When the carioca André Levy returned to Brazil, 12 years ago, after attending a master’s degree at Stanford, in California, BrazilFoundation had just been founded in New York as one of the first international organizations in order to direct investments in social and environmental projects in the country. At that time, the mathematician and master of financial engineering could not imagine that more than a decade later, he would be responsible for bringing the organization’s work to Australia, where he has been living for eight years.
“I spoke with Leona in 2006 about the project to do something similar here in Sydney. It is a great honor to manage this work today”, celebrates André, who was in Rio de Janeiro last month to visit the office of the foundation.
One of the projects created to promote Brazilian culture in Australia and raise funds for investment in Brazil is the Brazil Film Festival, 
also organized by André. “In last year’s edition, each a dollar of every ticket sold for the film 5 x Favela, Agora por Nós Mesmos was used to buy equipment for the audiovisual course of the CUFA (Unique Central of Slums), in Cidade de Deus”, he says. For the next number, André is planning a partnership with the environmental NGO Green Cross and a selection of films that address environmental issues in Brazil.
On August 15, the organization promoted the meeting with the Australian footballer Harry O’Brien, the Ambassador of BrazilFoundation Australia to speak about his support for local communities in Brazil. Born in Rio de Janeiro, O’Brien lives in Australia since he was three years old and is currently playing as a defender of Collingwood, Melbourne.
