Brazilians Excel in Portuguese Telenovela Nominated for Emmy Award

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Emmy nominees were announced last week and Brazil had seven works selected by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In all, productions from 20 countries are on the nomination list.

But what few people know is that Brazil is also represented in the telenovela ‘Na Corda Bamba’, which competes for Portugal. Rui Vilhena is the telenovela‘s writer, and the team and cast also include famous names from Brazilian TV.

Rui is Mozambican but moved to Brazil as a child. He worked in telenovelas in Portugal, such as ‘Terra Mãe’, ‘Tempo de Viver’, and ‘Olhos nos Olhos’, and in Brazil, he worked with Aguinaldo Silva at ‘Fina Estampa’ and wrote ‘Boogie Oogie’.

Now living in Lisbon, Vilhena is competing for an Emmy for the first time. “First I was in a state of shock, it was euphoric to be nominated for the top award in TV. I knew there was a chance of being nominated, but it was unexpected because you are competing with the whole world”, he rejoices.

For him, the success of the work is also due to the whole team. Among them, TV director Marcos Schechtman. “Marcos did an incredible job! I wanted a foreign director in the telenovela because I wanted a different photography, I didn’t want more of the same”. Schechtman has already been honored with an Emmy award alongside Glória Perez, in 2009, for the telenovela ‘Caminho das Índias’.

Despite Vilhena and Schechtman’s long experience, the telenovela also opened doors for new talents. And all of them are celebrating together the Emmy nomination. The Rio de Janeiro screenwriter Vinicius Dias made his debut in ‘Na Corda Bamba’.

“I had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of the scripts which, in general, is the structure for each chapter. It was an incredible lesson on how to conduct the narrative in a telenovela. I owe Rui Vilhena so much for the chance and for all the teachings, but I can’t help but thank Joana Jorge who, despite being involved in other projects at the time, generously supported us in everything possible,” he says.

“In addition to being a brilliant writer, Vilhena encourages a cooperative environment where the focus is always on delivering the best chapter. That’s why the nomination to the Emmy is so celebrated by the whole team: the feeling is truly one of collective achievement,” Dias says.

Another debutant is the Rio de Janeiro screenwriter Hérica Marmo. “I was extremely lucky to have made my debut in a Rui Vilhena telenovela. Not only is he a genius in creating stories and mastering the format like few others, but he is also a very generous person, who inspires and encourages those around him. Everyone in the screenwriting team has always been aware, from the very beginning, the high quality of what was being done”, she says. “The nomination for the Emmy reflects this feeling of ours that we did something great”, says Hérica.

Exchange

‘Na Corda Bamba’ was broadcast by TVI between September 2019 and May 2020. Produced by Plural Entertainment, with filming in Madeira Island and Lisbon, it also had Brazilians in the cast. Rui Vilhena brought together in his telenovela actors Edwin Luisi and Lucélia Santos, forty years after having starred in the hit ‘A Escrava Isaura’, in 1978.

But despite the participation of Brazilians, he makes a point of emphasizing that the majority were Portuguese. “Na Corda Bamba is a 100 percent Portuguese product. There were many more Portuguese than Brazilians on the team. I brought about four people from Brazil. All the others on the team, costumes, cameras, editing, and actors were Portuguese. This exchange is always good. The Brazilians learned a lot here. It’s an exchange, a new perspective, it opens a window to what’s new,” says Vilhena.

In addition to ‘Na Corda Bamba’, the Brazilian ‘Órfãos da Terra’, the Chinese ‘Chen Xi Yuan’, and the Argentinean ‘Pequeña Victoria’ are competing for the Best Telenovela Award. The award winners will be known on November 23rd.