Lereby Produções and Lata Filmes present EXECUTIVE ORDER A Film by Lázaro Ramos

Brazil / 2020 / 94 min / Color Portuguese, with English subtitles

Festival Press Kit

Publicity Contact Worldwide Sales Contact Matt Johnstone Publicity Elo Company Matt Johnstone Carolina Sganzerla +1 323 938 7880 +55 11 3021 3594 [email protected] [email protected]

LOGLINE

In a dystopian near future in Brazil, an authoritarian government orders all citizens of African descent to move to Africa – creating chaos, protests, and an underground resistance movement that inspires the nation.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Set in a dystopian near future in Rio de Janeiro, a lawyer (Alfred Enoch from the 'Harry Potter’ blockbusters and ‘How To Get Away With Murder') sues the Brazilian government for reparation of all descendants of African slaves in the country. The authoritarian regime responds by signing an executive order forcing all black citizens to move to Africa. While the army and police enforce martial law, he inspires an underground movement, enlisting his cousin (played by international musical icon Seu Jorge) and wife (Taís Araújo, one of Brazil’s leading actresses). The three of them fight the madness that has taken over the country and spark a resistance that changes the nation. EXECUTIVE ORDER is the directorial debut of one of Brazil’s most acclaimed actors, Lázaro Ramos.

PRINCIPAL FILMMAKERS & CAST

Director Lázaro Ramos Screenplay Lusa Silvestre, Lázaro Ramos, Aldri Anunciação and Elísio Lopes Jr Producers Daniel Filho and Tania Rocha Cinematography Adrian Teijido Art Director Tiago Marques Editing Diana Vasconcellos Sound Editing Waldir Xavier Executive Producer Mariza Figueiredo Original Soundtrack Plínio Profeta, Rincon Sapiência and Kiko de Souza Productions Companies Lereby Produções and Lata Filmes Co-Production Companies Globo Filmes and Melanina Acentuada Associate Producer Claudia Bejarano

Principal Cast:

Antônio Alfred Enoch Capitu Taís Araujo André Seu Jorge Isabel Izildinha Sarah Mariana Xavier Santiago Pablo Sanábio

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Lázaro Ramos, Director / Co-Writer Lázaro Ramos was born on November 1, 1978, in Salvador, Bahia. He is an actor, presenter, producer, director and author who, over the last 20 years has received more than 70 awards and has played almost one hundred characters in cinema, theater and television, and has published five books. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2009, and is well known in Latin America for his commitment to humanitarian causes. In 2017, he was elected as one of the most influential Afro-descendants in the world under the age of 40 by MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) and received his award at the UN headquarters in New York.

Ramos started acting in a theater group called Bando de Teatro Olodum, in his home state, which he revisited in 2018 to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the group by co-directing the documentary “Bando, Um Filme De:” with Thiago Gomes. Since 2015 he has directed, acted and produced the play “The Mountaintop” in which he plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

His career in cinema includes more than 30 films. One of his most successful movies was the acclaimed “Madame Satã” (2002) and other titles such as “Carandiru” (2003) and “Tudo que Aprendemos Juntos” (2015) – which was shown in more than 20 countries including Canada, Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Japan – and the recent “Beijo no Asfalto” (2018) for which he received the Best Actor award at the International Filmmaker Festival in New York.

On television, he has played several memorable characters. For the Brazilian soap opera “Cobras & Lagartos” (2006) he was nominated for an International Emmy Award for best actor. He also starred in the soap operas “” (2007) and “Lado a Lado” (2012) both awarded the Emmy for best soap opera. In recent years, he has starred in the TV serie “Mr. Brau”, which was aired for four seasons between 2015 and 2018. The series established itself as a landmark in Brazilian television, with positive reviews all around the world in renowned periodicals such as The Guardian and others.

Ramos has received a letter from President Barack Obama congratulating and recognizing him as an Influential Personality. Others honors and awards were received at the Toulouse Festival in France in 2007 and the Lima Film Festival in 2016 in Peru.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Lázaro Ramos, Director / Co-Writer

What was your initial inspiration for co-writing and directing Executive Order?

