– Jamillah van der Hulst and Maria Clara’s film spotlights Projeto ViDançar, the 2009 initiative bringing classical ballet and education to children
A promo image for Don’t Stop Dreaming (© Projeto ViDançar)
A new international documentary project centred on young ballet dancers from Rio de Janeiro’s favelas is taking shape as Netherlands-based JaJa Films joins forces with Brazil’s MyMama Entertainment and Ireland’s Downey Ink. The feature, titled Don’t Stop Dreaming, is currently being financed and is structured as a Brazilian-Dutch-Irish co-production, with this year’s Berlinale (12-22 February) serving as an early industry platform for the announcement.
The film will follow participants in Projeto ViDançar, an initiative launched in 2009 to provide children from Rio’s Complexo do Alemão favela with access to classical ballet and related educational activities. The programme, which began with a small group of students, has since expanded to reach hundreds of young people, combining dance training with broader pedagogical support aimed at building confidence, discipline and opportunities for social mobility.
The documentary is co-directed by Dutch filmmaker Jamillah van der Hulst and Brazilian director Maria Clara, both known for socially engaged storytelling. Production duties are being handled by double International Emmy winner Mayra Faour Auad and Festival do Rio figure Ilda Santiago for MyMama Entertainment, alongside Mike Downey and Conrad Alleblas, the latter also serving as cinematographer. Rodrigo Séllos will edit the film, whilst multi-Academy Award nominee Stephen Daldry is attached as executive producer.
Downey traced the origins of the project to a 2013 encounter in Rio de Janeiro, when he and Daldry screened Billy Elliot at the CineCarioca Nova Brasília cinema in Complexo do Alemão during the Festival do Rio. There, they met dance-school founder Ellen Serra and her students, an experience that sparked the idea for a documentary about young performers striving for professional careers despite living in environments marked by poverty and violence.
Producer Mayra Faour Auad highlighted the transformative potential of arts education in the Brazilian context, noting that institutions such as elite ballet academies have often seemed inaccessible to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Initiatives like Projeto ViDançar, she suggested, can open pathways to professional opportunities and personal development by combining artistic training with education and community support.
Projeto ViDançar itself has expanded significantly since its launch, offering training not only in classical ballet, but also in hip-hop, football, passinho and chess. Its public performances across Rio aim to give participants stage experience while reinforcing the programme’s broader mission of strengthening self-esteem and educational attainment among underprivileged youth.
The collaboration brings together producers with a track record in socially conscious cinema. Downey and Alleblas have previously worked on projects addressing issues affecting street children worldwide, as well as fiction features such as the Asia Pacific Screen Award-winning Dede [+see also:
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Don’t Stop Dreaming is now seeking additional partners as financing discussions continue. The producers aim to combine observational storytelling with personal portraits of the dancers and their families, exploring how artistic ambition intersects with the realities of daily life in the favelas while charting the development of a grassroots cultural initiative that has grown into an influential community programme.
