Sean Penn met with Brazilian filmmaker Marianna Brennand for lunch in Malibu on Saturday and later joined a special Los Angeles screening of Brennand’s debut feature, Manas, which he serves on as an executive producer.
The two ate on the restaurant patio with a third woman before departing together in Penn’s Rivian truck. Penn, 65, arrived casually in a teal T-shirt, hiking pants and beige shoes; Brennand, 45, wore white pants and a long blue button-down. After the meal they headed to a screening at The Ross House in the Hollywood Hills where the film and its cast were presented to an invited audience.
The screening was co-hosted by Penn and Julia Roberts. Roberts arrived in a black button-down shirt, wide-leg jeans and black pumps; she wore natural-looking makeup and dark-framed glasses. Penn changed into a blue button-down, a navy jacket, jeans and white sneakers for the evening event. Brennand attended in a white-and-gray striped shirt, belted black wide-leg pants and pumps. Also present was Brazilian actress Dira Paes, who stars in Manas.
Manas follows Marcielle, a 13-year-old girl from Marajó Island in northern Brazil, and depicts a community that has turned a blind eye to violence against women and children. Brennand shepherded the story from more than a decade of research; she began her career as a documentarian and initially planned to make a documentary on the subject, but said early in the research process she concluded a narrative feature was the more ethical way to tell the story.
"Manas started a little more than 10 years ago when I first heard of what was happening in Marajó Island," Brennand told Variety. "As a documentarian, my first impulse was to do a documentary, to shed light on and denounce the situation. That’s what I started to do, but in the very early stages of the research, I understood it would be impossible for me to ethically tell this story as a documentary."
The film has been recognized at major festivals, including screenings at the Venice Film Festival and awards at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Brennand received the Kering Women in Motion Emerging Talent Award at the Cannes Film Festival in May, a prize that included a $57,000 grant to invest in her next feature.
Penn, who is credited as an executive producer on Manas, told Variety that the film was a compelling reason for him to support its U.S. release. "Manas continues Brazil’s most enduring cinematic legacy," he said. "Manas is deeply emotional, stirring, and God forbid… important. I felt as if I had to put my skin back on after watching it."
U.S. distributor KimStim has purchased the film and is preparing a limited run in the United States, in part to position the picture for consideration as Brazil’s submission for the Academy Award for best international feature. If selected as Brazil’s official submission and ultimately nominated, Brennand would be the first Brazilian woman to receive an Oscar nomination in that category.
Brennand’s shift from documentary to narrative and her more-than-a-decade-long research process reflect the film’s roots in long-term reporting and community engagement. The Los Angeles screening reunited the film’s supporters and underscored its trajectory from locally rooted reporting to international festival recognition and a planned U.S. theatrical rollout.