To mark the release of Private Desert on DVD from 24th April, we are giving away DVDs to 3 lucky winners!
A film by Aly Muritiba, Private Desert (15) was Brazil’s official submission for the 94th Academy Awards®
Daniel, a troubled cop with a history of run-ins with the authorities, who seeks refuge from a potentially career-ending scandal with a faraway stranger with whom he has been conducting an intense affair entirely on social media. But when his paramour abruptly ghosts him, Daniel impulsively sets off thousands of miles cross-country in a desperate attempt to salvage the lost relationship – a quest that will profoundly change the course of both their lives.
The critically acclaimed Private Desert is a riveting Brazilian romantic drama that melds stunning road movie vistas, twisting narrative turns and a swelling forbidden love story to the beat of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Watch the trailer: https://youtu.
A film by Aly Muritiba, Private Desert (15) was Brazil’s official submission for the 94th Academy Awards®
Daniel, a troubled cop with a history of run-ins with the authorities, who seeks refuge from a potentially career-ending scandal with a faraway stranger with whom he has been conducting an intense affair entirely on social media. But when his paramour abruptly ghosts him, Daniel impulsively sets off thousands of miles cross-country in a desperate attempt to salvage the lost relationship – a quest that will profoundly change the course of both their lives.
The critically acclaimed Private Desert is a riveting Brazilian romantic drama that melds stunning road movie vistas, twisting narrative turns and a swelling forbidden love story to the beat of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Watch the trailer: https://youtu.
- 4/13/2023
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Further titles include ‘Eismayer’ and ’You Can Live Forever’.
UK LGBTQ+ specialist Peccadillo Pictures has picked up The Lost Boys from Paris-based Indie Sales for distribution in the UK and Ireland, following its premiere in the Generation strand at the Berlinale, plus a raft of other titles off the back of the European Film Market (EFM).
Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton’s The Lost Boys sees two young men attempt to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps at a tough juvenile detention centre. It stars Peter Von Kant’s Khalil Ben Gharbia alongside Julien De Saint Jean. It is produced by...
UK LGBTQ+ specialist Peccadillo Pictures has picked up The Lost Boys from Paris-based Indie Sales for distribution in the UK and Ireland, following its premiere in the Generation strand at the Berlinale, plus a raft of other titles off the back of the European Film Market (EFM).
Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton’s The Lost Boys sees two young men attempt to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps at a tough juvenile detention centre. It stars Peter Von Kant’s Khalil Ben Gharbia alongside Julien De Saint Jean. It is produced by...
- 3/29/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The first half-hour of “Private Desert,” Brazil’s most recent Oscar entry, painstakingly sketches the troubled life of Daniel (Antonio Saboia), a cop who assaulted a rookie during a training session. We see Daniel running at night, and on the soundtrack we hear narration from him that turns out to be texts he is sending to a mystery woman named Sara, who lives far away in the north of Brazil. “I think I’m in love,” Daniel writes her. “Wet kisses.”
Falling in love with someone you have never met in person is foolish, of course, but Daniel is believably portrayed by Saboia as equal parts naïve, sweet, cruel and volatile; he teases his very ill father in a way that stops just short of being gloatingly mean. Writer-director Aly Muritiba patiently views Daniel in long takes as he sends nudes to Sara, and the style here is simple, no frills,...
Falling in love with someone you have never met in person is foolish, of course, but Daniel is believably portrayed by Saboia as equal parts naïve, sweet, cruel and volatile; he teases his very ill father in a way that stops just short of being gloatingly mean. Writer-director Aly Muritiba patiently views Daniel in long takes as he sends nudes to Sara, and the style here is simple, no frills,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Part mystery, part passionate romance, Aly Muritiba’s queer drama Private Desert is striking in the unexpected avenues its narrative takes, as well as the surprising cinematography that immerses the viewer in its balmy Brazilian locale.
