Human Project: Ivan Mizanzuk opens details of ‘Altamira’, new season of the podcast

Ivan Mizanzuk is back with the fifth season of Human Project. The podcast, which rose to prominence in its fourth season after discovering previously unseen twists on the “Evandro Case”returns with a new in-depth analysis of another real crime that shocked Brazil in the 1980s: the case of the emasculated boys of Altamiraa city in the interior of Pará that gives its name to the new season.

“I was interested in Altamira when I was researching ‘The Evander Case’“, account Mizanzuk“at a certain moment, one of the suspects in the case of the boy Leandro Bossi, a child who disappeared two months before Evandro, also becomes a suspect related to the cases that occurred in Altamira“.

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Available from Thursday (7) at Globoplay and on other streaming services, the first episode travels back in time to October 1992, when a 13-year-old boy is found dead and with a mark in common with several other victims piling up in Altamira since 1989.

THE Rolling Stone Brazil, Ivan anticipated some details of the new season, its backstory, duration and its own relationship with the agenda – a true story of violence against children, which he learned in the midst of his own experience of fatherhood. Check out:

Altamira and the Evandro Case: similarities and differences
“I’m not going to list similarities, but there are some differences. The first is that the Evandro Case takes place in Curitiba, while Altamira is in the countryside of Pará – I always try to take the stories from the Rio-São Paulo axis”, says Ivan.

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Violence and discretion
According to the journalist, the new season is still a much more graphic and violent story than the previous one, which required him and his team to be even more discreet in adapting the format for the detailed storytelling of Project Humans: “It’s much heavier , much more intense”.

“Crimes and certain situations happen differently, depending on where you are. Altamira helps us understand a part of Brazil that we don’t want to look at too much, where problems are solved in a more difficult way”, he reflects.

Paternity during the investigation
In addition to the success of a podcast that turned into a documentary series by Globoplay, the last season of Human Project, about the Evandro Case, also marked a personal turning point for Ivan Mizanzuk, who became a father during the investigation process. The journalist says that, despite all the distance that his work requires, he himself was not able to avoid being personally involved, especially with the victims’ families. He guarantees that his work content was the subject of “a few therapy sessions”.

Exposure: helped or hindered?
With the successful coverage of the Evandro Case, Ivan also became a well-known figure. Asked about the impact of this exhibition on the investigation of Altamira, the journalist says that he was surprised to see more doors open after the popularity.

“In some cases, we faced resistance from someone who didn’t want to testify, and then I could say: ‘Google my name and look for me, take a look at what I’ve already done’.” According to Mizanzuk, even in large public bodies, his work was recognized. At times, he says, he himself was able to have less restricted access to documents than the program’s consulting attorney. “I don’t know if it will always be like this, but so far it has opened doors for me,” he says.

among police
Among the police, Ivan says his work “is neither loved nor hated by everybody.” By revealing points of debate in the discussion of the Evandro Case, he ended up being recognized by members of the academy. His expectation, he says, would be that “every police officer who was about to start an investigation would think: ‘Well, I hope this doesn’t become Ivan’s job,'” he says.

New season duration
“There won’t be 36 episodes, I can guarantee that”, he jokes. In the previous season, the Human Project eventually extended, thanks to the twists and turns of the case. “There won’t be as many comings and goings as in the Evandro case.”

Listen to the first episode of Human Project – Altamirabelow: