Ivo Ferreira: Film Director | Premiere at Berlin Festival seen as milestone

Ivo Ferreira

Fifteen films were selected for the 2016 competition of the prestigious 66th Berlin International Film Festival. Among those distinguished choices is “Letters from War,” directed by local resident Ivo Ferreira. The movie portrays historical events from the Portuguese colonial war, with the story told through letters written from writer António Lobo Antunes to his pregnant wife Maria José between 1971 and 1973. These were originally published in the book “D’este Viver Aqui Neste Papel Descripto.”  The Times spoke with Ivo Ferreira about the significance of being honored in one of the world’s most prominent film festivals.

Macau Daily Times – What inspired you to do this particular movie? Why this topic now?
Ivo Ferreira – Well, the main point was the fact that I wanted to pick up those letters and use them to tell a story. The story is one of people whose lives were being “amputated” as a result of an absurd political situation that was interrupting people’s lives, as we know. But above all, and since the beginning, I have seen in this a huge love story based on a historical and biographical document, which was also of great quality in literary terms.

MDT – Who will be seen at this world premiere of the movie in the Berlinale? What does that represent for you and for the movie?
IF – This represents a level of visibility that is absolutely fantastic and completely unique. We are talking about people participating in the contest who are the best movie directors in the world, some of whom I have been following since I was young. And then we have the other side – of having, for example, my wife [Margarida Vila-Nova] competing for Best Actress with names like Nicole Kidman and Juliette Binoche. It is really reaching a step that has never been reached before. Above all, this, for sure, will give the movie a great promotional opportunity; it’s a movie that will have premieres all over the world, and a commercial distribution process that will reach many places. It is getting away from the simple ‘niche’ markets and joining something big.

MDT –Do you think the movie’s setting will easily reach parts of the public that are not as well informed about the Portuguese colonial war? How do you think the public will react?
IF – I cannot really predict the future [laughs], but I think that the fact the committee has expressed early interest in the movie, and that all plans for commercial distribution of the film have been handled even before this news, says something about its potential. All the major distributors, especially in Europe, showed interest in distributing this movie, and there has even been some interest from several countries to co-produce the final stages of the movie.
Besides, I think there is a universal appeal to the movie that supersedes historical facts or authorship. I am sure there will be some locations where drawing crowds to screenings will be more difficult than others, depending on the local cultures, but I think that sometimes the more unique and peculiar the movie, the better they can communicate with the public.

A still from “Letters from War”

MDT – Besides this movie, are there any other ongoing projects you would like to tell us about?
IF – Yes, I do have another ongoing project that I am currently preparing to film in Macau over 2016. We are beginning work on this. Surprisingly, Macau has proven to be a place where it is very difficult to find financing, and where there is an apparent lack of interest in doing something serious.
The only way to film in Macau seems to involve resorting to Asian co-productions. And honestly I am a bit upset with this idea of Macau liking to play this role of “Ugly Duckling,” and, from another perspective, the lack of sensitivity from people in Macau about how much it costs to produce a serious movie.
Some time ago, I read in a newspaper a person saying that with 150,000 euros we can make a perfectly good movie. This kind of comment is not positive for the industry, because it reveals that these people have no idea what they are talking about – they are not from this ‘métier’.
Of course, we can even make a movie with our smartphone and that can be great, but that is not what we are talking about when we mention quality cinema that we can export. It makes no sense to me to produce things that are “still –
born” and fated to be watched in a single session attended by 20 people.
We pass that phase of life in the early stages, but then we need to move forward.

MDT – Is the local government giving enough support to promote a local film industry?
IF – Although the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has been making some effort to support the industry over the last couple of years, it is clearly still falling short. This is especially because it seems like the “chops” [support] of IC do not appear to be well valued when you try to approach other ways of financing. But it seems like it works the other way around, with many important institutions not supporting projects if they are, for instance, already being supported in some way by others.
For me, it is definitely important for Macau to be known outside its borders and to define its own identity. This can only be achieved by having local people thinking about their own reality, their streets and their lives. That is the way I see it, at least. That is the way to be stronger and to earn more respect from others.
It is very important that people start to look at this art in a different way. We need to have quality products, and to have quality, we need to spend some money. Then we need to export these. The internal market is a drop in an ocean; no amount of [filmmaking] money can be financed just by the ticket booths of Macau, even if the whole population each paid for a ticket to watch the film. This has to become an export product from a new, quality professional sector.