Rodrigo Areias: “In terms of production, Portuguese cinema has never been so good”

The selection of the winning film will have the expressive participation of the Portuguese. 46th exhibition in Sao Pauloas producer and director Rodrigo Areias brings together the jury of the event, which will end this Wednesday. He analyzes a series of 12 popularly voted titles with a pair of directors: Lina Chamy. (“Milky Way“”) and André Nove Oliveira (“Season“). During the first week of programming, the São Paulo Festival counts the public votes for feature films participating in the event. The works of the New Directors Competition that received the most votes will be submitted to the jury for consideration. Winner receives Paulista flag trophy, a creation of plastic artist Tomi Ohtake, in the Best Film category. The jury may also award entries in other categories. The winners will be announced on November 2 during a ceremony at the Cinemateca Brasileira.

The list of the most rated games includes:

AFTER THE SUN, Charlotte Wells (UK and US)

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (Burraimi), by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson (Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Czech Republic)

BIOCENTRICOS, Fernanda Heinz Figueiredo and Ataliba Benaim (Brazil)

DALVA, Emmanuel Nico (Belgium and France)

HARKA, Lotfi Nathan (France, Luxembourg, Tunisia, Belgium)

JOYLAND, Saim Sadiq (Pakistan)

LA PARLE, de Fanny Boldini, Gabriela Boeri, Kevin Wansten, Simon Bouillet (France and Brazil)

LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG, Antonio Lukich (Ukraine)

PLAN 75, Chie Hayakawa (Japan, France, Philippines, Qatar)

BLIND WILLOWS, SLEEPING WOMAN (Saules Aveugles, Femme Endormie), Pierre Feldes (France, Canada, Netherlands, Luxembourg)

SAMURAI IN SAO PAULO, Deborah Mamber Cheresnia (Brazil)

UIRA – THE RETURN OF THE FOREST, Juliana Coury (Brazil and USA)

A year ago, Mostra hailed Areyas’ work as a producer on “Rock Table”- He already has about 150 films in his curriculum over two decades of activity. One of his latest films, which he brought to São Paulo in this edition, is an essay documentary on the power of the image in Iberian history: “light objects“. Directed by Marie Carré and Acasio de Almeida. And these two are taking an x-ray of the Portuguese cinema of the last 50 years to touch the transcendent dimension of cinema lighting. installed. This is a subtle philosophical exercise in audiovisual memory, born while Areias was working on a Brazilian feature film.

already taken “5 pm”, Directed by Eduardo Nunez, one of the projects of the label Bando à Parte, produced by Areias, who is also a director. His background behind the camera includes productions such as “straw road”, Western Laureate of the Ecumenical Jury at the Karlovy Vary Festival in 2012 and “blue breath”, released in Brazil in 2020. There is always a feature film or a short film from his “Bando” in some important show in the Old World, in the omnipresence, shall we say, “brutal”.

Former guitarist and aspiring rock idol known for the chords of the band Blue Orange Juice, Areias explains to C7nema the reasons why he chose to make films in order to act, producing films such as the acclaimed “Listen”, Ana Rocha de Souza. The 22-award-winning social drama since the Venice Film Festival 2020, when it won the Orizzonti Jury Prize and the Luigi De Laurentiis Trophy (for best debut film), is about motherhood. There is always a strong human value in the feature films of Areias, who shares with us his impressions of the current Brazilian reality.

What has this season in Mostra de São Paulo, in the midst of presidential elections, revealed to you about Brazil and what partnerships have you forged here?

Well, having been here exactly 4 years ago, and although I returned after that fateful moment, this trip of mine is full of hope. First of all, this is what I think about Brazil… Brazil, which is full of hope for the future, and it is very beautiful. People are dreaming about the future again, as if they are coming out of a dark and dense era. In that sense, I think there will be many possible partnerships. I believe that in the first stage it is necessary to help, and being here not only as a judge at Mostra de SP, but also at the Encontro de Ideaias event, several projects aroused my curiosity in order to eventually be able to participate in their production. But, at the moment, we are in the process of assembling”17:00”, a new feature film by Eduardo Nunez, a director whom I have great respect and friendship with.

How do you assess the current economic situation of film production in Portugal? Is there an audience? What is this audience?

Well, there is a significant difference between the economic situation and the population for us. In terms of production, it has never been so good. Never before has there been so much funding and such a democratic and diverse type of film being produced. As for the public, everything is more complicated here, since the pandemic will destabilize everything for a while. Things are very difficult in the theater, except for one or two films a year, around which the audience is concentrated, usually these are popular comedies … and here it is a completely different economic exploitation, with streamers, new TV channels, etc. .

Thinking about Objects de Luz, what was the most valuable lesson that photographer Acasio de Almeida (the film’s co-director) gave you as a lesson in life and cinema?

I have worked with Akazio before. In fact, he is the only actor in my short film.Movie”, and at that time Akashio told stories to the delight of the whole team. When “light objects”I think your search is very sincere, very honest, and the film reflects that. There is even a kind of charm in the universe, which is very beautiful. I think he looks at life with that infectious charm.

What other interesting storylines did you find at the Sao Paulo festival?

There are many good films in the Mostra competition. The jury considers only the 12 films that received the most votes from the public, which at first glance may seem more commercial, but they are not. I have found that the majority of the audience’s preference is for films about violent trauma, about childhood trauma and trying to overcome it. I think this is an unconscious portrait of the moment that Brazil experienced last week. I think if it were this week, the audience choice would be much more encouraging.