A favorite at last year’s Venice Film Festival and Brazil’s official submission to the 94th Academy Awards, the story follows a police officer placed on leave who searches for his online love, a genderfluid blue-collar worker who lives as her male birth identity by day, when she disappears.
As the film arrives in the U.S., I had the opportunity to speak with Muritiba about the intense physicality of the film, his character’s backstories, the toxic masculinity of Brazil, crafting a beautiful love story, the bifurcated narrative, and much more.
The Film Stage: There’s an intense physicality to the film, both in how your camera frames actors and in the blocking of scenes.
A favorite at last year’s Venice Film Festival and Brazil’s official submission to the 94th Academy Awards, the story follows a police officer placed on leave who searches for his online love, a genderfluid blue-collar worker who lives as her male birth identity by day, when she disappears.
As the film arrives in the U.S., I had the opportunity to speak with Muritiba about the intense physicality of the film, his character’s backstories, the toxic masculinity of Brazil, crafting a beautiful love story, the bifurcated narrative, and much more.
The Film Stage: There’s an intense physicality to the film, both in how your camera frames actors and in the blocking of scenes.
- 8/26/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A highlight of last year’s festival circuit, Aly Muritaba’s Private Desert is the bracing story of a suspended police officer who searches for his online love, a genderfluid blue-collar worker living as her male birth identity when she disappears. As Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Rather than hope an artist, who already understands the breadth of love, could find something at the core of his love story, Muritiba wanted to open the hearts of those trapped under the oppressive force of conservatism and traditionalism. This tale of a conflicted policeman discovering his online lover isn’t who he thinks she is possesses the opportunity to connect with those who see themselves in the former, not the latter. And he embraces that possibility. Some audience members have not.”
We’re happy to announce that—ahead of an August 26 opening at New York’s Quad Cinema and national rollout—The Film Stage,...
We’re happy to announce that—ahead of an August 26 opening at New York’s Quad Cinema and national rollout—The Film Stage,...
- 8/19/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
A favorite at Venice Film Festival last year and Brazil’s official submission to the 94th Academy Awards, Aly Muritiba’s queer romance Private Desert is now readying a U.S. release courtesy of Kino Lorber in late August. The story follows a police officer placed on leave who searches for his online love, a genderfluid blue-collar worker who lives as her male birth identity by day, when she disappears. Ahead of the release, a new U.S. trailer has now arrived.
Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Writer-director Aly Muritiba said something very interesting about his new film Private Desert in the lead-up to its Venice debut. He spoke about a desire for its success to not simply be of the “preaching to the choir” variety. Rather than hope an artist, who already understands the breadth of love, could find something at the core of his love story, Muritiba...
Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Writer-director Aly Muritiba said something very interesting about his new film Private Desert in the lead-up to its Venice debut. He spoke about a desire for its success to not simply be of the “preaching to the choir” variety. Rather than hope an artist, who already understands the breadth of love, could find something at the core of his love story, Muritiba...
- 7/28/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sydney Film Festival Returns to Regular Dates, Picks ‘The Forgiven,’ ‘Passengers’ for Initial Lineup
Charlotte Gainsbourg-starring “The Passengers of the Night” and Ralph Fiennes- and Jessica Chastain-starring “The Forgiven” are among the first batch of movies revealed by the Sydney Film Festival. The festival is planning an in-person event running 8-19 June, 2022.
Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.
The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites. “Gentle” which premiered in Sundance; “Hinterland,” which won the audience award in Locarno last year; Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet,” from the Berlinale; Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” winner of Toronto’s Platform award; “Private Desert,” audience award winner at Venice; documentary “Calendar Girls” from the recent Sundance and Cph:dox festivals; “Please Baby Please,” which opened the Rotterdam festival; “The Territory,” the documentary award-winner at Sundance; “Blue Moon,...
Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.
The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites. “Gentle” which premiered in Sundance; “Hinterland,” which won the audience award in Locarno last year; Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet,” from the Berlinale; Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” winner of Toronto’s Platform award; “Private Desert,” audience award winner at Venice; documentary “Calendar Girls” from the recent Sundance and Cph:dox festivals; “Please Baby Please,” which opened the Rotterdam festival; “The Territory,” the documentary award-winner at Sundance; “Blue Moon,...
