barca aberta
produções.
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this is why we stay with poetry.
our boats are open, and we sail them for everyone.
- édouard glissant.
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about
Barca Aberta ("open boat" in English) is a production company based in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The name echoes our mission and comes from the text of the same name by Édouard Glissant, which states that, for enslaved Africans and their descendants, what was left behind can only be rediscovered in the blue savannas of memory… or through imagination.
With an emphasis on the meeting between Black narratives and genre cinema, we develop projects in horror, fantasy, magical realism, comedy, among others. With more than 100 selections and over 30 awards at festivals such as Rio, Brasília, Tiradentes, ShortsMexico, Cartagena de Indias, and the Grande Otelo Awards, Barca is now expanding its catalog into other formats, including feature films and series.
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founders
yuri costa . director & screenwriter (he/him)
Co-founder of Barca Aberta alongside Janyne Sousa. As a filmmaker, he directed the horror shorts HIS BODY (2024), EGUN (2020), and ELEGGUA (2018) through Barca, accumulating selections at festivals such as Rio, Brasília, the Grande Otelo Awards of Brazilian Cinema, ShortsMexico, and FicValdivia, as well as more than 30 awards, including the Barroco Trophy for Best Short Film at Tiradentes.
As a writer for TV and streaming, he collaborated on the Globoplay series DIAS PERFEITOS (2025), with previous credits including OS RONI (2019). He is a member of APAN (the Association of Black Audiovisual Professionals) and holds a Master’s degree in Communication from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), with research focused on Afrosurrealism.
janyne sousa . producer (she/her)
Co-founder of Barca Aberta alongside Yuri Costa. She began her career in theater and soon after worked as a producer in the music department at Multishow and in executive production within Globo’s Integrated Advertising Unit, with a focus on social media. She gained experience in live broadcasts, participating in the production of transmissions for some of Brazil’s biggest music festivals, such as Rock in Rio and Lollapalooza, as well as music television programs.
At the same time, she produced the short films ELEGGUA (2018); EGUN (2020), selected at more than 80 festivals and awarded Best Short Film at the 23rd Tiradentes Film Festival, among others; and HIS BODY (2024), which won awards at the Rio and Brasília Film Festivals, was nominated for the Grande Otelo Awards, and was named one of the best shorts of 2025 by Abraccine.
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