Lauded Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz, who won the TIFF Award for Best Directing in 2023 with “Charcoal,” will start shooting “The Funeral” in Brazil from next week. Production starts in São Paulo, moving to the mythical Fordlândia — the city envisioned by American mogul Henry Ford on the banks of the Tapajós River in the Amazon — for the remainder of the shoot. Biônica Filmes produces in co-production with Portugal’s O Som e a Fúria. Sony Pictures will distribute the film in Brazil.
“The Funeral” will trail an upper-class Brazilian family whose dynamics are thrown into a spin by the surprise arrival of an illegitimate daughter during the patriarch’s funeral. The film boasts a starry cast led by “Neighboring Sounds” actor Maeve Jinkings, with Yara de Novaes (“Malu”), Camila Márdila (“The Second Mother”) and Julio Andrade (“The Invisible Life”). Cannes best actress winner Sandra Corveloni (“Linha de Passe”) will also make a special appearance.
Markowicz directs from her original script, which blends drama and dark satire to broach issues of privilege, complex family relationships, inheritance, and how the elite strive to maintain polished appearances in a fast-paced, ever-changing world.
