Diego Quemada-Diez, Jeremy Hamers, translator, Serginho Groisman, Katia Lund and Evaldo Mocarzel
Cinema needs good films regardless of social labels
Diego Quemada-Diez says that he doesn’t believe in documentaries because there is always interference, a certain dramatization to emphasize the documented situation. But, at the same time, he likes it because it interprets reality. Kátia Lund also said she doesn`t believe in this genre, although she does enjoy its aesthetic qualities. The director must have less and less control of the situation being filmed, otherwise it becomes fiction. The director also highlights that even a debate is seen from different points of view; every spectator sees it in his own way and interprets it according to his standards.Evaldo Mocarzel points out that people behave differently in front of the camera. They are not themselves, and they often are playing a role. For this reason, he says that digital cameras make the job easier, since they allow the character to tell the story himself. He also considers that the documentary belongs more to the theme it is discussing than to the filmmaker. Mocarzel defines a documentary as “fiction that represents reality, which is not lost due to the ethical commitment of the documentary maker”. While making his film, Hamers said that he noticed that in the beginning the sugar-cane cutters only spoke about the positive aspects to try to ornament reality. Later on, they slowly began to describe the real situation in which they lived.
Quemada-Diez followed an orphan who lived in a shantytown in Kenya in his short film. He said that he wanted to make the film while working as a cameraman in Constant Gardner, which was shot in Kenya and directed by Fernando Meirelles. He began to interview some children, and when he realized how needy they were, he decided he needed to do something to help them. His short film reveals the situation, but its main character is not only important as an individual, but also for what he represents. Hamers says that Tião, the main character of La Part du Chat, died just before they started shooting, but his friends were able to recover the letters he had sent to his wife, which he had dictated for someone else to write, since he was illiterate. The plot of the story is built from the content of these letters.
The idea for Squatting on the Fringes of Sao Paulo stemmed from the fact that the homeless and recyclable material collectors didn`t want to participate in the filmmaker`s last documentary, À Margem da Imagem. The reason being that they did not consider themselves homeless; they said they were members of an organized movement, thus the director made another film to discuss people`s different jobs in Sao Paulo`s downtown. He also says that his objective was a counter article, so that the homeless would be able to defend themselves from all the prejudiced accusations the media makes about them, as if they were invaders.
Regardless of social labels, there is a consensus that it is necessary to make good films that will stick with the spectators. Kátia says that for this, the spectator needs to be seduced. Quemada-Diez adds that because we live in such an iconic world, the film should have strong powerful images that stay in the mind of the spectators. Mocarzel considers cinema a manipulation and language, but it is necessary to be ethical with others. Hamers also agrees that misery should be shown, but that limits must be respected by not resorting to sensationalism.