Casa Tem Dendê: The House With Soul
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Documentary, Sport
A Los Angeles community, built around the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira, fights to save their cultural center—a place where the radical political act of inclusion reminds us what's possible when all truly belong.
Casa Tem Dendê: The House With Soul
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Documentary, Sport
1 Campaigns | Oregon, United States
42 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$7,500
Goal: $51,788 for post-production
A Los Angeles community, built around the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira, fights to save their cultural center—a place where the radical political act of inclusion reminds us what's possible when all truly belong.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Without our physical space, would that soul survive?
The documentary opens in 2020, with a phone call. Our academy had been sold. We were already reeling from the pandemic with its ever-shifting quarantine rules and decline of in-person classes, and now the building that housed our cultural center was disappearing too. What followed was a year of being in limbo—no space, no timeline, no answers. Mixing vérité and archival footage, the film stays with the people living inside that question as we scramble, argue, grieve, and remember what the place had been to us for two decades.
Our Main Characters
Beto Simas began training capoeira at the age of 11 in Rio de Janeiro. Co-founding Capoeira Brasil in 1989, he helped build one of the top schools in Brazil before moving to the US and starting over from scratch. His passion and dedication has inspired tens of thousands of students worldwide.
Osei Vita proudly claims the distinction of being the first American-born Mestre to graduate from the lineage of Mestre Boneco, a testament to the art's transcendence of cultural boundaries. His graduation is the anchor of our film!
Jessica de Lima-Moran is one of the senior female capoeiristas in the US and is fervently devoted to elevating the art form. She and her husband, Sean Moran, run CounterBalance Gym in Northeast LA.
Sean Moran is a classically trained Shakespearean actor. Alongside appearing in films such as Avatar, his love for and devotion to capoeira, have led to him teaching and championing the art with his wife, Jessica.
A key element that we wish to highlight is the historical thread that traces capoeira back to its roots among enslaved communities in Brazil. For most of our audience, this will be their first time learning the history of Brazil, and we’re not interested in a dry, scholarly approach. We want to bring the same beauty of movement that is capoeira into animating its history in order to make five hundred years come alive.
The narrative arc of our film builds to the batizado, or baptism, the year's most important event. Here, new students are formally inducted into the group and senior students graduate to the next cord level. Batizado encompasses a week of workshops, live music, international guests, and parties that run late into the night. It's the pinnacle of our capoeira calendar. Casa Tem Dendê captures the last batizado ever held in the academy, underlined by the story of Osei Vita, known as Formando Axé, graduating as the first American-born black cord (Master Level) in Mestre Boneco's lineage.
Check out our Teaser here:
Our $51,788 Goal — Minimum Finishing Budget
All amounts below include 10% platform administrative fees.
The Timeline
October 2026: Animation and music composition begin.
December 2026: Final shoot happens. By mid-December, the film is locked! Color correction starts.
January 2027: Sound design begins. We're in the final refinements.
March 2027: Digital advance screening for everyone who pledged $250 and up.
June 2027: The premiere. We're gathering everyone—the CBLA community, the filmmakers, the people who believed in this from day one. This is when Casa Tem Dendê becomes real in the world.
August 2027: We begin submitting to major festivals.
What This Means
Every expense is tied to bringing this story home with the quality and respect it deserves.
When you pledge, you're funding the final mile of something real. You're making sure a story about capoeira, about community, about lineage and resistance, and about joy, gets told the way it needs to be told.
Thank you for being part of bringing Casa Tem Dendê to life.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Color Correction and Online
Costs $13,600
We have 30 years of footage and numerous formats (DV, Hi-8, 16mm etc...) Color Correction and Online. $12,250 (plus $1350 admin fee.)
Animation/Motion Graphics
Costs $3,330
We want to make 500 years of history come alive in a gorgeous animated sequence. $3000 (plus $330 admin fee.)
Sound Design and Mix
Costs $8,325
Contra-Mestre Pyata is an award-winning sound mixer who will help us bring the soundscape to life. $7500 (plus $825 admin fee.)
Composer
Costs $5,550
Original score by Trevor"Navalha"Steer. $5000 (plus $550 admin fee.)
Production Legal
Costs $9,213
Legal review, clearance opinions, and distribution counsel to protect the film and its subjects. $8,300 (plus $913 admin fee.)
