"It's a feelgood comedy of incest, greed and corruption," jokes producer Don Ranvaud (Farewell My Concubine). "It's in the tradition of Renoir, of La regle du jeu - a story where there are no really bad characters, just good ones."

The story in question is Tieta do Agreste (Tieta), Brazilian film-maker Carlos Diegues' vibrant adaptation of Jorge Amada's classic story of a woman who was thrown out of her native village when she was 17 and pregnant. Twenty-six years later, Tieta returns as a rich widow and finds the village unchanged - a state of affairs which will not endure for long after her arrival.

Sony and UGC contributed towards the $6-million budget (a fortune in Brazilian terms). "It took me four years to get it made," he says. "The bank went bankrupt during the first week of shooting. Actually, I think it's probably easier to make films in China." Nick Roddick

Tieta - Monday 3-2, 10 PM, Lantaren 1