Chico Mendes biopic, documentary and Green Shooting Manual in progress

São Paulo-based production company Estudio Escarlate will announce a “Chico Vive” (“Chico Lives”) project during this year’s Expocine. The initiative includes the production of a documentary and biopic about Brazilian environmentalist Chico Mendes, as well as the development of a handbook with guidelines for sustainable film and television production, said Joana Henning, CEO of Escarlate diversity.

The features, directed by Sergio Carvalho and Sergio Machado, will be the first two fully sustainable productions in Brazil. The documentary is scheduled to premiere during the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in November 2025 in Belem, a Brazilian city in the Amazon rainforest.

The biopic, which will star Jorge Paz as Mendes, will be filmed in 2026 and released domestically and internationally in 2027. The manual will be created based on the experiences filming the two features and is expected to be published in 2027, Henning said.

Chico Mendes, who was murdered by a rancher in 1988, is an international symbol of the fight to protect the Amazon rainforest. As chairman of the rubber tappers’ union, he organized the so-called “Empats”, a pacifist resistance action in which workers blocked the advance of machines into the forest with their bodies.

“Chico Mendes is the Mahatma Gandhi of the Amazon rainforest, a hero who spent the last years of his life raising people’s awareness of the importance of forest conservation,” Henning said.

At Expocine, Escarlate will sign an agreement with Embratur, the Brazilian federal agency promoting the country as a tourist destination. Henning said Embratur, which is putting together a federal film commission, will contribute to the films by helping Escarlate find locations, hire local staff and film in the Amazon rainforest.

Escarlate has also signed agreements for the Chico Vive project with the Brazilian Ministries of Environment and Racial Justice. Rafael Dragaud is artistic director of the Chico Vive project.

Escarlate worked on the project with Pachamama Investimentos, a local company specializing in investing in green assets to protect the environment and promote ESG practices. TV and film star Bruno Gagliasso is one of Pachamama’s shareholders and will star in the biopic. He and Jorge Paz will also serve as associate producers.

Pachamama is partnering with Greener Tokens, a Switzerland-based company that uses blockchain technology to issue tokens promoting sustainability.

Pachamama will list the carbon emissions of the two films from script development to post-production, including on-set electricity generation and land and air transport of equipment and crew. Escarlate will purchase tokens from Greener to offset emissions, and Greener will direct the money to various environmental projects in the Amazon rainforest.

Pachamama and Escarlate will benefit from the knowledge gathered in the pictures’ production processes to write the handbook of guidelines for sustainable productions of film and television content in Brazil, Gagliasso said diversity.

“The handbook will provide requirements and practical guidance for sustainable practices in film and television production,” he said. “It is about energy efficiency, management of water resources and waste disposal, recycling, reduction of carbon emissions and policies for employing local residents in the productions.”

“I believe the handbook will be an important contribution to the local film and television industry,” Gagliasso said.