Maeve Jinkings, Bárbara Colen star in drama Mesopotamia
Maeve Jinkings, Bárbara Colen, and Márcio Vito will star in Mesopotamia, Andy Malafaia's feature directorial debut from Brazil's Druzina Content—a 1974-set drama about land expropriation during the military dictatorship that the producer is pitching this week at the Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM) before shooting next year in Rio de Janeiro's sugarcane countryside.
Variety reports exclusively that the casting of three of Brazil's most acclaimed actors of their generation gives the project immediate festival pedigree and global visibility. For viewers tracking streaming and TV alerts, Mesopotamia signals another high-profile Brazilian title heading toward the international market.
Key Takeaways
- Maeve Jinkings, Bárbara Colen, and Márcio Vito lead Mesopotamia, Andy Malafaia's first feature.
- The drama is set in 1974 rural Brazil during the military dictatorship and centers on three characters facing land loss.
- Druzina Content is presenting the film at the Bogotá Audiovisual Market this week.
- Production is scheduled for next year in Rio de Janeiro's sugarcane-growing countryside.
- The producer frames the story around displacement, authoritarianism, gender violence, and erased memory.
Who Are Maeve Jinkings and Bárbara Colen?
Maeve Jinkings and Bárbara Colen anchor a cast built from Brazil's contemporary auteur-film circuit. Jinkings has worked with Kleber Mendonça Filho on Neighbouring Sounds and Aquarius, appeared in Mendonça's Cannes competition title The Secret Agent, and starred in Gabriel Mascaro's Neon Bull and Carolina Markowicz's Charcoal and Toll. She also features in Walter Salles' I'm Still Here.
Colen has been a frequent collaborator with Mendonça as well, starring in Bacurau, co-directed by Mendonça and Juliano Dornelles. Her credits also include Fogaréu and Bruno Bini's Five Types of Fear—the same Druzina Content production that won best film at Gramado Fest and drew executive producer support from Viola Davis' Ashé.
What Is 'Mesopotamia' About?
According to Variety's exclusive report, Mesopotamia unfolds in 1974 rural Brazil under military rule. Jorge and Mariângela face the expropriation of their land for a hydroelectric dam, and their already fragile marriage is further destabilized when unexpected intimacy develops between Mariângela and Jorge's sister.
Márcio Vito rounds out the trio. He reunites with Malafaia after the director's 2015 short I Would Like to Be Enraptured, Muzzled, and on My Back Tattooed, and his recent credits include Júlia Murat's Locarno Golden Leopard winner Rule 34, Karim Aïnouz's The Invisible Life, and Pedro Freire's 2024 drama Malu.
Why Does This BAM Launch Matter?
Druzina Content CEO and producer Luciana Druzina told Variety that landing Jinkings, Colen, and Vito elevates the project. She said their involvement adds strong artistic and festival pedigree while reinforcing the film's connection to Brazilian auteur cinema with global reach.
Druzina described Mesopotamia as a deeply Brazilian story with striking international resonance. Through only three central characters and a landscape on the verge of disappearance, she said, the film addresses forced displacement, authoritarianism, gender violence, and the erasure of memory—themes Malafaia frames as intimate and sensorial rather than purely historical.
When Will Filming Begin?
Druzina Content is presenting Mesopotamia at this week's Bogotá Audiovisual Market. Shooting is set for next year in Brazil, primarily in the sugarcane-growing rural areas of Rio de Janeiro state.
The project arrives from the same production company behind Five Types of Fear, positioning Mesopotamia as Malafaia's ambitious step from short-form work into a politically charged feature with a cast already proven on the global festival circuit.