Raça

Images

Website

http://www.PrincipeProductions.com

Topics

Human Development: Education
Human Rights: Civil Rights, Race Politics, Social Exclusion
Information & Media: Communication
Politics: Activism, Civil Society, Democracy, Justice and Crime

Project Geography

US: New York
International: South America

Identity Niches

African American

Budget

Raised to date: $485,000.00
Estimate to complete: $200,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $685,000.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 01/01/2010

Status

Production

Media Type

Video

Project End Use

TV

Key Personnel

Megan Mylan
Director/Producer
Megan Mylan is a New York-based documentary filmmaker whose work has been recognized with an Academy Award, Emmy-nomination, Independent Spirit Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She directed and produced the Oscar-winning film SMILE PINKI which is currently in international release. Her film, LOST BOYS OF SUDAN, co-directed with Jon Shenk, was nominated for two Emmys and won an Independent Spirit Award. Through a national U.S. theatrical release and extensive social action campaign, Lost Boys raised more than a million dollars for refugee education funds and recruited thousands of volunteer refugee mentors. Megan has worked on documentaries for HBO, PBS, Showtime and the BBC including Oscar-nominee, LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY and the Sundance Award winning film SING FASTER. Before beginning in film, Megan worked with Ashoka, an international development non-profit, in the U.S. and Brazil. She has a Bachelor’s from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Masters' degrees in Journalism and Latin American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.

Joel Zito Araújo
Director
Joel Zito Araújo is an award-winning Brazilian filmmaker.  For over two decades, he has produced documentaries and narrative shorts dealing with social issues in Brazil, particularly the nation’s Afro-Brazilian population.  He recently completed a feature-documentary on sexual tourism in Brazil, Cinderellas, Lobos e um Príncipe Encantado.  His feature-length narrative, Filhas do Vento brought together the largest black cast in the history of Brazilian cinema.  The film won six awards at the prestigious Gramado Film Festival, has screened at New York’s Film Forum and is now in national theatrical release in Brazil. Joel is currently in pre-production for his second narrative feature, a collaboration with Danny Glover.  His documentary Negação do Brasil about the participation of black actors in Brazilian telenovelas won Best Documentary at the São Paulo International and Recife Film Festivals. He also authored a book of the same title published by Editora Senac.  Joel is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship.  He has a PhD in Communications from the University of São Paulo and was a visiting scholar at the University of Texas, Austin.

Jordana Berg
Editor
Jordana Berg is one of Brazil’s most respected and sought after documentary editors.  She has a long collaboration with filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho and has edited many of his films, including: Edifício Master, Jogo da Cena and Peões.

Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)

Our engagement strategy for Raça goes both wide and deep. Effective public policy needs citizen input.   The film’s distribution strategy will foster the well-informed constructive dialogue and civic involvement essential for meaningful social change. We want to connect with a general audience internationally through national television broadcasts and screenings at public libraries, universities and community centers.  We will also focus on going deep by partnering with groups that are already working on the issues of racial justice and inter-group relations raised in the film.   The film’s directors both have proven track records of using good story-telling to motivate real reflection and impac and deep connections with social justice NGOs and university groups who are eager to work with the film. Director Megan Mylan’s film, Lost Boys of Sudan, for example, raised more than a million dollars for Sudanese education funds, mobilized exciting student action around the Darfur crisis and recruited thousands of volunteer mentors for refugees through and extensive social action campaign. We feel certain that Raça will have an equally powerful impact.

The boldness and openness with which Brazilians are discussing race provides the perfect film moment for telling this story and a moment that warrants being documented. For Brazilian audiences the film will be an important contribution to an unfolding public dialogue and redefinition of what it means to be Brazilian.  For audiences outside of Brazil, exploring how Brazil defines and addresses issues of race, will build a deeper understanding of Brazil beyond the clichés and give new insight into strategies for addressing racial inequality globally. Film provides a unique opportunity for viewers to see themselves through another person’s experience. For U.S. audiences the documentary is a rare view of how our struggle with race is interpreted and applied in another context.  And as the U.S. becomes an increasingly multi-ethnic country that continues to grapple with the legacy of slavery and discrimination, many of the challenges Brazil faces have relevance. Raça will be of particular interest to Latino Americans who can identify with the challenges and opportunities of Brazil’s multi-racial society and the complexities of racial inequality. Brazilian Americans and Afro Latinos will likely have a uniquely powerful connection to the film.  With the Obama presidency, Sotomayor nomination and court challenges to affirmative action generating fresh public interest and debate on how to encourage diversity and equal opportunity, Raça can provide uniquely important context for dialogue.

Funders

Location