Maeve Jinkings, Bárbara Colen and Márcio Vito, three of the finest Brazilian actors of their generation, are set to star in “Mesopotamia.”

Director Andy Malafaia‘s feature debut, “Mesopotamia” is set up at Brazil’s Druzina Content and Plano B Filmes, the companies behind “Five Types of Fear,” a best film winner at Gramado Fest which was boarded by Viola Davis’ Ashé as executive producer. 

A multi-layered drama thriller, “Mesopotamia” weighs in as potentially one of the most powerful projects at BAM, with an eye-catching cast and resonant drama. 

This is set in 1974 rural Brazil under military dictatorship, where the fragile balance of couple Jorge and Mariângela, facing expropriation of their land for the construction of a hydroelectric dam, is further shaken by the unexpected intimacy between Mariângela and Jorge’s sister. 

Jinkings, who featured in Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” starred in “Neighbouring Sounds” and “Aquarius,” the 2012 feature debut and 2016 Cannes competition player from “The Secret Agent” director Kleber Mendonça Filho. She also headed “Neon Bull,” the breakout of “The Blue Trail” helmer Gabriel Mascaro, and is the go-to actor of Carolina Markowicz, another of Brazil’s fastest-rising directors, playing the lead in her 2022 drama “Charcoal” and 2023’s “Toll.”

Colen has likewise worked closely with Mendonça, appearing in “Aquarius” as well as starring in the 2019 actioner “Bacurau,” co-directed by Mendonça and Juliano Dornelles. Her credits also include Flávia Neves’ bold 2022 fantasy-thriller social critique “Fogaréu” and Bruno Bini’s 2025 crime drama “Five Types of Fear.”

Underscoring her excitement about the project, Colen said: “‘Mesopotamia’ is one of those projects that reminds me why I make cinema: a film capable of translating major historical transformations through the intimacy, fragility and humanity of its characters. It is a joy to be part of this team.”

For his part, Vito is reuniting with Malafaia after working with the director on his 2015 short “I Would Like to Be Enraptured, Muzzled, and on My Back Tattooed.” His works also include Júlia Murat’s 2022 psycho-sexual drama and Locarno Golden Leopard winner envelope-pushing “Rule 34” as well as Flávia Castro’s 2018 political drama “Unremember”; Karim Aïnouz’s 2019 period piece “The Invisible Life”; and Pedro Freire’s acclaimed 2024 Rio de Janeiro-set family drama “Malu.”

“Having worked with Andy before in such a rich process of invention and discovery, receiving this invitation was already a joy before even reading the script,” Vito said. “When I read it, I was moved by a story that renews my faith in cinema and in the art of storytelling.”

For Druzina Content CEO and producer Luciana Druzina, the involvement of Jinkings, Colen and Vito sets the project at another level.

“Their presence adds strong artistic and festival pedigree to ‘Mesopotamia,’ reinforcing the project’s connection to Brazilian auteur cinema with global reach,” she said.

“‘Mesopotamia’ is a deeply Brazilian story with a striking international resonance,” Druzina added. “Through only three central characters and a landscape about to disappear, the film speaks about forced displacement, authoritarianism, gender violence and the erasure of memory. What moves us most is Andy Malafaia’s ability to transform a historical trauma into an intimate, sensorial and emotionally devastating cinematic experience.”

The project, which Druzina Content is presenting at this week’s Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), is set to shoot next year in Brazil, primarily in the sugarcane-growing rural areas of Rio de Janeiro’s countryside.