{"id":697,"date":"2013-09-27T16:32:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T20:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/?p=697"},"modified":"2016-03-16T09:29:39","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T13:29:39","slug":"directing-a-commercial-in-brazils-favelas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/09\/27\/directing-a-commercial-in-brazils-favelas\/","title":{"rendered":"Directing in Brazil: In a Favela, an Oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"

W\"photo11\"<\/a>hat is a favela? When I left Washington DC for a filming trip in Rio de Janeiro last week, I was apprehensive. It was my first trip to Latin America’s biggest country. \u00a0And instead of filming a documentary film on the beaches of Ipanema or Copacabana, I\u2019d be a director\/producer on a commercial in some of Rio\u2019s poorest slums (favelas). What would I find? (I took this crazy pic on accident as a wave crashed on me during a walk on Ipanema beach!).<\/em><\/p>\n

To prepare, I read a book entitled \u201cCulture is our Weapon<\/a>,\u201d by Patrick Neatte and Damian Platt. It chronicles the severe poverty, ubiquitous drug trafficking, and endemic violence of the favelas. It follows the birth of AfroReggae, a transformative nonprofit that gives at-risk youth opportunities to shine, primarily in art and music (samba, hip hop, dancing, drumming, etc).<\/p>\n

At that point, I spy three teenage boys in shorts and flip flops\u2014and automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.<\/h6>\n

I stayed in Ipanema with an old friend, Neil Breslin, who flew in from Luanda, Angola to be the Unit Producer. Neil runs a firm<\/a> connecting businesspeople in and out of Angola and speaks perfect Portuguese. He also owns apartments in Rio<\/a>, so it was a great change of pace to stay at a friend\u2019s place rather than a hotel.<\/p>\n

\"photo-mz\"<\/a>
Wrapped AfroReggae shoot at AR21 concert, with AfroSamba lead singer LeCao Magalona and M’z\u00e9e Fula-Ngenge. Leviano Bar in Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first morning, we turn inland to a favela called Vig\u00e1rio Geral. As the stunning seaside landscape recedes behind us, Rio is revealed as a sprawling mega-city. Most striking is the trajectory of the favelas, precipitous, straggling, and clinging to hillsides.<\/p>\n

Our AfroReggae contact drives with us. Then outside Vig\u00e1rio, a local teenage boy meets us. He sits up front and is our ticket in. There\u2019s one way in and out, a desolated and looping off ramp that issues to a main street blocked by two industrial trash containers. Culture is our Weapon<\/i> describes why favela residents erect such blockades: to keep out overzealous police who have been known to rush in with assault vehicles, purportedly chasing drug traffickers, shoot with impunity, and leave just as quickly. It occurs to me that AfroReggae was established after the massacre of 21 innocents in August 1993, right where I am now.<\/p>\n

At this point our genial driver, Elton, turns into a spider\u2019s web of narrow alleyways. Homemade super-sized speed bumps pepper the route, so we top out at 5 mph, and Elton executes an exaggerated zigzag for several minutes. We trace a large \u201cU\u201d until we rejoin the main street again. We\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

At that point, I spy three teenage boys in shorts and flip flops\u2014and automatic rifles slung over their shoulders. This sent a shudder through me. I tell my car mates this is freaking me out. That I\u2019m only used to people in uniforms with guns. Neil counters that we\u2019re actually safer here. The boys won\u2019t harm us. They’re simply keeping the status quo (to protect their drug turf)\u2014whereas if you get robbed in Ipanema or Copacabana, good luck getting justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t filmed a frame yet and already my worldview was turning upside down. Safer neighborhoods with gun-toting teenagers? Citizen blockades to keep out police? Moreover, I was already seeing parts of Brazil that most Brazilians never see.<\/p>\n

AfroReggae\u2019s impressive, new four-story community center was built in 2010. It is clean and imposing, with a gaggle of children playing ping pong and foosball in the courtyard. It has all the collective good energy of a YMCA. A massive sculpture of a fist extends from the roof — is it a warning or an expression of pride?<\/p>\n

The first person I meet is Anderson Sa, AfroReggae\u2019s co-founder and the lead singer of AR21, formerly known as AfroReggae<\/a> Band. I\u2019d seen Favela Rising<\/a>, an average documentary about a fascinating subject, where Sa factored prominently. I shot Sa in his recording studio, practicing with his band, and mentoring a younger singer, LeCao Magalona, who headlines the AfroReggae band AfroSamba<\/a>. Both Sa and Magalona prove to be charismatic guys and very skilled musicians.<\/p>\n

My client for this job is a private sector company based in Reston, Virginia. They are growing their business overseas, with Brazil one of the priority countries. So they hired me to make a series of spots that will be distributed in Brazil first and foremost. I\u2019m shooting, directing, writing, and producing. I\u2019ve already written the script. The voiceover is in Portuguese. The story needs to resonate with a local audience\u2014which is a change for me. Usually when I travel to film overseas, the resulting film or video is to be viewed by Americans.<\/p>\n

All this is going through my head at nightfall as I\u2019m getting the last few shots. A plague\u2019s worth of mosquitoes have descended on us from a nearby marsh and are harassing my young on-camera protagonist. The poor boy can\u2019t concentrate on anything else. People are streaming home.<\/p>\n

Both Sa and Magalona prove to be charismatic guys and very skilled musicians.<\/h6>\n

Since my morning encounter with the rifle-toting teenagers, this is the first evidence that Vig\u00e1rio is an unsafe, unhealthy place. The dozens of people I\u2019ve met are authentic, nice, and all doing their own thing like anybody in any neighborhood. I played soccer with some boys and challenged a young man to a pull-up contest (I lost). I saw (and filmed) a steady stream of talented youth in violin lessons, samba classes, and all manner of dance practices\u2014from ballet for little tots to African dance for seriously legit young adults.<\/p>\n

AfroReggae has helped create an oasis.<\/p>\n

\"Adany<\/a>
Adany Lima runs the only youth dance troupe, Movimentos, in Cidade de Deos, a favela made famous by a movie of the same name.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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What is a favela? When I left Washington DC for a filming trip in Rio de Janeiro last week, I was apprehensive. It was my first trip to Latin America’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[377,395,245,259,244],"tags":[331,329,330,324,334,333,325,328,332,327,335,58,326],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","category-development-shorts","category-field-production","category-shorts","category-travel","tag-adany-lima","tag-afroreggae","tag-anderson-sa","tag-brazil","tag-director","tag-documentary-filmmaker","tag-favela","tag-ipanema","tag-lecao-magalona","tag-neil-breslin","tag-producer","tag-steve-dorst","tag-vigario-geral"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevedorst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}