E+O Insurance
Costs $7,770
Errors & omissions insurance required by festivals and distributors before the film can screen or sell. $7000 (plus $770 admin fee.)
Catering for film shoot
Costs $1,200
For our final scene, we need to feed 12 people over 2 days. $1090 (plus $110 admin fee.)
Production Sound
Costs $550
For our final scene, we need to hire a sound operator. $500 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Flight from Brazil
Costs $1,100
For our final scene, we need to fly a key singer from Brazil to Los Angeles to lead our Bateria. $1000 (plus $100 admin fee.)
Original Costuming
Costs $550
For our final scene, we need to dress 8 people in vintage capoeira clothing. $500 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Production Lighting
Costs $600
For our final scene, we need to rent lighting and grip equipment. $550 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Matthew Barber - Director / Producer. Matthew grew up in a conservative, religious environment. That experience gave him an early, personal understanding of how communities, for better or worse, shape the people inside them. When Matthew left his faith in 2011, he joined CBLA and discovered the power of a new, more open and accepting agnostic community. He’s spent years as a student. Having now reached the level of Graduado, Matthew is telling this story from inside the room, not simply observing from outside of it. He’s passionate about showcasing to the world what a community can look like when race, creed, sexuality, and gender have no bearing on a person’s standing in that group. Matthew has spent over twenty years in television and film, most recently producing the global hit series Ride or Die (Amazon) and editing the Emmy-winning Dopesick (Hulu) and Hunters (Amazon). He’s directed episodes of Lethal Weapon, The 100, and Chuck, along with several feature documentaries.
Greg Hatton - Producer / Cinematographer. For decades, Greg was one of the only African-Americans working in international motorsports before an eye for images pulled him into filmmaking. Over the past eight years he’s shot commercials, documentaries, and narrative features that have played festivals worldwide, and his photography and writing have appeared in print and won awards internationally. As a long-standing member of Capoeira Brasil Los Angeles, he’s not just behind the camera on this film — he’s helping shape where the story goes.
Orzai Rizo - Producer. Orzai has spent nineteen years producing commercial work for brands like Burger King, California Milk, and Reese’s. In 2019 she launched her own production company, Juba Films — named for her son’s capoeira nickname — which now works with a diverse slate of clients across the industry, and she consults for payroll companies and emerging production outfits on the side.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Without our physical space, would that soul survive?
The documentary opens in 2020, with a phone call. Our academy had been sold. We were already reeling from the pandemic with its ever-shifting quarantine rules and decline of in-person classes, and now the building that housed our cultural center was disappearing too. What followed was a year of being in limbo—no space, no timeline, no answers. Mixing vérité and archival footage, the film stays with the people living inside that question as we scramble, argue, grieve, and remember what the place had been to us for two decades.
Our Main Characters
Beto Simas began training capoeira at the age of 11 in Rio de Janeiro. Co-founding Capoeira Brasil in 1989, he helped build one of the top schools in Brazil before moving to the US and starting over from scratch. His passion and dedication has inspired tens of thousands of students worldwide.
Osei Vita proudly claims the distinction of being the first American-born Mestre to graduate from the lineage of Mestre Boneco, a testament to the art's transcendence of cultural boundaries. His graduation is the anchor of our film!
Jessica de Lima-Moran is one of the senior female capoeiristas in the US and is fervently devoted to elevating the art form. She and her husband, Sean Moran, run CounterBalance Gym in Northeast LA.
Sean Moran is a classically trained Shakespearean actor. Alongside appearing in films such as Avatar, his love for and devotion to capoeira, have led to him teaching and championing the art with his wife, Jessica.
A key element that we wish to highlight is the historical thread that traces capoeira back to its roots among enslaved communities in Brazil. For most of our audience, this will be their first time learning the history of Brazil, and we’re not interested in a dry, scholarly approach. We want to bring the same beauty of movement that is capoeira into animating its history in order to make five hundred years come alive.
The narrative arc of our film builds to the batizado, or baptism, the year's most important event. Here, new students are formally inducted into the group and senior students graduate to the next cord level. Batizado encompasses a week of workshops, live music, international guests, and parties that run late into the night. It's the pinnacle of our capoeira calendar. Casa Tem Dendê captures the last batizado ever held in the academy, underlined by the story of Osei Vita, known as Formando Axé, graduating as the first American-born black cord (Master Level) in Mestre Boneco's lineage.
