MATO GROSSO
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©2024 Valley of the Forgotten Development Fund, LLC
Feature Film - In Development
MATO GROSSO is a feature film written by Tito West and based on the true-life stories of John and Kika Carter and their attempt to carve a life and a home out of the Amazon rainforest of Central Brazil. The story takes place over a ten-year period - from the late 1990's to the early 2000's.
JOHN CAIN CARTER and ANNA FRANCESCA CARVALHO GARCIA CID "_KIKA_"- met at TCU Ranch Management in 1992 and, in 1993, John asked Kika to marry him. After the wedding her father, Neco, called John every Sunday for two years to try to convince him to take over his ranch in Northern Mato Grosso. John refuses the offer each time, claiming he'll never leave Texas. However, two years into Neco's campaign, John agrees to at least come see the property. It was on this trip, to eastern Mato Grosso, as they were making the eighteen- hour drive on narrow dirt roads through the forest that John first understood the world that was being offered him and began to consider a life here. The catalyst for his reconsideration can be contributed to three separate, but connected events. First, he witness two naked Xavante indians, with bows on their backs, crossing the road in front of them and learns from his father-in-law that these are Xavante, much like the Apache of Texas.
Later, on this same road, John sees a black jaguar in the shadows of the forest just beyond the road's edge. He is now, having seen the Xavante and the black jaguar, completely entranced by this new world and has all but made up his mind to move here. The last and final piece in his acceptance of the offer comes through a conversation with a man named Andre Coriaba at his ranch in the pantanal wetlands. Andre is a close friend of Neco's and he runs one of the largest and most successful ranching operations in the country. Neco knows that John is a rancher at heart, that's it all that he's ever wanted to be and this visit is meant to open John's eyes to what the fledgling little ranch of Fazenda Esperança could ultimately become under his leadership. Neco wants him to see this place and be inspired by the possibilities and the life that could be lived here.