ABOUT

Darya Films is a Film & TV production company based in Lisbon, Portugal, founded in 2018 by Greek-Portuguese producer, director & writer Paolo Marinou-Blanco and Portuguese producer Filipa Vala. Darya Films specializes in developing and producing projects that engage with important or controversial social and political issues seen through personal & original perspectives, yet are still accessible to a wide range of audiences.

We work on genres ranging from dark comedy to political thriller and historical drama, striving to bridge different cultures and prioritize projects created by women and new voices under-represented in the national filmmaking and television landscape. In 2020 we produced “Empty Hands”, a Portugal/Spain coproduction (Curtas Vila do Conde IFF, San Francisco IFF, Izmir IFF, Provincetown IFF, Badajoz IFF, among others), and in 2023 “Dreaming of Lions”, a dark comedy about the controversial issue of euthanasia, a Portugal/Brazil/Spain coproduction with funding from ICA (Portugal), ANCINE (Brazil), ICAA (Spain), Ibermedia and Eurimages. The script was selected for the Torino Film Lab – Comedy, San Francisco Film Society Rainin Grant, MFI Script2Film, Crossroads Agora Coproduction Market and premiered at Tallinn Black Nights IFF in 2024, will have its theatrical release in 2025, distributed by NOS in Portugal and Pandora in Brazil. 

Other film projects currently in pre-production include “From Guiné”, winner of the Hubert Bals Fund, the second feature by Brazilian writer-director Caroline Leone, whose debut film “A Window to Rosália” won the FIPRESCI prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the documentary “What Will We Do About Fatima Roque?”, a documentary exploring the Angolan Civil War through a deeply personal and woman-centered perspective. Our television projects currently in pre-production include a TV Mini-Series based on the feature film “Dreaming of Lions”,  for Portuguese national broadcaster RTP to be broadcast in late 2026, and “Gaia”, a cross-border political thriller about the controversial issue of GMOs in the European Union.

TEAM

Paolo Marinou-Blanco

Producer | Director | Screenwriter

  • Paolo Marinou-Blanco is a Portuguese-Greek producer, director & screenwriter, with a B.A. in Philosophy from London School of Economics, an MA in French Literature from University College London and an MFA in Film from New York University. Following an internship with Spike Lee, Paolo wrote, directed and produced his 1st feature “Goodnight Irene”, screened at Tallinn Black Nights, Edinburgh, Valencia, Goa, Provincetown New Orleans, Mill Valley, another 30 festivals worldwide and theatrically released in Portugal and the UK. 

    Paolo has also worked as a professional screenwriter in the US (WGA member), Portugal and Brazil, working with studios like Paramount Pictures (US), Fox (Brazil) and producers such as Michael London (Oscar nominated for “Sideways”). 

    Paolo’s short film “Empty Hands” screened at Curtas Vila do Conde 2021, San Francisco IFF, Provincetown IFF, Izmir IFF, FestIn, Badajoz and many others, winning numerous awards.

    “Dreaming of Lions” was Paolo’s 2nd feature as producer/director and screenwriter. The film is a dark surreal comedy about euthanasia, a Portugal/Brazil/Spain coproduction, selected for the Torino Film Lab, MFI Script 2 Film, won the San Francisco Film Society Rainin Screenwriting Award, funding from Ibermedia and Eurimages, and premiered as the opening film of the Critics’ Picks competition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

Alice Besen

Head of development

  • Alice Besen is a Brazilian screenwriter, director and producer. She graduated in Film Studies from SENAC University in São Paulo and has been working in filmmaking and cultural production since 2016. Still in university, she wrote and directed the short-film project Inês, which was selected for the Primeiro Plano Festival, the Burnt Experimental and Video Art Showcase, the SerCine Festival, as well as other short-film festivals.

    She has produced, programmed and been in the jury for several film festivals, such as the São Paulo International Short Film Festival and the Brazilian Film Festival of Paris, and acts as the artistic director for the Mostra Cinemas Possíveis. In 2021 she moved to Lisbon to earn her Master's at the Superior School of Film and Theatre, and since then has collaborated with different production companies in the making of both fiction works and advertisement. In 2022, Alice collaborated with Paolo Marinou-Blanco as a Script Consultant for Dreaming of Lions, and is now Head of Development for Darya Films.