MOVIES - June 9, 1989

A Brazilian company has beaten out several Hollywood names for the rights to film the life of union leader and ecologist Chico Mendes, whose murder last December as he stepped out of his modest wooden house in the Amazon town of Xapuri focused world attention on the battle to save the Amazon rain forest. JN Filmes bought the rights for more than $1 million. Ted Turner, David Puttnam, Robert Redford and Paramount Pictures had expressed interest in filming Mendes’ life story. The decision was made by Mendes’ widow Ilzamar with other members of the Chico Mendes’ Foundation, an organization created by Mendes’ family, former colleagues and ecologists to continue his campaign to save the Amazon rain forests.