Oscar-Winning Producer Daniel Dreifuss Boards 'Bloodstained Swan' as Pipa Pictures Opens U.S. Base

Daniel Dreifuss, the Los Angeles-based producer behind the Oscar-winning "All Quiet on the Western Front," has boarded "Bloodstained Swan" ("Cisne manchado de sangue"), a fact-based historical thriller from Rio de Janeiro's Pipa Pictures, which announced the project alongside its first push into international co-production.

The deal marks a structural shift for Pipa Pictures. After more than 20 years in Brazilian film distribution and over 50 released features, the company is setting up a U.S. base and moving into co-production with its first two projects: "Bloodstained Swan" with Dreifuss, and the road movie "Pan-American Soul" ("Alma Panamericana") with director Felipe Joffily, best known for the Brazilian box office hit "Muita calma nessa hora." Downtown Filmes will handle Brazilian distribution of the latter.

Pipa Pictures CEO Alex Levy-Heller, who is co-writing and will direct "Bloodstained Swan," is attending the American Film Market, now underway until Nov. 15.

Why now? Timing meets Brazilian momentum

The expansion follows back-to-back Oscar success for Brazilian cinema. Walter Salles's "I'm Still Here" won the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Feature, and in 2026 Kleber Mendonça Filho's political drama "The Secret Agent" scored four nominations, including one for lead actor Wagner Moura.

Levy-Heller laid out the company's ambition plainly.

"Our goal is to connect Brazilian producers with American producers to develop projects and build international partnerships, mainly between Brazil and the United States, but also with other countries. We want to serve as a bridge between these producers, helping them work together on international co-productions, while also expanding the reach of Brazilian films through our distribution catalog," he told Variety.

A bridge, though, is only as strong as the films crossing it. Both projects remain in development; neither has a start date attached in the announcement.

What is 'Bloodstained Swan' about?

The film is produced by Brazil's Alelo Filmes and Dreifuss's Anima Pictures, with Pipa Pictures co-producing. Set in the 1960s, the story spans Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, São Paulo and Montevideo. It follows Herbert Cukurs, a Latvian immigrant who introduced the swan-shaped pedal boats still familiar on Rio's Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon. His reinvention collapsed when a Holocaust survivor identified him as the so-called Butcher of Riga — the Latvian aviator who became a Nazi collaborator and Holocaust perpetrator during World War II.

The film blends psychological suspense and espionage, and addresses the wider flight of Nazis to Latin America and the Mossad operations that hunted them.

"One of my objectives as a filmmaker is to make films that are both Brazilian and Jewish because that's something that we don't have much of in Brazil," said Levy-Heller. He added: "Incidentally, Dreifuss and I are both descendants of Holocaust survivors."

Dreifuss, for his part, stressed the story's implausibility as its draw.

"I think the story is fascinating. It's one of those stories I'm always drawn to because it sounds implausible, almost hard to believe it's true. Most people in Rio, or those who have visited, have seen the swan-shaped paddle boats. I don't think anyone looking at that romantic, playful, nostalgic image would imagine that the person behind it was a Nazi who fled and reinvented himself with a new life. It's such a contradiction to the person he was, a wolf in sheep's clothing," he said.

He framed the production as an international co-production potentially involving Uruguay and Germany. "I'm excited by the challenge of bringing such an ambitious narrative to life as an international co-production. Drawing on my experience working across different cultures, territories and funding systems, I hope to help make the project a reality," Dreifuss told Variety. He noted a symmetry: while Levy-Heller is expanding toward the U.S., he is on a "reverse route," returning to produce Brazilian stories in Brazil.

And 'Pan-American Soul'?

The second project is produced by Fiti Produções and Pipa Pictures in the U.S. It is based on the actual adventures of former surfing magazine editor Adrian Kojin, who drove across the Americas on a motorcycle with a surfboard strapped to his back in the 1980s, a period when several countries in the region were in political turmoil. Fiti Produções head Carlos Sanfelice brings experience in surfing documentaries to the production.

"We chose Joffily to direct as he's capable of directing both mainstream and auteur films," said Levy-Heller. "He also likes to surf!"

"At the same time, it is a journey of self-discovery, as he gains new perspectives and insights along the way," Levy-Heller said of Kojin's story. "I think it's a great story for an international co-production so that's where Pipa Pictures comes in."

What does this change for Brazilian cinema?

Pipa Pictures' catalog to date spans independent and auteur cinema alongside mainstream titles, including "Elvis & Madonna," "Jovens Polacas," "Noites de Alface," "Lima Barreto" and "Licença para Enlouquecer," with past partners including Globo Filmes, Globoplay, Telecine, Turner and Canal Brasil.

The company has also scheduled three releases for the first half of 2027: Ducca Rios's animated "Revoada – Versão Steampunk" from Origem Content; "Malick" by Cassio Tolpolar and Modou Awa Dieye, selected for the Novos Rumos competition at the Rio Film Festival; and Tiago Luciano's "O Mundo Que Eu Conheço Lá Não Existe Mais," produced by Luc Filmes and starring Lucy Ramos and Eduardo Moscovis.

For now, the promise rests on two films without cameras rolling and a partnership structure still being built. If Dreifuss's track record transfers, Brazil gains a producer-level pipeline into the U.S. market precisely when Academy voters are paying attention — and the swan boats of the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon gain a far darker backstory on screen.