- 4/6/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Writer-director Aly Muritiba said something very interesting about his new film Private Desert in the lead-up to its Venice debut. He spoke about a desire for its success to not simply be of the “preaching to the choir” variety. Rather than hope an artist, who already understands the breadth of love, could find something at the core of his love story, Muritiba wanted to open the hearts of those trapped under the oppressive force of conservatism and traditionalism. This tale of a conflicted policeman discovering his online lover isn’t who he thinks she is possesses the opportunity to connect with those who see themselves in the former, not the latter. And he embraces that possibility. Some audience members have not.
Comments about this film using the suffering of LGBTQ characters to help an outsider find redemption aren’t wrong, and members of that community have a right to voice...
Comments about this film using the suffering of LGBTQ characters to help an outsider find redemption aren’t wrong, and members of that community have a right to voice...
- 2/1/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Latin America has submitted 15 contenders in the Academy Awards’ international feature category this time, not quite as big a haul as last year’s tally of 18.
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
- 12/13/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
by Nathaniel R
Sometimes the long lead up to a movie's release can alter a story. In the case of Aly Muritiba's Private Desert, most people who come to it will already be aware of its central premise though the movie treats that as a "reveal". Happily the film works either way. Crossing the border can also change how a movie feels. The initial protagonist, Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is viewed sympathetically but his offscreen history (police brutality) is likely to spark different reactions from country to country, depending on societal views on policing and masculinity. In the minimalist but never simple story, a lonely cop spontaneously drives several hours to finally meet the woman he's been romancing online. She abruptly ghosts him after an implicit request for reciprocal nudes and we glean, quite a long time before he does, that he's fallen for a queer person.
We had the...
Sometimes the long lead up to a movie's release can alter a story. In the case of Aly Muritiba's Private Desert, most people who come to it will already be aware of its central premise though the movie treats that as a "reveal". Happily the film works either way. Crossing the border can also change how a movie feels. The initial protagonist, Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is viewed sympathetically but his offscreen history (police brutality) is likely to spark different reactions from country to country, depending on societal views on policing and masculinity. In the minimalist but never simple story, a lonely cop spontaneously drives several hours to finally meet the woman he's been romancing online. She abruptly ghosts him after an implicit request for reciprocal nudes and we glean, quite a long time before he does, that he's fallen for a queer person.
We had the...
- 12/13/2021
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to Aly Muritiba’s “Private Desert” (“Deserto Particular”) Brazil’s International Feature Oscar submission and a love story hailed for its large sensibility as well as political point.
The deal was negotiated with the film’s world sale agent, Rome-based Intramovies. Kino Lorber will bring ‘Private Desert’ to U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2022, followed by a release on all major digital platforms and home video.
World premiering at September’s Venice Film Festival, the film won the Audience Award – the Bnl People’s Choice Award – at its Venice Days.
Written by Muritiba and Henrique dos Santos and produced by Antonio Gonçalves Junior at Brazil’s Grafo, Muritiba’s career-long producer, “Private Desert” begins in Curitiba in Brazil’s cold rich South with Daniel, 40, a burly police instructor with a boxer’s face who has been suspended from active service...
The deal was negotiated with the film’s world sale agent, Rome-based Intramovies. Kino Lorber will bring ‘Private Desert’ to U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2022, followed by a release on all major digital platforms and home video.
World premiering at September’s Venice Film Festival, the film won the Audience Award – the Bnl People’s Choice Award – at its Venice Days.
Written by Muritiba and Henrique dos Santos and produced by Antonio Gonçalves Junior at Brazil’s Grafo, Muritiba’s career-long producer, “Private Desert” begins in Curitiba in Brazil’s cold rich South with Daniel, 40, a burly police instructor with a boxer’s face who has been suspended from active service...