Check out our Teaser here:
Our $51,788 Goal — Minimum Finishing Budget
All amounts below include 10% platform administrative fees.
The Timeline
October 2026: Animation and music composition begin.
December 2026: Final shoot happens. By mid-December, the film is locked! Color correction starts.
January 2027: Sound design begins. We're in the final refinements.
March 2027: Digital advance screening for everyone who pledged $250 and up.
June 2027: The premiere. We're gathering everyone—the CBLA community, the filmmakers, the people who believed in this from day one. This is when Casa Tem Dendê becomes real in the world.
August 2027: We begin submitting to major festivals.
What This Means
Every expense is tied to bringing this story home with the quality and respect it deserves.
When you pledge, you're funding the final mile of something real. You're making sure a story about capoeira, about community, about lineage and resistance, and about joy, gets told the way it needs to be told.
Thank you for being part of bringing Casa Tem Dendê to life.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Color Correction and Online
Costs $13,600
We have 30 years of footage and numerous formats (DV, Hi-8, 16mm etc...) Color Correction and Online. $12,250 (plus $1350 admin fee.)
Animation/Motion Graphics
Costs $3,330
We want to make 500 years of history come alive in a gorgeous animated sequence. $3000 (plus $330 admin fee.)
Sound Design and Mix
Costs $8,325
Contra-Mestre Pyata is an award-winning sound mixer who will help us bring the soundscape to life. $7500 (plus $825 admin fee.)
Composer
Costs $5,550
Original score by Trevor"Navalha"Steer. $5000 (plus $550 admin fee.)
Production Legal
Costs $9,213
Legal review, clearance opinions, and distribution counsel to protect the film and its subjects. $8,300 (plus $913 admin fee.)
E+O Insurance
Costs $7,770
Errors & omissions insurance required by festivals and distributors before the film can screen or sell. $7000 (plus $770 admin fee.)
Catering for film shoot
Costs $1,200
For our final scene, we need to feed 12 people over 2 days. $1090 (plus $110 admin fee.)
Production Sound
Costs $550
For our final scene, we need to hire a sound operator. $500 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Flight from Brazil
Costs $1,100
For our final scene, we need to fly a key singer from Brazil to Los Angeles to lead our Bateria. $1000 (plus $100 admin fee.)
Original Costuming
Costs $550
For our final scene, we need to dress 8 people in vintage capoeira clothing. $500 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Production Lighting
Costs $600
For our final scene, we need to rent lighting and grip equipment. $550 (plus $50 admin fee.)
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Matthew Barber - Director / Producer. Matthew grew up in a conservative, religious environment. That experience gave him an early, personal understanding of how communities, for better or worse, shape the people inside them. When Matthew left his faith in 2011, he joined CBLA and discovered the power of a new, more open and accepting agnostic community. He’s spent years as a student. Having now reached the level of Graduado, Matthew is telling this story from inside the room, not simply observing from outside of it. He’s passionate about showcasing to the world what a community can look like when race, creed, sexuality, and gender have no bearing on a person’s standing in that group. Matthew has spent over twenty years in television and film, most recently producing the global hit series Ride or Die (Amazon) and editing the Emmy-winning Dopesick (Hulu) and Hunters (Amazon). He’s directed episodes of Lethal Weapon, The 100, and Chuck, along with several feature documentaries.
Greg Hatton - Producer / Cinematographer. For decades, Greg was one of the only African-Americans working in international motorsports before an eye for images pulled him into filmmaking. Over the past eight years he’s shot commercials, documentaries, and narrative features that have played festivals worldwide, and his photography and writing have appeared in print and won awards internationally. As a long-standing member of Capoeira Brasil Los Angeles, he’s not just behind the camera on this film — he’s helping shape where the story goes.
Orzai Rizo - Producer. Orzai has spent nineteen years producing commercial work for brands like Burger King, California Milk, and Reese’s. In 2019 she launched her own production company, Juba Films — named for her son’s capoeira nickname — which now works with a diverse slate of clients across the industry, and she consults for payroll companies and emerging production outfits on the side.