Jorge Duran, Tata Amaral, Ricardo Elias, Serginho Groisman, Cao Hamburger and Andrea Tonacci.
The Arduous Path from the First Idea to the Film on Screen
At the debate A Meeting with Brazilian Cinema – Fiction, that took place at the Mostra’s Lounge, the filmmakers present outlined their motivations and their difficulties to conclude their filmsWhat makes a director choose a certain theme for his film? The answer was given by some of the filmmakers who participated, inside the 30th Mostra’s official schedule, in the debate A Meeting with Brazilian Cinema – Fiction, last Sunday the 22nd, at the Mostra’s Lounge, on the 6th floor of Frei Caneca Shopping Mall. To director Andrea Tonacci, of The Hills of Disorder, his own feelings of personal loss, since he was away from his family, that led him to tell the real life story of the Brazilian Indian Carapirú, who wandered through the central Brazilian hills for ten years after a group of farmers had slaughtered his family. But Cao Hamburger, of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, said that he used to live in England and that he was bothered by the stereotyped idea people had of Brazil. Furthermore, the English were fascinated by the 1970 Brazilian Soccer Team. Putting both things together, plus his wanting to talk about his own childhood, the storyline of the film came up. Ricardo Elias, of The Twelve Labours, said his interest was to talk about low income families and he marked the irony of his leading character, whose name was Heracles (Hercules), like the greek semi-god, since he was in fact a boy just out of Febem (Brazilian governmental facility that takes in under aged criminals).
Tata Amaral, of Antonia, explained that her film closes a trilogy (began with Um Céu de Estrelas, 1996, and Através da Janela, 2000), and the conclusion is led by the most recent. She really wanted to tell the story of a woman who has a baby at very early age, and that has a big dream. It was her own story, but it became the story of the hip hop women singers when she started to do research for a documentary. There were so many good stories that, instead of only one woman, the film portrays four. Ricardo van Steen, of Noel, explained his will to talk about a nice Brazil, about its poets, leaving its problems aside. And Jorge Durán, of Forbidden to Forbid, pointed out as one of his motivations his interest for youngsters, with which he is always in touch since he is a professor. Another reason was the liking for university life that he considers as being a good period in people’s lives.
All filmmakers have one difficulty in common: to raise money. There’s always a long gap between the beginning of the pre-production researches and the end of the film editing. Durán explained that he writes screenplays and teaches in order to make a living, but what he really enjoys is directing. That’s why, although the first idea of Forbidden to Forbid came up in 1987, it was only in 2003 that he finished the screenplay and the film was only completed in 2006. Tata started working on Antonia in 1998, finished her first screenplay treatment in 2001, but only got money to shoot it in 2004. Ricardo Elias already had his story ready since his first film, De Passagem. But the shooting only began in 2005 and were concluded in the beginning of 2006. Cao had his first few ideas in 2001, but it took him four years to finish the film.
Tonacci, on his turn, told the public that he had came up with the story in 1993 but besides the lack of money, the Brazilian Indian that plays himself, had an accident and had to recover for a year. Therefore, the production that started in 2002 was only concluded in December 2005. Van Steen took practically a decade to make his wish come true, when he decided to radically change careers. He used to be a businessman, head of a 150-person -team, when he decided to become a filmmaker. He read Noel’s biography in 1994, but before shooting he traveled to Los Angeles to learn how to write screenplays. Later he faced the known lack-of-money situation. But he insisted on his idea and today his film can be screened.