Hortência e Paula (Hortência and Paula)

What does it mean to face one another on court and then defend the same colours? The relationship between two players, before their list of honours, introduces Hortência e Paula (Hortência and Paula). Directed by Eduardo Hunter Moura, the Brazilian documentary submitted to the International Sport Film Festival 2026 centres on Hortência Marcari and Paula Gonçalves: opponents for their clubs, teammates for Brazil and figures in a sporting history they recount in their own voices.

The work submitted to the Festival is an episode running 31 minutes and 59 seconds. It belongs to the four-part documentary series produced by Hunter Filmes and sportv and released in 2026. Alessandra Viganó is credited as co-director; Moura shares the writing credit with Lyana Peck, and Thais Mello is the executive producer. Distinguishing the episode from the series places this submission in context without assigning the television production's complete narrative journey to a single film.

Match footage, photographs, medals and interviews connect the public dimension of sporting victories with personal recollections. The account moves through club rivalry and the media attention surrounding it, then returns to the athletes' formative experiences. Childhood play, financial sacrifices and time away from family establish the circumstances in which basketball becomes a choice about how to live. Alongside competition, the episode addresses the practical conditions that make it possible to keep playing.

Rivalry extends beyond the score: it also involves how the players are portrayed and recognised. The national team introduces another perspective, as wearing the same jersey brings individual abilities and ambitions into a shared undertaking. The documentary presents two personal experiences meeting within a team's history, rather than treating its protagonists simply as two names to place beside each other in a table of statistics.

The series marks the thirtieth anniversary of Brazil's Olympic basketball medal at Atlanta in 1996. The silver won by the team that included Hortência, Paula and Janeth provides its historical backdrop. Its sportv debut took place on 8 March 2026, International Women's Day, connecting sporting memory with recognition of women whose careers opened possibilities for subsequent generations.

Moura brings a background in sports documentary that includes B1 – Tenório em Pequim and the series As Bicampeãs. A director, screenwriter and founder of Hunter Filmes who studied at the London Film School, he also directed the opening film for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. This submission draws on a history told by the women who lived it: how they began playing, how they experienced rivalry, and how two individual journeys became part of Brazilian basketball's collective memory.