the project has passed through BrLab Features, TorinoFilmLab Next and Cinélatino Toulouse’s Cinéma en Développement. In 2025, Wara was selected for Directors’ Factory Ceará-Brazil at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, co-directing the short “The Mangrove Beast,” and became the first Indigenous filmmaker to join the Paradiso Incubator and Talent Network.
The feature now enters a fresh phase with Brazilian producer Rachel Daisy Ellis from Desvia Filmes, the company she founded with “The Blue Trail” director Gabriel Mascaro, boarding as co-producer as the team kicks off the funding drive for production.
For Araçá Azul – a company formed by queer, non-hegemonic voices from Brazil’s Northeast – the film is conceived as a flagship collaboration foregrounding Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ perspectives for the global arthouse market.
‘My Brother’: A Trans Sibling Drama
Rounding out the slate, “Meu Irmão” (“My Brother”), from Rio de Janeiro-based actress and director Luciana Bezerra, turns to intimate family drama in the Vidigal favela where Bezerra was born and has long worked as an arts educator with local NGOs and collectives. Conceived as an animated feature, the project is produced by Maria Fernanda Miguel for Favela dos Filmes, in co-production with Brazil’s Coqueirão Pictures and Dualto Produções and Germany’s Cinemanegro Filmproduktion.
In development, “Meu Irmão” follows Sofia, “the glue that holds her family together,” as a crisis erupts from her mother’s negative reaction to her brother’s gender transition. When Vivi goes to live with their father, Sofia fights to keep everyone united, becoming the emotional bridge between tradition and transformation as gender identity and physical distance threaten to fracture the household.
“‘My Brother’ brings an urgent and deeply human story about family, acceptance and resilience,” says producer Miguel. “Through Sofia’s perspective, we explore how love can overcome prejudice and how a young person can become the bridge between tradition and transformation.” Positioned as a high-quality animated feature with “authentic Brazilian stories and universal emotional resonance,” the film aims to reach audiences worldwide.
Backed by selections at Frapa and Filmecine, “Meu Irmão” fits Favela dos Filmes’ strategy of socially engaged, internationally co-produced animation. Working alongside Coqueirão Pictures – which adds experience in production and cross-border partnerships – the company is building a model that marries strong local identity with global reach, targeting multi-platform distribution while keeping underrepresented Brazilian voices at frame center.