{"id":628397,"date":"2026-10-12T15:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628397\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:14:08","slug":"elize-shadows-of-a-womans-felipe-vellas-to-helm-bateau-mouche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628397\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Elize: Shadows of a Woman’s’ Felipe Vellas to Helm ‘Bateau Mouche’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBoutique Filmes<\/a> and Anonymous Content Brazil<\/a> have lined up Felipe Vellas to direct \u201cBateau Mouche,\u201d inspired by the real-life sinking of the titular boat on New Year\u2019s Eve 1988. The film will be penned by Gustavo Lipsztein, who also wrote the massively successful Netflix series \u201cRadioactive Emergency\u201d and \u201cThe Endless Night,\u201d also inspired by historical Brazilian tragedies.<\/p>\n

\n\tVellas\u2019s prior collaboration with Boutique, \u201cElize: Shadows of a Woman,\u201d was also an international hit on Netflix, where it led the global ranking for non-English language films, reaching 17.4 million views in a week and landing top 10 spots on the platform across 90 countries. Vellas will follow up a true crime hit with another real-life story by chronicling the 1988 accident, when the Bateau Mouche IV boat sank in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Guanabara Bay, killing 55 people. The tragedy remains one of the most shocking in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking with Variety, Boutique Filmes partner Gustavo Mello says the project stems from their partnership with the director, who is also a partner at Anonymous Content. \u201cWe had great affinity working together on \u2018Elise\u2019 and felt we needed to find another project together,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe had several conversations with B\u00e1rbara Teixeira, his partner on Anonymous, to try finding a film that would encompass the dimension of our creative partnership, which I believe is very strong. We are two companies with a very interesting way of operating in the market. When we landed on this story, we felt it captured the ambition of this partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBateau Mouche\u201d will follow the moments before and after the tragedy while also focusing on the human stories at the heart of the loss. The film is set to centre the passengers, crew, and their families during that one fateful night.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe believe this story captures Brazil at a very particular time, entering the New Republic with a sense of hope and a belief in a new country,\u201d says Mello. \u201cThat\u2019s when this tragic accident happens, within a system of irresponsibility. So it\u2019s a story that says a lot about Brazil but also about human relationships as you see the characters undergo such a dramatic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about the sensitivity required when dealing with real-life stories like Matsunaga\u2019s and the Bateau Mouche sinking, Mello says he is greatly aware of the \u201cresponsibility\u201d that comes with it. \u201cWith the projects we have worked on, we have a need for creative autonomy, but it has to be absolutely anchored in an ethical responsibility so we can make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMello adds that the film has a \u201cvery specific challenge\u201d when it comes to its ambition to recreate such a large-scale accident. \u201cWe are working hard to find the right technical solutions, mixing practical effects with VFX so we can execute the film at a very high artistic level,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think all of us in the Brazilian industry have this responsibility towards the public, to diversify what we do and elevate the level of quality of our productions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Bateau Mouche tragedy encompasses countless stories, many still untold or not fully understood, involving victims, family members, ordinary people, celebrities, heroes, and villains,\u201d said Vellas. \u201cIt is an event that has never truly reached its conclusion. The film therefore aims to present the perspective of those directly affected by the accident, both on that night and in the ensuing events that have spanned more than three decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnonymous Content CEO Teixeira said \u201cBateau Mouche\u201d is \u201cdeeply aligned with our mission at Anonymous: telling stories of great cultural significance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe shipwreck, which occurred just moments before the start of 1989, was surrounded by events, both before and after the tragedy, that impacted the lives of dozens of families and shocked the nation,\u201d she added. \u201cGoing back in time and blending a factual reenactment with a highly polished dramatic narrative helps bring this episode back to life and sheds light on acts of irresponsibility that, to this day, have not been properly investigated nor punished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boutique Filmes and Anonymous Content Brazil have lined up Felipe Vellas to direct \u201cBateau Mouche,\u201d inspired by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[308367,575,156,409,111,139,69,53529],"class_list":["post-628397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-boutique-filmes","tag-brazil","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rio-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}