‘Fire at Sea’ Producer Donatella Palermo Boards Eryk Rocha’s Buzzy Doc ‘Elza’ Ahead of Rio Film Festival Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Oscar-nominated Italian producer Donatella Palermo (“Fire at Sea,” “Caesar Must Die”) has boarded Eryk Rocha’s highly anticipated doc “Elza” as a production associate. The film will have its world premiere at the Rio Film Festival and its international premiere at the Rome Film Festival.

“Elza” is the follow-up to Rocha’s “The Falling Sky,” which premiered to great acclaim at Directors’ Fortnight. The film is a comprehensive documentary about one of Brazil’s most renowned singers and public figures, Elza Soares. Drawing on rare archival materials and intimate conversations between Soares and the director during the final years of her life, “Elza” traces the icon’s seven-decade career while revealing the many facets of the woman behind the legend. The project comes with the backing of high-calibre partners, including Aruac Filmes (“Cinema Novo”), Maria Farinha Filmes (“The Beginning of Life”), Globo Filmes (“I’m Still Here”), RAI Cinema and Gullane+.

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Rocha, who followed Elza over eight years of filming, said: “Elza Soares is a beacon whose art and legacy continue to guide us. To tell her story is also to tell the story of our country. By allowing Elza to tell her story in her own voice, the film brings us once again into the presence of this immense woman and artist.”

“The film is also a way to honor her dedication to music and her commitment to everything she was, and everything she continues to represent,” he added. “I am deeply moved to share this film with audiences and to have Elza’s voice sing once again, for Brazil and the entire world.”

Soares’s work intersected with some of the defining figures in international music, from Argentine tango composer and arranger Astor Piazzolla to jazz legends Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Soares met Armstrong in Chile in 1962, during a World Cup that would change the course of her life. Named BBC’s “Voice of the Millennium,” Elza transcended genres and national borders to become a global symbol of artistic freedom, resilience, and the enduring power of Black women’s voices. Her death in 2022 moved the entire country, with artists and fans paying lengthy homages to the trailblazer.

“Elza” is produced by Aruac Filmes and Maria Farinha Filmes, in co-production with Globo Filmes and GloboNews. The film is distributed by Gullane+ and Maria Farinha Filmes. The film was produced in collaboration with Faber Produzioni and RAI Cinema.

“Elza” is supported by the City of São Paulo, through Spcine, and by Itaú Cultural, and was produced with funding from the Brazilian Federal Government, through the Aldir Blanc National Policy for the Promotion of Culture (PNAB), in coordination with the National Culture System, with investment from the Audiovisual Sector Fund, and with institutional support from the Ministry of Culture and Ancine.