It’s important to know that this isn’t the first time I talk about the condition of the black people in the world. I started my career in a theater group called “Bando de Teatro Olodum” where there were only black actors and we thought of it on a daily basis. After that, when I started to go solo, I’ve made films – as an actor – that treated about this theme. I also wrote a best seller book entitled “Na Minha Pele” (On my skin) that is in some part autobiographical, sometimes reflective of this theme. I directed and acted on “The Mountaintop”, a theater play about Martin Luther King. I’ve been hosting a TV show for fifteen years on cable TV where I promote debates on this subject constantly. Why am I saying all that? Because there’s a history of experience about it that makes me satisfied by one side, but at the same time I find myself obliged to discover other ways to talk about it. This film is a result of a build up of my experiences and an attempt to find another way to debate this matter.

What were your cinematic, artistic, literary and political influences in making the film?

My first inspiration was the theater play [The Mountaintop] that was an unexpected hit for me, because when we decided to make it, we thought it would only be interesting for a niche of people and it would be showing for only a month. This play ended up running for five years. What the audiences told us during these five years taught us what would be the best way to make this transition to films. The debate on the theatrical audience brought inspiration to start making cinema. Besides that, because it was a movie that I started thinking seven years ago, there was nothing like it at that time. It’s a film that talks about racial conditions mixing genres: comedy, thriller and drama. Naturally I used to watch Spike Lee movies as inspirations, African movies as well, but yet, at that time, this film I’d like to make didn’t fit the mold of any of those films I spoke exactly. When Jordan Peele comes with Get Out some years ago I was in the middle of the process with my movie, then I understood there was another way for this. I don’t want to compare it with the films the he makes but I think they may belong to the same family. Of course it was very inspiring too.

What do you want audiences to take away from watching Executive Order?

I expect audiences to dig into all its layers. It’s not a movie that brings only one message. It has micro messages all over it, for the casting choices, the diversity of people it has, the diversity of themes it has, lots of questions that are raised but not concluded. This is the proposition: to be reflective and make people get emotionally involved about this subject. I expect the audiences to catch all of them and mobilize themselves once they are out of the screening room.

What is the political and cultural significance of the film for Brazil, and for the world in general?

This is a gathering of many high-quality professionals. Numerically it has 77 actors in just one movie. For our country, Brazil, it’s a great victory. The team involved in this process is very relevant and got together to tell this story. It’s important to tell the world the power of our market that in this moment is in the middle of a crisis. I mean it in production matters. Politically – though it was unintended because it was written seven years ago – it dialogues with fundamental questions of today, latent questions of our country: racism, the way of expressing affection, the relationship between the law and the people’s desires, how we – black people – want to be represented dramaturgically... It’s all there! It shows up even though I’d written it so long ago. Its political significance is to put so many black actors, in great part, speaking freely about themes that are important for them.

You are considered one of the best actors of your generation – how did your accomplished and extensive background as an actor inform your directing choices?

I was lucky to work with directors that are very inspiring. When I was just 21 years old and had only made theater plays at that time... Times when I still lived in the uncertainty of becoming an actor and doing it for all my life or having to live as a professional in the field of health... And all of a sudden I found a director called Karim Aïnouz, which directed me on Madame Satã that changed the way I perceived my profession. From then on I started making denser movies like Lower City and Carandiru. But there was still a desire within me of not establishing myself only as a one type of actor, so I started experimenting comedies, such as O Homem que Copiava (The Man Who Copied) and Ó Pai, Ó. Then I understood I didn’t have to be restricted to only one genre. The film [Executive Order] is exactly about it, the attempt of putting this vision, this build up of experiences in a range of genres that I try to apply on this film as a director.

Your film has quite an acclaimed group of veteran actors – how did you cast Alfred Enoch (Harry Potter, How To Get Away With Murder), master musician/actor Seu Jorge, and trailblazing black actress Taís Araujo, who is also your wife?

