Amazon Buys Cannes Winner & Brazilian Oscar Hopeful ‘Eurídice Gusmão’

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has bought U.S. rights to Cannes Un Certain Regard winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão ahead of its North American premiere at Toronto.

European arthouse stalwart The Match Factory and CAA Media Finance brokered the deal for the well-received Brazilian film. CAA has also signed the film’s director Karim Aïnouz, an A-list festival regular.

The Portuguese-language, tropical melodrama about two sisters struggling to define themselves in the machista culture of mid-century Brazil is a strong contender to be the country’s entry for the International Feature Film Oscar. That decision will be made soon. A U.S. release date has yet to be set.

We revealed the film’s first international trailer in Cannes.

The story begins in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. Eurídice, 18, and Guida, 20, are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. The sisters take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.

Producers are Call Me By Your Name and Ad Astra producer Rodrigo Teixeira and Viola Fügen and Michael Weber. It’s an RT Features production, with co-producers Pola Pandora, Sony Pictures, Canal Brasil, Naymar and UNO Filmes, and support from Ancine/FSA/BRDE and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

Sony will roll the movie out in Brazil in November. The Match Factory pre-sold the film to a number of international buyers before Cannes.

Pic stars Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, Bárbara Santos and Gregório Duvivier, with a special appearance by Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station). Inspired by the novel of the same name by Martha Batalha, the screenplay was written by Murilo Hauser and co-written by Inés Bortagaray and Aïnouz. The film was shot by Hélène Louvart (Happy as Lazzaro) and edited by Heike Parplies (Toni Erdmann).

Aïnouz’s first six films have played at Berlin, Cannes or Venice. This is his seventh film. His previous feature was documentary Central Airport THF which premiered at the 2018 Berlinale (Panorama).