Shirley Cruz, who delivered an acclaimed central performance in Anna Muylaert’s 2025 Berlinale drama “The Best Mother in the World,” is set to star in Clara Ferrer and Tainá Bevilacqua’s “The She-Devil.”
“The She-Devil” is currently in development, with a short film taking place in the same universe, titled “The Death of the She-Devil,” currently in post-production. Both films star Cruz as Auntl lara, with Ferrer writing. Amina Sophia Nogueira will executive produce for Capivara Movies, with Laura Fazoli as producer and Retrato Filmes already on board as a Brazilian distributor. The short film was made in partnership with Cajamanga and Dobra.
The coming-of-age feature is an adaptation of the eponymous book by Eli Lemos de Oliveira, a poetic work of autofiction centered on a young trans man raised in a working-class community of Rio de Janeiro, who explores masculinity through the female figures in his life. The film will be set in the ’90s, and will trail the 11-year-old Araí as he develops an obsession with an imaginary killer who attacks girls in their neighborhood. At first determined to capture him, little by little Araí starts to understand, and eventually, to identify with the villain.
Speaking with Variety out of Locarno, where she took part in the festival’s prestigious networking program Match Me!, Nogueira saId the story is set “in a specific place, but deals with universal themes we believe resonate globally.” “Everyone had, or wishes they’d had, an Aunt lara when they were young, and hopes to be that person for the children in their lives.”
“This is the story of a child who struggles against the femininity assigned to them at birth while learning misogyny, but who can only reconcile with masculinity through the love for the most important woman in their life: lara, an aunt who offers guidance and inspiration through her transgressive way of living,” added Ferrer.
Bevilacqua said she wanted to adapt the book from the very first time she read it, with the author happily agreeing to it. “Our vision for the film, which we’ve playfully christened ‘contemporary working-class baroque,’ is a plunge into the subjectivity of a protagonist in crisis, who sees the world in opposing extremes — the familiar and the unknown, the sacred and the profane, enchantment and horror — which are integrated in the character of Iara,” she notes.
Nogueira said having Cruz on their first set under Capivara Films “is an enormous privilege.” “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start.”
“Shirley Cruz is an actress of extraordinary sensitivity, bringing complexity, tenderness and strength to Tia Iara, a woman who must help her young niece navigate the difficult passage from childhood into adulthood,” Ferrer and Bevilacqua added.
Clara Ferrer has directed several short films and her first feature as a screenwriter, “Four Girls,” premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale. Tainá Bevilacqua first began working with Ferrer in 2018 as the star of Ferrer’s debut short film, “A Casa de Ana.” Since then, she has continued to work on award-winning short films.
Capivara Movies is an independent production company based in Rio de Janeiro, founded in 2024 by Laura Fazoli. It develops Brazilian films and series with international potential, working with established filmmakers, including Sandra Kogut and Gabriela Amaral Almeida, as well as emerging voices such as Ferrer and Bevilacqua.
Nogueira told Variety how Capivara works across “two complementary lines.” “One focuses on larger-scale projects, combining private investment, international co-production, and partnerships with broadcasters and streaming platforms. The other is dedicated to auteur cinema, built on public funding complemented by international resources.”
“Across both, we believe international co-production is key to the kind of cinema we want to make, and we build every project for international circulation from the earliest stage, working closely with our filmmakers,” she added. “Our goal is a catalog that combines artistic ambition with audience reach, spread across platforms and territories.”