Alfred’s [Enoch] character is the one everybody thought I was supposed to play in the movie, but I didn’t want to act and direct it. During some time I searched for actors with particular features: heroism, idealism and, at the same, pave the way for the film out of Brazil. I’m conscious it’s a story that goes beyond borders. Alfred has those features. We passed one year talking to make it possible for him to come. It was definitely the right choice because his work and his dedication are moving. Seu Jorge is a long-time beloved friend, an actor I admire, that has such strength even when he’s silent. At the same time, he’s done only few characters that have this humorous tone. In great part of his movies, he plays dense characters. Since I know him personally, I knew he had this facet. For a film that blends genres to have the possibility of counting on an actor like this, dense and comic at the same time, was really what I needed. Taís is one of the actresses I most admire. I say this in complete tranquility because before being my wife I’d already admired her. She’s intelligent, visceral and a great partner, in life and on screen.

Can you detail your process of working with your actors?

Not only in film but also in theater plays I make them have an opinion before everything happens, even before they study the script. I try to promote debates on the subjects it’ll be about so they get passionate for it and defend their points of view. I worked in partnership with two people in particular: one of them is a theater actress called Tatiana Tibúrcio and Flávia Lacerda, theater and TV director, that were beside me throughout the process of rehearsal where we brought provocative exercises for the actors. We’d never closed the process though, so the actors could have the freedom when on set to live the moment.

As an iconoclastic actor, writer, and activist, you have been dedicated to humanitarian causes and ending injustice and racial inequality. Executive Order is a powerful and eloquent extension of your artistic vision. The film ends on a moment of optimism and solidarity, what hope do you see for the world as expressed through the film?

It’s a choice. I’ve been keeping an eye on myself for some years not to make anything that is purely a denounce. It’s an inevitable tone when you’re talking about this subject, but I’m committed to offer other ways. The ending is not a certainty but a proposition. It’s a call to action, to have some attitude, commitment and also an invitation so the screen doesn’t paralyze you but motivates you. I don’t have the answer but the provocation is quite clear.

Is there anything you’d like to convey to press and audiences about your film and making it?

We’re living a historical moment in the world where polarizing positions are dominating the narratives, where there’s an attempt of simplifying people as if they were only defined by a single adjective. Based on that, criminalizing, discriminating, undermining, silencing them has become a central issue. The film is an attempt to show that we have more layers than the current narrative. That said, yes it is a criticism to the extremes and an attempt to foresee our next steps in order to avoid all this radicalism in which we all live in now.

I think the stories we tell sometimes gain new meanings that are beyond our reach. Because Executive Order is a dystopia and we're living in a somewhat dystopian moment, the film has become more topical. Even by mere coincidence like when a group of characters begins to wear masks or the fact that the two cousins are confined in an apartment for the most part of the film. But I guess when we reflect about our time, we become alert of necessary situations for the improvement of the world.

PRINCIPAL CAST & FILMMAKER BIOS

Alfred Enoch, Antônio Alfred Enoch, 31, an Anglo-Brazilian actor. He made his name as Dean Thomas in the “Harry Potter” movie series, having played in six of the seven movies written by J.K Rowling. In the theater, in 2016, he received favorable reviews for “” and, in 2018, he performed alongside in West End, London. Since 2014 he has played Wes Gebbin in the ABC TV series, “How To Get Away With Murder”. Executive Order is his first Portuguese- language film; his mother is from Rio de Janeiro, and he is fluent in Portuguese.

