{"id":11546,"date":"2019-07-03T09:56:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T13:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/"},"modified":"2019-07-08T09:25:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T13:25:49","slug":"aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/","title":{"rendered":"Aruanas Creator Talks New Environmental Thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billed as an \u201cenvironmental thriller,\u201d Globo and Maria Farinha Films\u2019 Aruanas\u00a0<\/em>takes a different approach to educating viewers about climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, this is an amazing opportunity for us to create fiction, to talk about climate change in a way that\u2019s not so popular,\u201d Estela Renner, the series\u2019 creator, writer, producer and director, tells TV Drama<\/em>. \u201cOur inspiration was to create a tool to talk about the environment through drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aruanas\u00a0<\/em>premiered worldwide yesterday on the Vimeo-backed platform aruanas.tv in more than 150 countries, with subtitles for the Portuguese-produced drama available in 11 languages.<\/p>\n

The ten-episode series follows as three childhood friends\u2014played by Brazil\u2019s first Afro-Brazilian star, Ta\u00eds Ara\u00fajo, and co-stars D\u00e9bora Falabella and Leandra Leal\u2014set up a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the Amazon in order to investigate the region\u2019s illegal mining, which is still a cause of deforestation, heavy-metal poisoning in local populations and territorial disputes that often end in devastation for indigenous communities. The show sees the protagonists balance their personal lives with their activism. \u201cOur idea is that people are going to fall in love with the characters, just like they do with all the other dramas they see in different places. Just like Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> takes place in a hospital, ours takes place in an NGO,\u201d Renner says.<\/p>\n

She continues, \u201cWe thought, how come no one has done a TV series that takes place at an NGO? There\u2019s so much drama, so much adventure, so many challenges. And we felt that fiction would be a good way to talk about it without it being a documentary\u2014something that people who usually don\u2019t tune into that theme will watch because it is entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

A partner at S\u00e3o Paulo-based Maria Farinha Films and a native Brazilian, Renner said it was a no-brainer to try to tackle the topic of climate change, a hot-button issue that her home country is at the center of as the Amazon becomes ground zero for environmental conflicts; the death toll of eco-activists and land defenders in Brazil consistently ranks among the highest in the world. She has been inspired by many different movements and activists throughout her life, she says, and wanted to bring that to the set. \u201cIt is in our DNA to talk about social and environmental issues through the art of filmmaking,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are so many people that are still in denial and governments where people still deny climate change. So we said, How can we talk about climate change without talking about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cclimate change\u201d is not mentioned once in the show, Renner contends, because the series\u2019 essence lies in the characters\u2014they are not one-dimensional talking heads who spout buzzwords in a thinly veiled effort to trick viewers into watching a show about global warming. Rather, they are complex, relatable young women who, perhaps too idealistically, set out to change the world and their arcs just happen to take place at an NGO. \u201cWe did everything we could to have our characters be the reason why you\u2019re going to watch the series,\u201d she says. \u201cWe tried our best to have the series be first entertaining and to talk to people through their hearts. And we tried not to fake the message all the time. Hopefully [the show] has the feeling that the message is there, but it\u2019s there because you got involved with a story, not because we are trying to teach anyone anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Renner walked the proverbial walk in production, heading up an eco-friendly and humanitarian set. The production had Greenpeace on board as technical advisors, not only aiding the show in \u201cgoing green\u201d but informing its character development as well. \u201cThey gave us personal stories, personal strategies that helped us a lot to create the fiction,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are so many NGOs that do research, they do the investigation, they fight [private] agendas, but they lack help to communicate their causes. So we said, Let\u2019s do this together because we have the same goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Farinha was the first company in Latin America to become a certified B Corporation, a designation that means the company balances purpose and profit. \u201cWe believe that the change has to come from within,\u201d Renner says. \u201cSo everything we do, our team, everyone on the inside\u2014we try to be the change we wish to see in the world.\u201d In keeping with the theme of female empowerment, 47 percent of the people who worked on production were women. \u201cIt\u2019s not that it fell into place to have half of the team be women\u2014we looked for them. We were active about it. We purposely looked for half of the crew to be women because that\u2019s how we want the world to be,\u201d Renner continues. \u201cAnd also we worked with locals. Why should we bring out-of-towners from Rio de Janeiro or S\u00e3o Paulo?\u201d she adds. There were no plastic water bottles on set either, with each member of production given their own steel water bottle in order to decrease waste from plastics, and the set had zero carbon footprint. \u201cWe are hoping to set an example and to be an inspiration,\u201d Renner says.<\/p>\n

Aruanas\u00a0<\/em>also carries the call to action \u201cCare for the Amazon,\u201d a global campaign that was co-created by various notable environmental and human rights organizations, including WWF, Amnesty International, Open Society Foundations, Global Witness and UN Women. Additionally, from July through October, 50 percent of all net sales from the series will be donated to an initiative that protects the Amazon rainforest.<\/p>\n

Aruanas<\/em>\u2019 main message, according to Renner, is that the rainforest has more value for everyone when it is protected. It aims to sound the alarm on the global environmental crisis; promote, protect and raise a glass to the extraordinary work of activists; and connect people from across the world to the reality of the problems plaguing the Amazon, a biome that acts as the planet\u2019s air conditioner. \u201cWe all share a common planet and want a good planet that\u2019s not super warm and dirty and polluted,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to polarize, we just want to unite everyone and fight for the same home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billed as an \u201cenvironmental thriller,\u201d Globo and Maria Farinha Films\u2019 Aruanas\u00a0takes a different approach to educating viewers about climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1049,"featured_media":11547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[3129],"class_list":["post-11546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-aruanas","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nAruanas Creator Talks New Environmental Thriller - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aruanas Creator Talks New Environmental Thriller - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Billed as an \u201cenvironmental thriller,\u201d Globo and Maria Farinha Films\u2019 Aruanas\u00a0takes a different approach to educating viewers about climate change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-03T13:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-08T13:25:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/Aruanas-719.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/\",\"name\":\"Aruanas Creator Talks New Environmental Thriller - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-03T13:56:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-08T13:25:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/aruanas-creator-talks-new-environmental-thriller\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aruanas Creator Talks New Environmental Thriller\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\",\"name\":\"Alison Skilton\",\"description\":\"Alison Skilton is an associate editor of World Screen. 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