Peri Productions is a left-of-center media company that produces films that criticize right-of-center political and cultural influences, claiming that they are antithetical to democratic processes. It funds films that advocate for left-of-center social, environmental, and election integrity issues. 1 2
Background
Founded in 2023, Peri Productions is a left-of-center media company that produces films that discuss social issues related to race, gender, and environmental issues. It also produces films that discuss issues related to election integrity. 1
Instituto Peri is Peri Production’s nonprofit arm that also produced films that address social issues. 3
Peri Productions reports having received funding from major left-of-center foundations and arts funders including Luminate, Porticus, DocSociety, Open Society Foundations, Sundance Institute, Chicken and Egg Pictures, Plan B, Play Action Pictures, Impact Partners, Mediawan, Cinetic, Busca Vida Filmes, Mira Filmes, and the International Documentary Association. 3
Activities
In 2024, Peri Productions coproduced Apocalypse in the Tropics, alongside Busca Vida Filmes, which was about the protests at Brazil’s National Congress building in January 2023 after the defeat of former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro in that country’s 2022 presidential election. Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily reports that the film focuses on Pastor Silas Malafaia and his role in garnering support for Bolsonaro’s campaigns. Romney states that the film associate’s Brazil’s rise in evangelical Protestantism with influences from the United States and with global rises in so-called “far-right populism.” 4
Democracy Story Unit
In March 2023, film producer Sandra Whipham spoke at a FIFDH event where she discussed the founding of the Democracy Story Unit, a project of DocSociety and Peri Productions. She states that the project promotes the idea that democratic processes are being infringed on by unregulated technology platforms, that media producers are responsible for combating false information online, and that allegedly false information interferes with support for left-of-center policies. 2
In a Doc Society post announcing the launch of the Democracy Story Unit, it states that its films address issues of global political unrest, naming an attempted suspension of the British Parliament and January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol, and it claims that there are an increasing number of countries with compromised election integrity. The Democracy Story Unit’s films promote pluralism and democracy as a guise for advocating for left-of-center issues. 5
The Democracy Story Unit funds film projects that document political and cultural influences that reduce support for left-of-center policies that address issues pertaining to LGBT people, economic issues, and other social issues. It also has a Big Tech Narrative Initiative that advocates for censorship to address so-called “disinformation.” 6 The Democracy Story Unit’s films that present right-wing political and cultural influences as antithetical to democratic processes. 7
Leadership
Peri Productions was founded by Alessandra Orofino. Orofino is a film and television producer and co-founder of NOSSAS. NOSSAS is a Brazil-based activist group that organizes campaigns in support of feminist policies, fundraises for social programs, and trains individuals to organize left-of-center activist campaigns. 8 Orofino is also a producer of HBO Latin America’s “Greg News,” which is a satirical Brazilian political talk show. 3
The host of “Greg News,” Gregorio Duvivier, has been subject to controversy after playing as Jesus Christ in a film where had a gay lover. On the show, Duviver frequently criticizes right-wing politicians and ideology. The show also engages in commentary on political events in the United States and it criticizes right-of-center positions on social programs and economic policy. 9
References
- “Peri Productions.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/peri-productions.
- “Love and Rockets: Towards the Independent and Democratic Future We All Need and Deserve.” FIFDH, March 9, 2024. https://fifdh.org/en/agenda/impact-keynote-by-sandra-whipham/.
- Peri. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://www.periprod.com/.
- Romney, Jonathan. “‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’: Venice Review.” Screen Daily, August 29, 2024. https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/apocalypse-in-the-tropics-venice-review/5196652.article.
- Doc Society. LinkedIn, June 28, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/doc-society_democracystoryunit-dinos-elections-activity-7079745580465348608-Oza5/.
- “Labs.” Democracy Story Unit. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://democracystoryunit.org/labs/.
- “Democracy Storytelling.” Democracy Story Unit. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://democracystoryunit.org/storytelling/.
- “A Network of Activism.” NOSSAS. Accessed October 28, 2024. https://www.en.nossas.org/.
- “Brazilian Gringo Presents… Greg News: Last Week Tonight with Gregório Duvivier.” The Avocado, January 22, 2022. https://the-avocado.org/2022/01/21/brazilian-gringo-presents-greg-news-last-week-tonight-with-gregorio-duvivier/.