EXCLUSIVE: Brazilian director José Eduardo Belmonte and actor Rodrigo Lombardi are re-teaming for Em Suas Mãos (In Your Arms). The New York-set indie film follows two Brazilian immigrants residing in New York who’re hellbent on revenge after a member of the family is killed and the perpetrator goes unpunished
Belmonte and Lombardi beforehand labored collectively on award-winning Brazilian drama Carcereiros (Jailers). The Globo sequence scooped the Grand Jury Award on the MIPDrama occasion in Cannes again in 2017.
Belmonte unpacked the backstory to his new mission. “In 2018, we have been residing by an explosion of hatred and division, which drastically intrigued me,” he advised Deadline.
“Through the pandemic, I reached out to screenwriter and adjunct professor at Columbia, Fábio Andrade, and collectively we developed a narrative about revenge. Fábio introduced loads of his expertise as a Brazilian in New York.”
Em Suas Mãos can be shot largely in English, with some scenes in Portuguese or Spanish. “The movie is about revenge in a divided world the place religion in establishments has been misplaced,” Belmonte stated. “It additionally offers with immigration, relations between the Americas and, sure, it talks about household.”
Belmonte’s Filmes do Impossível and Marcelo Maia’s Republica Pureza Filmes are the banners behind the film with H2O Movies as a coproducer.
Lombardi performed a correctional officer within the well-liked Brazilian sequence Jailers, which was impressed by the eponymous Dráuzio Varela novel. He has additionally been a decide on the Brazilian version of The Masked Singer.
“Rodrigo was the actor I labored with essentially the most on set,” Belmonte stated of his time as a director throughout two seasons of Jailers over a span of just about three years.
“We acquired to know one another effectively and established a inventive partnership. After the sequence, we thought so much about working collectively once more, however in a extra intimate setting. Now, there’s additionally the problem of performing in a language that isn’t his personal.”
Filming on Em Suas Mãos is ready for later this yr.
