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Feature film, fiction, live-action, children's/young adult.
In Development Phase
Carol in the Hilarious City
Directed and written by Thais Scabio
Logline
A girl disillusioned with Carnival unwittingly embarks on a fantastical journey where forgotten stories come to life—and she must rediscover the power of joy to save her grandmother and her community.
Feature film, fiction, live-action, children's/young adult.
In Development Phase
Carol in the Hilarious City
Directed and written by Thais Scabio
Logline
A girl disillusioned with Carnival unwittingly embarks on a fantastical journey where forgotten stories come to life—and she must rediscover the power of joy to save her grandmother and her community.
Synopsis
Presentation
Carol is 9 years old and lives immersed in her cell phone, which distances her from friendships and the Unidos da Hilária samba school, where her family is one of the founders. Until...
Conflict
Her grandmother Cida is mysteriously hospitalized, and Carol discovers that a villain wants to destroy the school's storyline by stealing her grandmother's "heart of light."
Journey
With the help of Peninha, an enchanted puppet, and new friends, they set off towards the magical and dark Hilarious City.
Resolution
In this fantastic journey, he faces challenges and unusual creatures, and discovers the value...
...and the magic of samba, of friendship, of ancestry, and it rediscovers its place in the community's tradition.
Characters
CAROL
He/She accompanies his/her parents to work.
She frequents the samba school's headquarters, but always stays in the corner using her cell phone. She's not interested in samba. She has screen addiction disorder. When her cell phone battery dies, she gets nervous, anxious waiting for it to recharge, and tries to get another one instead, worried. When she needs to save her grandmother's heart, she realizes how important samba is to her history and to her body, her childhood. Discovering the magic of samba.
JOÃO VITOR
He's a 10-year-old boy who grew up in the world of samba. He's part of the children's percussion group, but his dream is to be a master of ceremonies.
He likes to boss the other drummers around. The other members get mad at him and he has no friends. He's constantly out of rhythm with the drums because he gets...
always "in the clouds".
BETHANY
She's a 12-year-old girl, granddaughter of the founder of the Samba School. She's the school's junior flag bearer. She's great at what she does, but she has difficulty listening to people. She's very...
Anxious. Doesn't listen to anyone and talks too much.
Characters
Grandma Cida - Cida is around 60 years old. A grandmother who was the flag bearer of
She spent many years at the school. Vain and wheelchair-bound. She's part of the old guard of...
school. She is the coordinator of the children's wing and teaches the girls who will be the
Future samba dancers. She is the heart of the school. The person who brings life to the place.
Grandpa Jair - He's around 70 years old. He's part of the Old Guard of the school. He taught
The youngest son, Murilo, is the one who makes the sculptures. The two of them sculpt the school's floats together. His dream is to see Murilo become the school's carnival designer. Jair is the only one who pays attention to Carol. Every now and then he secretly turns off his granddaughter's cell phone so they can create imaginative games. He creates and tells stories about the Hilária City to the children at school. He brings the sculpted figures to life. He has a very fertile imagination from spending so many years sculpting the floats.
Murilo - Carol's father. He is around 35 years old. He is part of the team that sculpts the parade floats. He is studying fine arts in college.
Helena - She is Carol's mother. She is around 35 years old. She has been part of the samba school since its founding. She is the coordinator of the sewing department and the financial director of the school.
school. With all this, the couple doesn't have time for Carol, leaving her on her cell phone most of the time.
King Leopold II - A symbolic villain in the story, inspired by the European colonizer. He represents the destruction of memory, joy, and ancestry.
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Visual References
A surreal Carnival
Inspiration from the works of Heitor dos Prazeres, Rosana Paulino,
Emanoel Araújo, Bisa Butler
Afrofuturism
Black Is King (Beyoncé), Negrum3 (Diego Paulino).
Set design
Inspired by the works of Di Cavalcanti and Bispo do Rosário for Cidade Hilaria. The visual style, reminiscent of samba school sheds, utilizes recycled materials and antique shine (faded laminated paper, chipped wood with glitter).
Sound texture
Samba, funk, symphonic score and field recordings mixed together.
with diegetic elements (like a school drum set)
Samba transformed into suspense or beats turning into magical effects.
Project Objectives
Carol na Cidade Hilária
01
Cinematic work
To create a cinematographic work (or film) that values Black culture and children's imagination.
02
Black children's protagonism
To insert Black protagonism in childhood, especially from the peripheries, into the Brazilian collective imagination, using accessible and symbolic language.
03
Identification
To promote identification with the characters' emotional conflicts, encouraging autonomy, logical reasoning, socialization, and problem-solving.
04
Reflections
To stimulate reflections on culture, memory, and the future based on an aesthetic that celebrates the blend of tradition and innovation.
Children's and Young Adult
6 a 10 Years
Educators
Teachers/Professors and Cultural Mediators
Families
diverse family groups
Culture lovers
Enthusiasts of Brazilian popular culture and fantastic narratives.
Target Audience and Cultural Impact
"Carol in the Hilarious City" aims to expand the Brazilian audiovisual repertoire with a film that articulates playfulness, ancestry, and Afrofuturism. The work contributes to strengthening the self-esteem of Black children, presenting narratives where they are the protagonists of their own stories. It also aims to foster debate about popular culture as a technology of the future and colonization, opening space for dialogues in schools, exhibitions, and cultural circuits with children and adults.
Carol in the Hilarious City
Magical and original setting
"The 'Hilary City' as a parallel universe that blends abandoned allegories with historical figures is a powerful poetic metaphor about memory, culture, and ancestry."
Characters with an emotional journey
Characters with an emotional journey: Carol undergoes a significant transformation: from apathetic to an active protagonist, saving her grandmother and the community. It's a beautifully crafted journey of belonging and maturity.
Afrofuturism as resistance and an incentive for research.
The school's plot theme connects tradition and the future, creating a great counterpoint to the antagonist (Leopold II) — a symbol of the colonial past.
Highly cinematic visual and dramatic elements.
Styrofoam snow, a silent battery, mirrors that become cell phone screens, Bahian women who heal, a parade of lunatics... these are powerful images that would make for unforgettable scenes.
Financing Plan
Carol in the Hilarious City
01
DEVELOPMENT
Screenplay, research, illustration, cinematic bible, teaser $28,000 (twenty-eight thousand dollars) or R$ 150,000.00 (one hundred and fifty thousand reais) Expected Funding: - Grants, BNDES investment fund, international funds, own resources, awards and Laboratories.
02
PRODUCTION
$700,000 (seven hundred thousand dollars) or R$ 3,500,000.00 (three and a half million reais) Projected Financing - co-productions, public funding through the FSA, national tax incentives through the Audiovisual Law, calls for proposals, international funds and international co-productions and international pre-sales.
03
SOURCES OF REVENUE
Release in theaters, broadcast TV, pay TV, streaming and TVOD, multiplatform, merchandising - on average, the return on revenue for family films is over 100% of production costs.
Thais Scabio
Filmmaker. CEO, with filmmaker Gilberto Caetano, of Cavalo Marinho Audiovisual. Founding partner of APAN - Association of Black Audiovisual Professionals. President of COMPA - Espaço Cultura JAMAC, as well as CEO and Business Development Manager of the streaming platform Todesplay.
Contact
