EXCLUSIVE: Here is first footage of Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Dramatic Competition opener, Mars One.
The Brazilian drama, which is being handled for sales by Magnolia Pictures International, follows The Martins family who are optimistic dreamers, quietly leading their lives on the margins of a major Brazilian city following the disappointing inauguration of a far-right extremist president.
The lower-middle-class Black family feels the strain of their new reality as the political dust settles. Tércia, the mother, reinterprets her world after an unexpected encounter leaves her wondering if she’s cursed. Her husband, Wellington, puts all of his hopes into the soccer career of their son, Deivinho, who reluctantly follows his father’s ambitions despite secretly aspiring to study astrophysics and colonize Mars. Meanwhile, their older daughter, Eunice, falls in love with a free-spirited young woman and ponders whether it’s time to leave home.
Cast includes Rejane Faria, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Damião and Cícero Lucas.
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The Portuguese-Language movie is directed and written by Gabriel Martins, recent recipient of Ventana Sur’s Paradiso WIP (Work in Progress) Award for Mars One. Producer is Thiago Macêdo Correia for Filmes de Plástico.
The film was shot just after the Brazilian election of 2018, which saw great upheaval in the country, including the reversal of some civil rights gains and the promotion of a new strain of conservatism throughout society.
