{"id":41205,"date":"2026-08-12T16:47:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41205"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:47:48","slug":"shirley-cruz-to-star-in-brazilian-trans-coming-of-age-the-she-devil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41205","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Cruz to Star in Brazilian Trans Coming-of-Age &#8216;The She-Devil&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/shirley-cruz\/\" id=\"auto-tag_shirley-cruz\" data-tag=\"shirley-cruz\">Shirley Cruz<\/a>, who delivered an acclaimed central performance in Anna Muylaert\u2019s 2025 Berlinale drama \u201cThe Best Mother in the World,\u201d is set to star in Clara Ferrer and Tain\u00e1 Bevilacqua\u2019s \u201cThe She-Devil.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe She-Devil\u201d is currently in development, with a short film taking place in the same universe, titled \u201cThe Death of the She-Devil,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe 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 \u201990s, and will trail the 11-year-old Ara\u00ed as he develops an obsession with an imaginary killer who attacks girls in their neighborhood. At first determined to capture him, little by little Ara\u00ed starts to understand, and eventually, to identify with the villain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSpeaking with <em>Variety <\/em>out of <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/locarno\/\" id=\"auto-tag_locarno\" data-tag=\"locarno\">Locarno<\/a>, where she took part in the festival\u2019s prestigious networking program Match Me!, Nogueira saId the story is set \u201cin a specific place, but deals with universal themes we believe resonate globally.\u201d \u201cEveryone had, or wishes they\u2019d had, an Aunt lara when they were young, and hopes to be that person for the children in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThis 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,\u201d added Ferrer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBevilacqua said she wanted to adapt the book from the very first time she read it, with the author happily agreeing to it. \u201cOur vision for the film, which we\u2019ve playfully christened \u2018contemporary working-class baroque,\u2019 is a plunge into the subjectivity of a protagonist in crisis, who sees the world in opposing extremes \u2014 the familiar and the unknown, the sacred and the profane, enchantment and horror \u2014 which are integrated in the character of Iara,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNogueira said having Cruz on their first set under Capivara Films \u201cis an enormous privilege.\u201d \u201cI couldn\u2019t have asked for a better way to start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cShirley 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,\u201d Ferrer and Bevilacqua added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tClara Ferrer has directed several short films and her first feature as a screenwriter, \u201cFour Girls,\u201d premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale. Tain\u00e1 Bevilacqua first began working with Ferrer in 2018 as the star of Ferrer\u2019s debut short film, \u201cA Casa de Ana.\u201d Since then, she has continued to work on award-winning short films.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCapivara 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNogueira told <em>Variety <\/em>how Capivara works across \u201ctwo complementary lines.\u201d \u201cOne 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAcross 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,\u201d she added. \u201cOur goal is a catalog that combines artistic ambition with audience reach, spread across platforms and territories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shirley Cruz, who delivered an acclaimed central performance in Anna Muylaert\u2019s 2025 Berlinale drama \u201cThe Best Mother in the World,\u201d is set to star in Clara Ferrer and Tain\u00e1 Bevilacqua\u2019s \u201cThe She-Devil.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe She-Devil\u201d is currently in development, with a short film taking place in the same universe, titled \u201cThe Death of the She-Devil,\u201d currently&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VARIETY-SIZING-4.png?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}