Desvia Filmes starts solo chapter as Mascaro exits and Ellis preps The Last Cruise
Brazilian company Desvia Filmes is starting life as a one-leader outfit after co-founder Gabriel Mascaro left to launch a new venture, leaving British producer Rachel Daisy Ellis in charge, according to Variety.
That ends 15 years of joint leadership. Desvia was founded in 2010 in Recife by Mascaro and Ellis, who is based in the Brazilian city, and all 16 of its features launched at festivals including Berlin, Cannes and Locarno, according to Variety.
Mascaro has now set up Trema alongside producer Paula Cosenza. Trema plans to work on international co-productions, scripted series and director-led cinema aimed at audiences abroad. Desvia will stay focused on films, backing auteurs, directors with a strong personal style, and film-makers who play with form and genre.
Ellis is also stepping forward as a director. Her past directing credits include "The Book of Colors," "Drone" and "The Dream Conference." Her next project as director is "The Last Cruise," which she pitched at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in San Sebastian, a market where producers meet to find partners and funding.
"The Last Cruise" is her step into fiction. It mixes documentary elements with a fictionalised story about an elderly couple who refuse a retirement home and decide to spend their final years on a cruise. Ellis has locked financing for production in Brazil, according to Variety.
The project is led by Desvia and structured as a four-way co-production, meaning companies from different countries share costs and rights. Partners are Spain's Nanouk, Portugal's Olhar de Ulisses and Argentina's Gema Films, according to Screen Daily. It was one of 15 projects selected for this year's forum, which ran on 21, 22 and 23 September within the 74th San Sebastian Film Festival, according to the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The change follows a strong run for Desvia. Its credits include Mascaro's "Neon Bull" and "Divine Love," Bruno Santamaria's "Six Months In the Pink and Blue Building," Benjamin Naishtat's "Rojo" and Manuel Abramovich's "Pornomelancholia." Its most recent high point is Mascaro's "The Blue Trail," an 86-minute feature produced by Ellis and Sandino Saravia Vinay as a Desvia and Cinevinay production.
In "The Blue Trail," Denise Weinberg plays an older woman who rebels against Brazilian state policy, in a story that imagines an authoritarian plan to manage the country's elderly, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film won the Silver Bear in Berlin.
What makes this stand out is continuity. The names on the company letterhead have changed. The method has not: festival launches, shared costs across borders, and intimate stories told on a large canvas.
