‘Secret Agent’ Momentum and Desire to Co-Produce With Africa: 5 Takeaways From the Projeto Paradiso Talent Network National Meeting

Apr 21, 2026 4:09am PT ‘Secret Agent’ Momentum and Desire to Co-Produce With Africa: 5 Takeaways From the Projeto Paradiso Talent Network National Meeting

The third edition of the biannual gathering worked as a temperature check for Brazil's burgeoning film industry at a time of intense growth but also acute need for strategic thinking to sustain momentum

By Rafa Sales Ross

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Rafa Sales Ross

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One very rarely gets the chance to be in a room with almost two hundred filmmakers from one single country, gathered not to pitch against one another for scarce grants, but to discuss ways of collaborating and understand where their national cinema is headed. This is precisely the offer on the table with the Projeto Paradiso National Talent gathering, which just wrapped a successful third edition, held in the burgeoning film capital of Recife. 

The biannual gathering celebrates the work of the renowned philanthropic initiative, led by the Olga Rabinovich Institute and supporting the Brazilian film sector through talent development, bursary programs, seminars and mentorship. This year’s meeting took place over April 16-18 and saw curated networking sessions, roundtables, and in-conversation events with Kleber Mendonça Filho, producer Emilie Lesclaux and British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. Attendees included Anita Rocha da Silveira (“Medusa”), Nara Normande (“Heartless”), Grace Passô (“Our Secret”), Vitrine Filmes’s Letícia Friedriech and Amazon Studios’ Jaqueline Souza, plus lauded Projeto Paradiso council members Marcelo Gomes (“Dolores”) and Gullane director Debora Ivanov. 

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