As Emmy celebrations peppered the town on Saturday night, a starkly differently occasion left attendees shaken, tearful and reminded of the immersive power of cinema. 

Among them were Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, who served as hosts for a special reception and screening of director Marianna Brennand’s stirring narrative feature Manas. 

Held inside the famed Ross House in Mt. Olympus, around 80 AMPAS voters and others across a number of guilds were welcomed personally by Roberts and Penn — also a Manas EP — with an emotional preamble to the film. 

“I am so excited for what’s about to happen to everyone in this room because it happened to me: This movie will change you,” said Roberts. “It is life-affirming in such a sad, beautiful and magical way.”

Penn talked about meeting Brennand for the first time at a Cannes Kering event last spring. “She’d won an Emerging Talent Award and gave a speech. I knew nothing about the film or about her. I just knew that the eloquence and the authenticity of this person … could make a great film,” said Penn. “After I saw it, I asked, ‘How can I help?’ It was just so perfect.”

Inspired by 10 years of research she conducted in remote reaches of the Amazon, Brennand’s Manas (“sisters” in Portuguese) tells the story of 13-year-old Marcielle who lives within an unimaginable cycle of sexual abuse both within her family and surrounding culture, one in which women and girls have been traditionally silenced for generations. 

Following the screening, Brennand and the lauded Brazilian actress Dira Paes (whose police officer character tries to save Marcielle from her tormenters) shared stunning stories about the making the film. 

​A longtime documentarian for whom Manas marks her narrative debut, Brennand said she wanted the film to feel as real and raw as possible, while also prioritizing the well-being of her young lead actress, Jamilli Correa. This included not allowing Correa to actually read the script.

“My main concern was this 13-year-old girl, protecting her psychological well-being and make sure that while we were making this film, which is so violent, that [she] would not actually live through the violence,” said Brennand.

Paes spoke passionately about the urgent need for resources in the harshly remote settings seen in the film — settings that help to foment these cycles of abuse. “We must teach children about protection and privacy,” she said. “In these remote spaces, it’s very difficult to give this kind of education. But there needs to to be some sense of belonging [for these girls].” 

Manas has racked up notable accolades and enviable support among industry heavyweights in the last year. 

The film won the Best Director Award in Venice Days in 2024 and is one of numerous vying to represent Brazil at the 2026 Oscars. Hoping to boost its chances in a crowded field is fellow Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles — whose I’m Still Here won the Best International Film Oscar last year — who’s also serving as an EP alongside the Belgian directing-duo Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. (The latter’s 2025 Cannes title,Young Mothers, is Belgium’s 2026 Academy Awards submission and thus a potential competitor to Manas.)

Manas was acquired by the Brooklyn-based distributor KimStim, which will release the film in up to 20 U.S. cities on a date yet to be announced. The feature already saw a 13-week run in Brazil earlier this year in more than 70 theaters nationwide and has had significant impact in bringing national and international attention to the issue of systemic sexual abuse against girls in the Amazon, particularly on the remote island of Marajó. 

Brennand closed Saturday’s event with the heartening news that Manas is now screening in the very communities where the abuse and violence depicted onscreen are taking place.

“We are doing a circuit of exhibitions in Marajó Island,” she said. “The community was asking for it. They are eager. We want to exhibit the film in the places that really, really need to see it.”