VICTOR LOPES

Project: The Dribble (O Drible)
Scr: Victor Lopes
Estimated budget: $2.5m (Eu1.8m)

The Dribble will be the debut feature from the Mozambique-born, Brazil-based film-maker Victor Lopes. It will explore the issue of racism through the prism of Brazil's alternative religion - football.

'It will portray how one man overcomes racism through talent and effort, and reinvents a game and anticipates a future of victories,' says Lopes.

The director was drawn to the subject matter as it gave him 'the chance to tell a story dealing with the origin of the world's greatest popular passion, football, against the backdrop of a Brazilian coffee plantation.

It has all the elements to reach diverse audiences and tells a universal story. Football is a true cultural power that transcends borders, religions and ideologies.'

Renata Almeida Magalhaes and Carlos Diegues of Luz Magica Producoes Audiovisuais in Rio de Janeiro will produce the project. Ibermedia is backing it.

Lopes has made a name for himself in Brazil as a prolific director of TV, short films and documentaries. His 2003 short film, Stray Bullet, earned several international awards while his documentary work has encompassed subjects as diverse as Aids and linguistics - 2002's Lingua looked at the lives of Portuguese speakers on four continents.