- 12/7/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Best International Feature Film has been awarded annually at the Oscars since the 29th Academy Awards in 1956. Each year countries from around the world are allowed to submit just one non-English speaking film for consideration. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee(s) then vote by secret ballot to select the shortlist and eventual Oscar nominees. Directors Paolo Sorrentino (“The Hand of God” – Italy), Maria Schrader (“I’m Your Man” – Germany), Jan P. Matuszynski (“Leave No Traces” – Poland), Tatiana Huezo (“Prayers for the Stolen” – Mexico) and Aly Muritiba (“Private Desert” – Brazil) share what it means to be selected to represent their countries in our Meet The Experts: Film International Feature Panel. Watch the exclusive group roundtable video above. Click each name to watch that person’s individual interview.
“What I hope I can communicate to the world is that my country is a very lively country,” says Sorrentino. “My film is full...
“What I hope I can communicate to the world is that my country is a very lively country,” says Sorrentino. “My film is full...
- 12/1/2021
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Brazil’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, “Private Desert,” tells the story of a police officer who is suspended after an internal investigation, wandering the country in search of a real encounter with his internet love. Director and writer Aly Muritiba, who formerly worked as a prison guard, felt compelled to bring a story of love and compassion to the big screen during a time of political divide in Brazil.
“We are living under a regime that is much like a fascist regime,” Muritiba explains about Brazil’s current political climate. “There has been fighting and hate speech on the rise. That’s why I decided to deliver a movie that is about love. I think it shows how cinema can be a tool in fighting hate speech and the fascist environment that Brazil has been under recently.”
Muritiba’s former work as a...
“We are living under a regime that is much like a fascist regime,” Muritiba explains about Brazil’s current political climate. “There has been fighting and hate speech on the rise. That’s why I decided to deliver a movie that is about love. I think it shows how cinema can be a tool in fighting hate speech and the fascist environment that Brazil has been under recently.”
Muritiba’s former work as a...
- 12/1/2021
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
‘Deserto Particular’/ ‘Private Desert’ by Ali Muritiba
The Los Angeles screening of this emotionally packed love story was a great success culminating with an extravagant performance of the theme song by a red feather-laden sequined performer after which the director, Ali Muritiba spoke in careful terms, so as not of offend the Brazilian consulate, an honored guest, about the film that is sure to offend the country’s reactionary strongman Bolsanaro.
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
The Los Angeles screening of this emotionally packed love story was a great success culminating with an extravagant performance of the theme song by a red feather-laden sequined performer after which the director, Ali Muritiba spoke in careful terms, so as not of offend the Brazilian consulate, an honored guest, about the film that is sure to offend the country’s reactionary strongman Bolsanaro.
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
- 12/1/2021
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Five top international feature film directors will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Oscar and guild contenders. Each person from these films will participate in two video discussions to premiere tomorrow on Monday, November 29, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our contributing editor Denton Davidson and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“The Hand of God” (Italy): Paolo Sorrentino
Synopsis: The story of a boy in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s.
RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series of 17 panels in November and December. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 awards contenders:
“The Hand of God” (Italy): Paolo Sorrentino
Synopsis: The story of a boy in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s.
- 11/29/2021
- by Chris Beachum and Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
At the halfway mark, Aly Muritiba’s “Deserto Particular” clicks into high gear. There’s a change of scenery, yes; we move from the chilly South of Brazil to its arid Northeast. And there’s a change in point of view; we leave our protagonist behind and follow, instead, the person he was so intent on tracking down. More importantly, though, the film comes alive in its second half, which deepens and complicates the story we thought we were watching, about a disgraced cop trying to run away from the violence that’s set to cost him his job and his reputation. For some, the tender empathy that runs through the film’s latter half may not be enough to offset its choice of sympathetic leading man. Yet this Brazilian drama is a welcome and assured intervention into that country’s calcified ideals about desire and masculinity.
Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is spiraling.
Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is spiraling.
- 11/23/2021
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
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