Fernando Coimbra wins Global Filmmaking Award

Brazilian Filmmaker Fernando Coimbra has won a Sundance Institute Global Filmmaking Award at Sundance 2017.

Coimbra, a graduate from the University of São Paulo and an award-winning writer and director, is one of four winners from different parts of the world whose works in progress were chosen to be highlighted to American audiences. The winners get development grants for their films.

Coimbra’s project is “The Hanged.” It is a dark comedic drama about Brazil’s underworld, where a family dispute upsets the ruling order in Rio de Janeiro's gambling syndicates. This conflict sets off a bloody escalation of betrayals and double crosses where the closest relationships are tested by greed.

“The Hanged” is not new to Sundance. In 2015 the screenplay was one of 14 projects selected for annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, where a residential program hosted by the Sundance Institute to support the talent of emerging independent artists in film, theatre, new media and episodic content.

Coimbra’s Sundance Institute Global Filmmaking Award is his tenth honored won in international competitions.

He has written and directed nine short films, including “Tropic of Goats” (2007) and “Magnificent Desolation” (2010).

His first full feature, “A Wolf at the Door,” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. The film won the Horizons Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and earned other prizes at international festivals in Havana, Miami, Guadalajara, Marseille and Rio de Janeiro. –CESAR ARREDONDO