Projects

Pequeno Segredo

Pequeno Segredo is a Brazilian film, directed by David Schurmann, which shows how people from different parts of the world can be connected in ways that alter their lives and affect their dreams and destiny.

Media

Brazil & Aotearoa New Zealand

Find out more or follow:

Pequeno Segredo Ocean Films website

Pequeno Segredo. Film still.

Pequeno Segredo, or “little secret”, is a Brazilian drama directed by David Schurmann and inspired by events related to his adopted sister, Kat. Kat’s Brazilian mother and New Zealand father became friends with David’s family when they met in New Zealand. Filmed in New Zealand and Brazil, the film tells the story of how Kat was adopted as a child by David’s parents (Vilfredo and Heloísa Schurmann) after her mother and father die. Kat goes on to live an adventurous life, but in her teenage years she discovers a secret that threatens her dreams. The film shows how people from different parts of the world can be connected by a single secret, which can alter their lives and affect their dreams and destiny.

Schurmann has a strong connection to New Zealand, after his family became the first Brazilian family to circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat and the only Brazilian family to have done it three times. They docked in New Zealand when he was 16 years old, but he ended up staying in New Zealand for six years to study filmmaking and work in television.

In 2019, Schurmann attended the New Zealand screening of Pequeno Segredo at the Latin America and Spain Film Festival. Each year, this event brings Latin American, Spanish and New Zealand communities together through the big screen. While he was in New Zealand, Schurmann gave masterclasses to students at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University and the South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland.

Pequeno Segredo has been nominated for various awards. In 2016, it was nominated by Brazil as its Oscar entry for best foreign film. In 2017, it won the Crystal Lens Award at the Brazilian Film Festival of Miami, and the prize for best visual effects at the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize

Published 02 November 2023