Rob Munday

Looking to shed some light on the real-estate industry in Brazil, Tatuapé Mahal Tower is the charming tale of a scale figurine’s quest for happiness. Directed by Carolina Markowicz and Fernanda Salloum, the filmmaking duo use a playful aesthetic and humorous touch to focus on a niche subject whilst still telling an accessible, universal story.

Stumbling upon the miniature stars of their film whilst on a trip to London, the directorial pair were instantly drawn to the range and diversity of scale models available at the store. Deciding to tell a very relatable story with inanimate objects, Markowicz reveals they “thought it could be interesting in terms of tone and story to create a scale model figure who has the same emotional issues of a human, but in its own world”.

Created over an 11-month period, 5 months of shooting and 6 months of Post, using a combination of 3D Animation and Stop-Motion, the duo admit that due to a small budget and small crew it took a lot of willpower to get the film over the finishing line.

All the hard-work however seemed worth it in the end, with Tatuapé Mahal Tower going on to play more than 200 festivals worldwide, picking up over 20 awards along the way.

And that hard work certainly hasn’t put the twosome off creating more films; Carolina is now working on her forth short film The Orphan (whilst also working on the third draft of her first feature script When My Life Was My Life) and Fernanda is currently developing the script of her latest short Yard Sale.