There was a Brazilian awarded an Oscar 2023. Minas Gerais producer Daniel Dreifuss, 44, received the statuette in the category of best international film for his work in the war drama “Nada de Novo no Front”.
About 20 years ago, the film producer from Belo Horizonte moved from the capital of Minas Gerais to Los Angeles, where he currently resides, but he never stopped loving Brazil and his hometown. “I am a samba lover, fascinated by the history of Minas, by the gastronomy”, he declared in a recent interview with the newspaper O Tempo.
In two decades in the United States, Dreifuss established himself in the film industry and signed the production of some famous projects such as “No”, by Pablo Larraín, the first Chilean feature film nominated for an Oscar as best international film, in 2013, with Gael García Bernal (“Time”) and “Sérgio”, with Wagner Moura (“Hidden Agent”) and Ana de Armas (“Blondie”), a biography of the late Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello.
With 9 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, All That’s New at the Front tells the story of young German soldier Paul (Felix Kammerer) who enlists to fight in World War I. The screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Erich Maria Remarque, released in January 1929.
The feature film was one of the biggest winners of the night, winning four categories: Best International Film, Cinematography, Art Direction (Production Design) and Soundtrack.
Daniel Dreifuss received the script for “Nothing New on the Front” about 10 years ago. Originally, the film would have been all spoken in English and would have had a more commercial slant, with lots of action scenes and explosions. The plot focused more on the last day of the conflict, hours before the armistice of November 11, 1918, at 11:00.
After the text passed through other directors and producers, Dreifuss decided to pick up the project with major changes. “I struggled for authenticity which has always guided my career. I thought: ‘Why should Germans speak English to each other?’. I went to Germany in 2019 with the idea of going back to the original text and trying to increase the production in German,” he explained for the Minas Gerais newspaper.
“Nada de Novo no Front”, directed by Edward Berger (“Jack”), was filmed in 2021 and a few months ago it arrived in streaming as Netflix’s big bet for the awards season. Before getting financing for the film, Daniel Dreifuss heard a lot of rejections in the United States. However, going back to the original text and looking for partners in Germany has a very peculiar explanation.
“My father’s family is all German, from the border with France. My grandfather Max was born in 1899, enlisted in 1917 and went to fight for Germany in WW1. Wounded in the back and lung, he was sent back to Germany. home. His cousin is one of the people the film is about. He died 40 hours before the end of the war. My grandfather, 20 years later, was sent to a concentration camp for being a German Jew,” he reported the manufacturer.
“When I received the script, I knew those people existed in my life, existed in me. I wanted to honor them after so many ‘no’s in a row, with so much negative charge. history,” he adds.
His grandfather survived the terror of Nazism and fled to Uruguay, where the producer’s father, the political scientist and historian René Dreifuss, would be born. Daniel was born in Glasgow in 1978 when his father was studying for a doctorate in Scotland. A year and a half later he arrived in Belo Horizonte.
The manufacturer speaks of BH with nostalgia. It was in the capital of Minas Gerais that he fell in love with cinema in the sessions of Cine Pathé, Cine Acaiaca, Belas Artes and other street cinemas of the city, taken by his mother, Aurea, since he was a child. These memories stay with Dreifuss to this day and always will. Having been out of Brazil for so many years, the producer doesn’t want his ties with the country to weaken over time. Friendships, family, cooking, music and occasional visits to the countryside help keep this bond strong.
With the Brazilian film market, Daniel Dreifuss hopes to create a relationship that will generate future works: “I would like Brazil to remember more that I am Brazilian, I would like to cultivate projects in Brazil. Our country has a lot of talent in cinema, a lot of interesting directors , has from Recife, from my compatriots from “Marte Um”, from Filmes de Plástico. I hope to have the privilege of ending up connecting more with the Brazilian industry. I go where the stories are, and they have no borders”.
“Nothing New on the Front” became the most awarded German film in the history of the Oscars. And in addition to four US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences statuettes, the film was also the big winner of the British Academy of Motion Picture and Television Arts and Sciences awards, winning seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
After the resounding success of the work, Daniel reports that he is currently full of new projects and is working on the development of two miniseries and a film. And the producer reveals that he would like to see all these works recorded in Brazil: “I don’t want to distance myself from my country. Brazil is exciting.”
Source: Terra
I am Amanda Gans, a motivated and ambitious professional in the news writing industry. With over five years of experience in this field, I have developed an eye for detail and an ability to craft stories that captivate readers. I currently write for Gossipify, where I specialize in beauty & celebrities news. My passion lies with exploring the world of beauty through writing, interviewing experts and developing articles that are both informative and entertaining.
