Leon Cakoff, Mira Perlov and Alberto Dines
Diary: A Rare Work in the Movies
At the Mostra’s Lounge, Mira Perlov, the widow of filmmaker David Perlov and the producer of his films, talked about the special screening of the film Diary and about her husband’s many artistic facets.“The Diary is a result of the sheer need to work, there was certain urgency and I was eager to do it”, this was how Mira Perlov, David Perlov`s widow and the producer of his films, explained how Diary was made. There will be a special screening at the 30th Mostra for this documental project of six 52-minute long parts. During the debate held on Monday (23rd) at the Mostra`s Lounge set up on the 6th floor of Shopping Frei Caneca, Mira explained that for Perlov, being unemployed is like being a slave. There is no way out. She also pointed out that generally people write in their diaries after work to include everything that happened throughout the day. For Perlov, however, writing in his diary was the highlight of the day.
In the debate, she counted on the presence of her husband’s friend, the journalist and filmmaker Alberto Dines, as well as the Mostra’s director Leon Cakoff. Mira moved the audience as she talked in detail about the time she spent with the filmmaker who was born in Brazil, but with whom she lived in Israel for many years. The couple’s twin daughters, Yael and Naomi, are still in Israel, where they are married, have children, and work with cinema and dance. Perlov was a visual artist and painter, and in his youth studied with Aldemir Martins and was greatly influenced by his neighbor Lasar Segall. But he fell in love with cinema in Paris, and was lucky to have worked with Henri Langlois, director of the Cinémathèque Française and with Dutch documentarian Joris Ivens. Mira also remembers the influence that Alberto Cavalcanti, a pioneer of Brazilian cinema, had on her husband.
Cakoff highlighted that Perlov`s style is rare in filmmaking, because he was a writer who needed images to complement his work. Mira also described that her husband liked to reflect a lot before writing the script that would go along with his films. Dines met Perlov in the 40’s and they were both part of the movement that fought for the creation of the State of Israel. Dines pointed out his friend’s integrity, intensity as well as his ability to say the right things. They lost contact for a long time but found each other again in the 80`s. Dines used this sentence to describe his friend and mentor: “A real artist is one who makes us the artist”. “When we watch Perlov’s films, we are all filmmakers”, he explained.
According to Cakoff, Perlov’s documentary Diary was filmed for 10 years (1973-1983), and it includes patient and informal scenes of their everyday lives. Mira also revealed how difficult it was for her to be in the film, because Diary is not about a single person, but about people`s lives in general. The first edition of the film was a 45 minute screening made in the 70’s for Israeli television. The continuation to this first showing restarted around 1982. Mira went on to describe that Perlov was not well understood in Israel. In the 60`s, while he wanted to make films about people, others were looking for films about ideas.
She also highlighted that Perlov was very afraid of image pollution. He hated vulgarity, banality and superfluous words, all so common in television. The filmmaker suggested that it was necessary to first look and then to reflect about what to say. Likewise, his background music was used for more than just emphasis. It was used because it was in some way relevant to the reality that was being filmed. Mira also described that, although the film was produced on a very low budget, there was only a little bit of shooting that was included in the 6-hour long Diary. As the producer, she was in charge of this part, since she already knew exactly how much this entire process cost. Although she cannot specify when, Mira assured us that the production will also be released in Brazil on DVD.