Pomerode: filming in Brazil’s “most German town”
Maximus Film hired Story Productions to produce four episodes in Brazil for German TV series Galileo, with one episode set in Pomerode, the “most German town” in the country.
It’s not known to many—at least outside Brazil—but the southern state of Santa Catarina is home to the European Valley, a region where German influence, brought over by immigrants more than a century ago, is still so strong it’s imprinted on the architecture, food and customs.
The German television network ProSieben commissioned Maximus Film to fly a small crew over to Brazil and film a series of episodes in different locations around the country for TV show Galileo. Locations included Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Santos. Last stop was the Valley, to show a ProSieben audience a taste of this little piece of Germany on the other side of the Equator.
All episodes shot in Brazil were filmed in just over one week, and Maximus Film counted on Story Productions to follow ProSieben’s team around on their trip as we provided them with pre-production, production and filming services.
In the European Valley, the location of choice was Pomerode, a small, touristic town that is considered the most German of all Brazilian cities, so much so that Galileo’s presenter Jan Stremmel dubbed it a “‘Best of Germany’ theme-park”. The houses, the people, and the food look German, and the language is spoken on the streets and taught in schools.
The project started off with pre-production, as Story Productions assisted Maximus Film with location and casting services, pitching Pomeranian characters and sites, checking availability and arranging shoots. In Pomerode, the crew included the presenter, Jan, as well as director Sina Hutt and DOP Cedric Shmid, and Story Productions’s fixer, driver and drone operator.
The team visited different locations in the town, such as the Siewerts’s house, a traditional German-Brazilian family, where they spent a few days experiencing their day-to-day life and speaking Low German, a variety of the language spoken by some of the diaspora in Brazil.
Shooting around the town also included visiting a school and speaking to a school teacher, as well as participating in a German-language mass and interviewing other members of the community. Our producer said it was an amazing experience: “It was a huge immersion in German culture. Most of the time, as a fixer, I also serve as a translator for our international clients. This time that was hardly needed, as most of the town speaks perfect German.”
Due to its megadiversity, Brazil is full of these surprises. From German towns in the south to a
Japanese neighbourhood in São Paulo to
desert dunes in the northeast, Brazil really does have it all, and serves as a production playground with the variety of options it offers. Story Productions has nationwide coverage of
full production services. Browse our website, sign up to our Newsletter,
drop us a message: we are here to help.
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