Taís Araujo, Capitu Taís Araujo, 41, is one of the most popular actresses in Brazil and other Portuguese- speaking countries. In addition to her theatre career, she is well-known for her activism against racism, her stand on feminism, and her fight for gender diversity. In 2019, in “Aruanas”, a drama series streamed in more than 150 countries, she played one of the female leading roles, which was an activist attorney that fights to preserve the Amazon rainforest. Aruanas, received positive reviews and was called “ambitious and innovative” by Variety magazine. Taís became a reference for a pioneering role: In 1997, she was the first black actress to take a leading role in a Brazilian soap opera called Xica da Silva. Years later, she also became the first black TV host in the country. In 2017, she was voted one of the world's 100 most influential black women under the age of 40 by MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) and received her award at Columbia University, in New York City. In the same year she was also named women's advocate for UN Brazil.

Seu Jorge, André Seu Jorge, 49, is an internationally known singer and actor. He has received three Latin Grammy awards, and has been nominated for the award on six occasions. In 2019, he won his first award for best actor at the Bari International Film Festival, in Italy, for the feature “Marighella”. His international career began in 2005 in the film “The Aquatic Life of Steve Zissou” by Wes Anderson, in which he played Pelé dos Santos and also provided much of the soundtrack in the form of Portuguese language cover version of David Boweie classics. In 2008, the track 'Burguesinha' became a hit in the United States, leading the singer to tour the country. In 2012 Seu Jorge participated in the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics held in London. As a singer, he has recorded more than 15 albums released around the world in countries such as France and Japan, and sang at major festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival. As an actor, Seu Jorge has appeared in several films, Cidade de Deus, Tropa Elite 2 and Pelé. On TV, he has acted in the American series “Sleepwalkers” and in the Brazilian miniseries “Os Normais”, “Mandrake” and “Brasil, Brasil”.

Adriana Esteves, Isabel Adriana Esteves is a Brazilian actress with a large curriculum in miniseries and cinema. International Emmy nominee for best actress for the role of Dalva de Oliveira in the miniseries "Dalva e Herivelto, a love song". Winner of the Cartagena Film Festival in the category Best Actress for the film "As Meninas". She stood out in the 90s playing protagonists in soap operas like "", "" and "". She has impressive numbers in her curriculum: 18 soap operas, 12 films, besides series, video clips and stage

performances. She received 33 career awards, being one of the most awarded actresses in the country, ten of them by Carminha, from Avenida Brasil.

Renata Sorrah, Izildinha She started her career in theater in the late 1960s and specialized in dramatic acting. She moved to the United States and lived three years in Los Angeles where she studied dramatic arts and participated in the play "Dura lex sed lex", by Oduvaldo Vianna Filho. When she returned to Brazil, in 1967, she studied psychology, but her love for art was bigger. She made his first TV role in 1969 and the following year she debuted on Rede Globo. Since then, she made more than 20 soap operas and iconic characters such as Heleninha Roitman, from Vale Tudo and Nazaré Tedesco, from . In the theater, she performed more than 30 performances with emphasis on "Antígona" and "Macbeth". In cinema, she participated in 15 movies. She has been nominated for more than 25 awards for her performances, of which she won 22, including a Shell award and three Molière Awards.

Mariana Xavier, Sarah Mariana Xavier debuted as an actress on TV in 2007. Two years later, she opened her own production company. She is nationally known as the character Marcelina, from the trilogy "Minha mãe é uma peça". She made three soap operas, several appearances in series and starred in the videoclip "Jennifer", playing the character of the song that went viral in Brazil in 2018. Mariana also has five films and seventeen plays in her curriculum.

Aldri Anunciação (Screenplay) Author, writer, actor and playwright. He wrote the book and the play "Namibia, no" that gave rise to the film Provisional Measure. Winner of the Jabuti Literature Award in 2013. Winner of Candango for Best Actor at the Brasília Film Festival 2018. Accumulates more than thirty works as an actor, five as an author and three films as a screenwriter.

Lusa Silvestre (Screenplay) Screenwriter, copywriter and columnist of films such as "Estômago", "Mundo Cão" and "O Roubo da Taça". His awards include titles in the Official Selection of the Berlin Festival 2008, Best Film at the Rotterdam Festival 2009, Best Film by Popular Vote at the SXSW Festival 2015, Best Film at the Paris Festival 2016, among others. As a copywriter, he has created for clients as Nestlé and Mastercard. Between 2014 and 2017, he was a columnist for the newspaper "O Estado de São Paulo", the second largest Brazilian newspaper, besides having published the book "Pólvora, Gorgonzola e Alecrim" by Editora Jaboticaba, in 2005.

