EXCLUSIVE: Brazilian production and distribution company Elo Studios has entered into a co-production partnership with Portuguese independent production company Bro Cinema to adapt My Father’s Wives, the popular novel by Angolan author José Eduardo Agualusa, for the big screen, with veteran actress Taís Araujo signed on to star.
The film will be directed by Portuguese filmmaker Mário Patrocínio (Maria Vitória). The title in Portuguese is As Mulheres do Meu Pai. In the story, Araujo plays Laurentina, a young Mozambican woman adopted by a Portuguese-Brazilian couple and raised in Brazil. After receiving a letter from her biological father—a renowned Angolan double bassist—she travels to Angola to meet him, only to discover that he passed away shortly before her arrival. From that moment on, her journey becomes one of memory, identity, and belonging, connecting different territories across the Portuguese-speaking world.
“Playing a character who embarks on a journey to discover her own identity reflects the kind of stories I seek throughout my career,” Araujo, who is one of Brazil’s most popular actors, told Deadline. “Being part of a film that celebrates the beauty of African ancestry, told through the perspective of our Portuguese brothers and sisters, is deeply fulfilling, and I can’t wait to share it with audiences.”
Sabrina Nudeliman Wagon, CEO of Elo Studios, added: “This co-production represents a strategic step for Elo Studios in expanding its international footprint. Agualusa’s novel is a powerful literary work that addresses identity and ancestry from a universal perspective, and we believe this adaptation has strong potential to resonate globally.”
José Eduardo Agualusa is one of the leading voices in contemporary African literature in the Portuguese language. Agualusa has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and been nominated for the Booker International Prize.
Discussing this adaptation of his work, he said: “The novel ‘My Father’s Wives’ was born, first and foremost, as cinema. It is a book that calls for image, music, faces and silence. I trust Mário’s vision and his ability to preserve the delicacy of the book while embracing the creative freedom that cinema demands. I believe only a filmmaker with his maturity and organic relationship with Africa can transform this into not merely an adaptation, but an encounter.”
Elo Studios will also handle the film’s distribution in Brazil.
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