When I left for Brazil last October, the idea was only supposed to be a year out, to get to know Brazil and specifically São Paulo, truly get to know what Brazilian life and culture is all about. 11 months later and it's now a very different story: having made numerous contacts in the film industry which I hope to build on, as well as falling in love with the city and the people (well, some of them at least), it looks like I'll be staying for a while longer. I guess in the end, 1 year just isn't enough. There are still many things I want to do and even more things I've yet to discover. What once felt foreign to me (despite being part of my cultural heritage) now feels like something I understand better, that I'm more connected with. There's such a rich, fascinating culture with such wide-ranging influences that it never ceases to surprise or amaze. I don't know how long I'll be staying, it won't be forever but from the looks of it, it won't be brief either. I'm writing this because to give a bit of context to the ironic situation that I now find myself in: having lived 21 years in England and gone to Brazil on holiday, I'm now doing the complete opposite. I never would've guessed, to be honest.
So I arrived back in London this afternoon. I wish I could say that the landing was as scenic as the picture above but in truth, it was pretty far from it. A little cloudy, a little windy, warmish; basically, your standard British summer day. In fact, I had a stop-over in Zurich which was even worse. There were near gale force winds there, it was so strong that it was practically raining sideways. On top of that, they decided that it would be a good idea to board the plane from the runway rather than go through that tunnel thing. Those pesky swiss. But now I'm back, and I'd be lying if I didn't say it's good to be back.
I'm staying for the whole month and will hopefully be doing as many cultural activies as possible, especially catching up on British films. And yet it seems that wherever I go, there's always a Brazilian film festival following me. I found out about 2 happening in September. One is the Cine Fest Brasil, taking place at Riverside Studios from 17-20 September. It's a small selection of films, ranging from documentaries to fiction feature-lengths. One particular film showing is 'Favela on Blast', a documentary about the origins of baile funk in Rio. I've already missed it twice in Brazil, so nothing's going to stop me this time.
The other is at the Barbican, starting next Tuesday on the 8th and carrying on until 8th October. Less a festival and more a selection of films, it will include various Qs & As with filmmakers and actors involved in the films and will also be showing a range of documentaries and features. The films range from new releases to slightly older offerings, among which is 'Basic Sanitation', a hilarious story that explores most basic essences of filmmaking, entirely centred around a broken sewage system in a small town. If you've ever wanted to make a film and had not even the slightest clue of where the 'record' button on the camera is, then is the film for you. Equally, if you've got a degree in Film from NYU or you're Martin Scorsese protegé (or Martin Scorsese himself), this film is also for you.