Rincon Sapiência, Plínio Profeta and Kiko De Sousa (Music) Rincon is a rapper, songwriter and musical producerr. He started his career in 2000, being nominated for Video Music Brazil 2010 in the "Rap" category. He has won four awards as a singer.

Plínio Profeta is a songwriter, producer and musician. He lived in Los Angeles for six years and studied at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood. He composed the soundtrack for several films, among them "O Palhaço", "Os Homem São Marte E É Lá Lá Que Eu Vou" and "Cilada.com".

Kiko de Sousa is a musician, keyboardist, teacher, design and audio and video producer. He has worked with artists such as Tássia Reis, Rincon Sapiência, Kamau, Urban Gear, Mental Abstract.

PRODUCTION COMPANIES

Lereby Founded in 1998 by director, actor, producer and filmmaker Daniel Filho, Lereby - as producer, co-producer or associate producer - promotes films of cultural importance in Brazil. Over the last decade, Lereby has produced “Confissões de Adolescente – O Filme” (2014), “Chico Xavier” (2010), “Se Eu Fosse Você 1 e 2” (2006-2008), “Primo Basílio” (2007) , “Muito Gelo e Dois Dedos D'água” (2006), “A Dona da História” (2004), “Cazuza - O Tempo Não Para” (2004) and “A Partilha” (2001). As an associate producer, Lereby co- produced “Faroeste Caboclo” (2013), “2 Filhos de Francisco” (2005), “Carandiru” (2003), “Cidade de Deus” (2002) and “O Auto da Compadecida” (2000), among many others.

Lata Filmes Lata Filmes was founded in 2008 by actor, director and dramaturgist Lázaro Ramos in association with businesswoman and cultural producer Tânia Rocha. It has produced TV programs such as "Programa Espelho" (Canal Brasil - 14 Seasons), “O Bagulho é Doido” (Canal Brasil - 3 Seasons), “O Curioso” (TV Globo - 4 episodes for Fantástico), the TV serie “Parabólico” (Canal Futura and Canal Brasil), short films "Braseiro", "O Caso de Ester", "Como as Nuvens são", "A Batalha" and "Fragmentos de uma Espera", besides series pilot “Do Outro Lado de Lá” and the feature films “Tudo que Move”, “O Grande Kilapy” and “A Luta do Século”.

CO-PRODUCER

Globo Filmes Since 1998, Globo Filmes has produced more than 300 Brazilian films. Globo’s mission is to strengthen the Brazilian film industry, and has produced comedies, children's, novels, documentaries, dramas and adventures -, all productions that that value Brazilian culture. Globo Filmes has produced some big hits, such as “Tropa de Elite 2”, “Minha Mãe é uma Peça 2” (over 9 million viewers), “Se Eu Fosse Você 2”, “2 Filhos de Francisco”, “Aquarius”, “Que Horas Ela Volta?”, “O Palhaço”, “Getúlio”, “Carandiru”, “Cidade de Deus”, which received four Oscar nominations, and “Bacurau”, which received the Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. Globo works with independent producers and national and international distributors.

FILM INFORMATION

Country: Brazil Language: Portuguese, English subtitles World Premiere: Moscow International Film Festival 2020 U.S. Premiere: 2020 Indie Memphis Film Festival – Winner, Duncan- Williams, Inc. Scriptwriting Award Additional Festivals: 2021 Pan African Film Festival, 2021 SXSW Film Festival Running Time: 94 minutes Productions Companies: Lereby Produções and Lata Filmes Co-Production Companies: Globo Filmes and Melanina Acentuada Film Format / Camera Digital, Arri Alexa Mini