Q&A – António Caetano Faria Filmmaker | ‘My work is to capture moments for eternity’

António Caetano Faria

António Caetano Faria is a Portuguese filmmaker, living and working in the territory for the past eight years.
In his work, Faria often uses the territory not just as a backdrop in his stories but  as a centerpiece and a connection across all of his films.
Taking the opportunity to release a new series of works titled “The Resistants” – a 10 episode series that explores the traditional professions currently at risk of extinction in the city – the Times spoke to the filmmaker behind Locanda Films, an independent film production and distribution company based in Macau, to learn more about the series and his vision of the territory that serves as his inspiration.

Macau Daily Times (MDT) – How did this idea of creating a series of short documentaries about the professions at risk in Macau come about?
António Caetano Faria (ACF) – The idea starts from the need to preserve the shops. The history and the identity of this city that can be translated through the old shops and the old people of the city. I always heard from older people living in Macau talking about the traditions that were being lost and even though I’ve only lived here for the past eight years I could see that happening, shops closing, like traditional Chinese pharmacies and others. The need to film this comes from the need to create a memory for future generations and I thought this was an interesting method to do it, being short and able to at the same time “give voice” to these people.

MDT – Is that the last option available? Leaving a memory of what Macau used to be?
ACF – No, I don’t think so, I don’t think that it has to be the last option available. I think this has to do with the way I see my own work. My work is to capture moments for eternity and to create moments. So this meets my work goals. Each one of us has to contribute to society in some way. I see this as my own contribution and I will continue to do this. I don’t want to enter too much into politics but if we live in a society we call it society because we live in it, together and all contribute for it. Policymakers have to understand that too.

MDT – Is there any particular story that you filmed that touched you emotionally?
ACF – There are. There are beautiful stories. For example the shoemaker has a very interesting story. The story of their profession [him and his wife] interweaves with their own love story. They met through their profession and the need to combine their skills. One was cutting and designing the shoes, and the other would stitch them. And from there a love story bloomed, as he tells briefly in the episode.  I didn’t want to go too deep on that topic,  in the ‘behind the scenes’ segment, you can find all these details and interviews with people that will lead you to many parallel stories that brings the viewer back to the main story, like in a circle.

MDT – Do these stories that you see as a filmmaker help you to know and understand Macau better?
ACF – Yes of course. They help to me understand  Macau better and its identity, which helps one to realize that some of the traditional sectors in  this place are frozen in time. Other aspects of society have undergone a severe mutation due to the needs of the city and the evolution of the human beings and of the technologies, and the needs of these human beings to want different objects that others 50 years ago didn’t. For example, I filmed a shop that used to sell ropes as well as offer anchors and repairs for boats. This activity was changed to selling  construction materials, a change which occurred as a result of the development of the city. They state that “not even my son wants this! He doesn’t want to bury his future,” that shows what the future will be.

Barber

MDT – Is this project finished or we can expect to see more episodes?
ACF – My purpose is  to portray these local people and their reality and I would like to continue this project. I hope I can continue it and I think this will happen as I’m currently trying to gather support to  continue the project.
For the first 10 episodes, we had the support of “Casa de Portugal” Association, Macao Foundation and Cultural Affairs Bureau but it was not easy to get support, especially at the government level.

MDT – Do you think other services might take advantage of this work?
ACF – I think so. For example, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau should be alerted to the documentary genre as it is very important to portray societies and professions (like in this case). I think it would be interesting for new generations to understand what existed back in the past in order to look to the future […] so we that don’t repeat the same mistakes. The shoemaker, for example, said that in the past, police officers used to go to his shop to make all their shoes, nowadays they all come from “taobao” or similar in China.

Peanut seller

MDT – What can we expect from you in the near future? What other projects are you working on?
ACF – At the moment I’m developing the company that I co-own with three partners and we are working on more productions and co-productions at an international level, namely in China and in Portugal. We are participating in this so-called platform between Macau and Europe on areas like cinema and television productions. It’s a long process. The market is also growing locally. We need time to develop but I think we will have some happy things in the field soon in Macau.
It is important to do things here, to film here. The more  we talk about cinema here, the better it will be because this city has a lot to offer in this field.

MDT – Is Macau working well in that “platform” role or is something still missing?
ACF – An important thing that I noticed and that in fact I don’t understand and I find weird is that “DOCTV CPLP” (a TV documentary contest among all Portuguese-speaking countries and territories) progressed to its second edition, but contrary to the first edition [back in 2010], this time Macau didn’t participate. I don’t understand why in times when Macau says it wants to reinforce the connection and relationship with the Portuguese-speaking countries, it seems to take  a step back. I leave this question for anyone who might be able to help answer it.

Shoemaker and his wife