<\/p>\n
\n\tOver the last year and a half, few if any other major Latin American company has expanded as fast as Los Angeles-based MFF & Co.<\/p>\n
\n\tJust last year alone, Brazil\u2019s Maria Farinha Filmes<\/a> opened L.A. offices, headed by former Participant Media exec Miura Kite. MFF & Co also took a stake in London\u2019s Velvet Films, the four-time Academy Award-nominated production company founded by Oscar-winning filmmaker Joanna Natasegara (\u201cWhite Helmets,\u201d \u201cVirunga\u201d).<\/p>\n \n\tLast month, it unveiled that MFF & Co is partnering with Globo<\/a> to develop English-language North American adaptations of the Brazilian TV giant\u2019s smash hit telenovelas.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMFF & Co is hiring A-list writers to adapt three of 10 titles. MFF & Co founders Marcos Nisti and Renner are making soft adaptations of the others in order to be able to go out to producers, studios and streamers allowing them to co-develop.<\/p>\n \n\tThat deal came fast on the heels of a deal announced during the Cannes Festival to co-develop \u201cThe Girl Who Could Fly,\u201d partnering with\u00a0Ash\u00e9 Ventures<\/a>, co-founded by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Viola Davis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tOther projects set up at MFF & Co include \u201cPegasus,\u201d created by Amit Cohen (\u201cFalse Flag\u201d) and Ron Leshem<\/a> (\u201cEuphoria\u201d) and produced by Maria Feldman (\u201cFauda\u201d); \u201cFail-Safe,\u201d directed by true crime pioneer Joe Berlinger (\u201cParadise Lost\u201d) and \u201cEsperanza,\u201d to be helmed by Fernando Meirelles (\u201cCity of God\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tA new project involving a major international name Brazilian talent, looks set to be announced imminently. Why such as spectacular expansion?<\/p>\n \n\tMFF & Co is an impact entertainment company. When talking about it, writer-director-producer Estela Renner does not use the word \u201cbusiness\u201d but \u201cmission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThat is fuelled by a sense of urgency. \u201cWe are united in this mission to build a vibrant ecosystem where ideas, culture, insight and artistic vision intersect because the urgency of our current moment is clear,\u201d she says. \u201cStories have the power to feed our collective imagination. By expanding the kinds of imagination we share, rooted not only in urgency but also in care, resilience and creativity, we will help people envision futures worth striving for.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis is not theory. Maria Farinha Filmes has a storied history. Written and directed by Renner, 2016\u2019s \u201cThe Beginning of Life\u201d was the most-watched documentary of the year in Brazil, distributed by Netflix in over 100 countries, launched at the U.N. and adopted by Unicef as its main tool for raising awareness of early childhood development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOn 2019\u2019s \u201cAruanas<\/a>,\u201d MFF\u2019s best known series created by Renner and Nisti for Globo<\/a>\u2019s VOD service Globoplay, MFF and Globo did themselves a Netflix, launching the Amazon-set eco-activist thriller in 150 countries worldwide using Vimeo-powered platform\u00a0aruanas.tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat MFF & Co Brings to the Table<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWhat MFF & Co brings to the table most are fresh takes on issues for a world which wants more than received wisdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe operate by bringing new perspectives to connect and move culture forward,\u201d notes Renner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOne case in point: one-hour doc \u201cBrazil Before 1500.\u201d It explains that the Amazon is not all forest but half man-made, much created by its indigenous population whose complex and large social organization \u2013 expansive roads, dams, canals, highly fertile soils, fish and turtles farms \u2013 are only now being discovered by archeologists and recognized. That makes the Amazon the biggest man-made monument on earth.<\/p>\n \n\tWritten and directed by Renner, \u201cThe Beginning of Life\u201d begins by debunking a myth. \u201cEven philosophers, psychiatrists thought that babies were irrational, egocentric, amoral, didn\u2019t understand cause and effect. They couldn\u2019t take the perspective of anode person. In the past 30 years our science has taint us that everything is exactly the opposite,\u201d says Alison Gopnik at California U, one of its well-chosen talking heads.<\/p>\n \n\tInspiring fiction feature \u201cThe Girl Who Could Fly,\u201d Brazil\u2019s Daiane dos Santos, the first Brazilian and first Black woman to win gold at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, likewise \u201cchanged the way the sport perceived her body and the body of gymnasts. So instead of seeing this lightweight, delicate, ballet-like body, we saw Daiane dos Santos with explosion, with strength, and that changed the sport,\u201d Renner enthuses.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe have long believed that authentic and imaginative storytelling is a crucial tool for making the world better.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPeople who believe that \u2013 like Renner, and Luana Lobo and Mariana Oliva, producer partners and co-CEOs of MFF & Co \u2013 are unlikely to balk when the closure of Participant Media freed up its former EVP of Global Television, Miura Kite, appointed President, Global Television of MFF & Co. Kite also served as Head of Development of Film and Television at Tom Hanks\u2019 company, Playtone. She has bought with her several projects, her Participant television team, and a plethora of like-minded talent, artists, and executives who want to join the mission.<\/p>\n \n\tMFF & Co also tries to make shows that are attractive business propositions. Impact entertainment for MFF is essentially feel-good, \u201cguided by the idea of stories that make life better,\u201d says Oliva.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPegasus,\u201d Renner promises, is about cyber security, human rights and a lack of regulation, but \u201chas the narrative drive that distinguishes Cohen, Leshem and producer Maria Feldman.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe company has a business savvy. \u201cEvery project has a different business model,\u201d says Lobo. \u201cWe work through a methodology of collective intelligence, which is another decision-making process based on circles which facilitates the participation of more perspectives in decision-making,\u201d she adds. That \u201cdiversity cognition\u201d enables MFF & Co to finally take \u201cbolder\u201d decisions, she argues.<\/p>\n \n\tJelling With The Zeitgeist<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAbove all, MFF & Co jells with the Zeitgeist.\u201cWe know audiences are hungry for rich content and we are excited to be bringing it to them,\u201d Renner says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe do find people everywhere that have the same mission at heart,\u201d she adds, name-checking Nathalie Perus at France\u2019s Atlantique, a partner on \u201cPegasus,\u201d and Thomas Anargyros at its parent company Mediawan Studio France.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tShe also cites, \u201cof course,\u201d Joanna Natasegara, producer of \u201cVirunga,\u201d about rangers risking their lives to save Democratic Republic of Congo national park gorillas.<\/p>\n \n\tExpect a next move announcement soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the last year and a half, few if any other major Latin American company has expanded as fast as Los Angeles-based MFF & Co. Just last year alone, Brazil\u2019s Maria Farinha Filmes opened L.A. offices, headed by former Participant Media exec Miura Kite. MFF & Co also took a stake in London\u2019s Velvet Films, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2029606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[374174,374175,374176,332094],"class_list":["post-2029605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-globo","tag-maria-farinha-filmes","tag-ron-leshem","tag-viola-davis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Its-Dramatic-Growth-and-Enlightening-Entertainment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}