Women Cinemakers characters miss the topic, they don’t finish their thoughts, they say one thing instead of saying what they really mean to say, and they also show unexpected reactions when directly confronted. In other words, they are humans in all its complexity, beauty and perversity. It may sound a bit obvious, but there's still a great lack of this kind of complexity being portrayed by black characters in the Brazilian audiovisual sector... We have particularly appreciated your insightful inquiry into the personal sphere of the character of Marcela: your approach seems to be very analytical, yet your film strives to be full of emotion. What was your preparation with actors in terms of rehearsal? In particular, do you like spontaneity or do you prefer to meticulously schedule every details of your shooting process? I have to reconcile both of these paths. In one hand I try to organize the details of the filming, structuring the decoupage, creating the storyboard and establishing the floor plan in order to anticipate possible issues. At the same time, I try to let the film permeable to the reality that the film locations may provide, or to the actors' improvisations. But, honestly, this is something that I would rather anticipate during rehearsals and have time to amend with the actors. However, this is not always possible. For the "Doll and Silence" film, we've made four rehearsals of six hours each. In the first one, I dealt only with Morgana Naughty (Marcela). We've talked in the most part of the time, getting into the initial discussions in a profounder way. We've talked about subjects related to the personal life of the actress, such as her love life, sexuality, her plans for the future, pregnancy, abortion etc. We've also practiced a few relaxation exercises. At the time, Morgana was 16 years old and a very few experiences as an actress. I felt that this first dialogue we've established at that first rehearsal was very important in order to make her feel more at ease towards the topics. of dead meat, which bleeds to a point that her dress gets soaked. When she talks to her boyfriend at the park, everybody around her stop what they’re doing to observe her. In terms of dialogue, I believe what’s most important is to work on the subtext of every scene. When I write a script, I always face the difficult battle between the revelation and the subtlety. One scene that everything is very explicit, turns out to become shallow, banal. Part of our job is to make everything more subtle. Create a scene that has a whole other meaning than what’s being discussed. The
On the second day, the rehearsal had the presence of Morgana and the actor Giovanni Gallo, who played Joao, Marcela's boyfriend. Together we discussed the essence of both characters. In case the actors had any doubts, they could always go back to that essence as their safe haven. Marcela wants to get rid of the blame in order to free herself. Joao wants to overcome the insecurity to prove himself as a man. We've created stories and improvised about the couple's relationship history, since their date till the brake-up at the park. We've practiced a few exercises aiming the trust and intimacy between Morgana and Giovanni. I emphasize that