Dandara Guerra, José Emílio Rondeau and Fábio Azevedo
WHEN THE DREAM WAS FAR FROM ENDING
The 30th Mostra is promoting the avant-première of the film 1972, the first feature film that José Emilio Rondeau and Ana Maria Bahiana worked on together.It took a while, but it came through. The couple José Emilio Rondeau and Ana Maria Bahiana, both international journalists specialized in music and cinema, and José, in particular, also a pioneer in the creation and direction of music videos, have been developing the storyline and the production of 1972 since mid-1998. Due to many difficulties, the post-production delayed the film`s premiere many a time. Rondeau’s first feature film as a director finally had its avant-première in São Paulo on Saturday the 21st at the 30th Mostra with the presences of the director himself as well as producer Tarcísio Vidigal, leading actress Dandara Guerra, and actor Fábio Azevedo.
During a talk, José Emilio first explained the credits “a film by Ana Maria Bahiana and José Emilio Rondeau”, since the direction is his own: “It’s like the Coen brothers’ partnership, usually only Ethan directs, but both work on the script and Joel produces”. The couple included in the screenplay inevitable autobiographical references, such as the year 1972, also the title of the film. For Rondeau this is was a year marked by the end of the Rolling Stones’ mega-tour in New York. It was from this rocker’s world, so dear and close to the couple, that a romantic and liberating comedy for youngsters arose, set in the military dictatorship period in Brazil.
When asked how his “director of actors” side was unraveled, José Emilio talked not only about the pleasure of working with apprentice actors, such as Rafael Rocha and Bem Gil, but also with veterans like Louise Cardoso and Toni Tornado. He did admit, however, to having felt quite ‘lost’ around the breathtaking beauty of Dandara Guerra, Claudia Ohana and Ruy Guerra’s daughter who is playing her first leading role. The first time she was on-scene with Louise, the director was so stunned by her plasticity, that without noticing it, he walked right in front of the camera, almost in a daze. The big screen loves Dandara’s face.
Another element that was much commented on by the first-time filmmaker was the soundtrack, with which he said to be very happy with, and it includes icons of the time such as Novos Baianos, Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso. During a key scene of the film, Dandara’s character gives a very romantic speech citing the wonderful song by Roberta Flack “The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)”. Unfortunately, it was not possible to express the lyrics in Portuguese, since it would cost him US$ 30,000 to do so. The reference is left to the imagination of those familiar with the song.
Content with the public`s receptivity of his rather optimistic film despite its setting during the military dictatorship, José Emilio is now a part of a selective group of Brazilian filmmakers that also includes Antonio Calmon, the missed Lael Rodrigues and Jorge Furtado, who were all able to make a jovial film about youth.