Madalena is a film producer who is 8 months pregnant and is about to shoot a low-budget sci-fi film written by her recently deceased father. When Davi, the film's director and her ex-husband, mysteriously disappears from the set, Madalena must do whatever she can to finish the film before the baby is born. International Title Death and Life Madalena Year of production 2025 Length 85' CountryBrazil/Portugal Shooting Format Digital Aspect Ratio 1:85 Dialogue Portuguese
DirectorGuto Parente Production Company Tardo Filmes Co-production Companies C.R.I.M. (Portugal), Canal Brasil (Brasil) Producer Ticiana Augusto Lima Co-producer Isabel Machado Executive Producers Caroline Louise, Ticiana Augusto Lima Writer Guto Parente Production DesignerTaís Augusto Director of PhotographyIvo Lopes Araújo Editor Dragoș Apetri Sound Mixer Lucas Coelho Costume Designer Thaís de Campos Make-up Artist Elen Barbosa Sound Editing Lucas Coelho Original Sountrack Paulo Gama Re-recording Mixer Paulo Gama First Assistant Director Breno Baptista Production Manager Ticiana Augusto Lima Cast Noá Bonoba, Tavinho Teixeira, Nataly Rocha, Marcus Curvelo, David Santos, Honório Félix, Rodrigo Fernandes, Souma, Jennifer Joingley, Linga Acácio, Tavares Neto, Tuan Fernandes, Lui Fontenele, Armando Praça, Carlos Francisco, Raul Lôbo
Director's Statement I've been wanting to film the film worker for quite some time. In my day-to-day work, when I talk to people outside the film industry, I realize that, from the outside, it seems like a job different from all the others, when, in reality, we're just workers like any others. I've been making films for almost 20 years, and they've always been independent, low-budget, made among friends in a cooperative way and far from the industrial model. Unlike the mainstream model, this artisanal and small-scale cinema has a charm on its own, a brilliance that I always wanted to bring to the screen. And also to approach it from the perspective of the producer, of their role in managing all the chaos that a film set can entail, having to deal with the most unexpected situations. As part of this huge mess which is to make cinema with our hearts and guts, Death and Life Madalena had to be a comedy. Definitely because in Brazil humor is a strong weapon of survival and we overcome our nightmares by laughing at them.
