Brazil puts stock in Amazon doc

Brazilian producer Katia Machado ("My Sweet Orange Tree") has boarded "Amazonia Eternal," a doc on Amazon-based initiatives that balance ecology and economics."Amazonia" is budgeted at 1.48 million ($1.9 million), way above the Brazilian average for docs.Vet documaker Belisario Franca helms. Production house Giros produces with To Do, a Sao Paulo communications agency. Machado will handle its international sales.Now at rough cut, "Amazonia Eternal" sets out to tell the stories of the people who live, love and work in the Amazon, Franca said."There are a lot of misunderstandings about the Amazon. Yes, it's a forest. But 25 million people live there. None of it is really empty. The people will be the audience's guides in the film," Franca said.Tales illustrate successful, often NGO-encouraged, initiatives that make sustainable use of the rainforest. One example is the Orsa Group's highly profitable eucalyptus pulp exploitation."Amazonia's" original score is by Moroccan musician Armand Amar.Machado said she is talking to potential sales agents at Berlin.Giros is negotiating theatrical distribution in Brazil."Amazonia Eternal," to be delivered by May, already has one guaranteed audience. It will have its Brazilian premiere at June's Rio +20 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, before a select gathering of heads of state. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com