São Paulo – It was in the 1970s. A young Brazilian couple, Boni and Cecília, and their little son are in Algeria. There, they are political exiles. The house in which they live is good, but information about Brazil is lacking. The woman is pregnant and tries to adapt her Western style to the customs of a Muslim country. This environment is part of movie “Em Teu Nome” (In Your Name), by director Paulo Nascimento, and it should be ready by July.
The full length movie, whose scenes have already been shot, tells the story of an engineering student who gets involved in the armed fight of the 1970s, in Brazil, and who goes into exile after being arrested. The storyline, however, does not focus on the dictatorship. "It is more a love story in difficult times than one about politics," says Nascimento. The student’s girlfriend follows him in his exiles, which include Chile, Algeria and France.
The student is a poor youth, the son of a butcher, who managed to enter university. At school he participated in a student movement and at college he could not escape getting involved in the armed fight. He was arrested during a robbery to collect funds for the movement, but he was later freed, together with other prisoners, in exchange for the liberation of an ambassador. That was when the exile began. And the love story.
The film is based on a true story. The filming, however, of the Algerian stretch, was in Morocco, with the help of an English producer. According to Nascimento, the team was already filming in France and could not wait for a date to be specified by the Algerians, as was required by the embassy, which took a long time. Therefore, the alternative was to record in Casablanca. The scenes were in neutral places, urban ones.
Nascimento says that he was surprised with what he saw in Morocco. "I felt bad when I got there due to my ignorance of the region," said the director. Nascimento had the impression that Morocco was the most open of the Arab countries, and with few figures apart from those, he arrived in the country. "I felt unprepared." Notwithstanding, he found the medinas irresistible, with their carpets and boxes. "I felt like buying them all," said Nascimento.
The movie, the director
Movie "Em Teu Nome" should be completed in July this year. From then to the first half of next year it should compete in international festivals. One of the targets is to insert the production in the Marrakech Festival. In the second half of 2010, it should go on the commercial circuit, in Brazil and abroad, according to the receptiveness it finds in festivals. In the main roles are actors Leonardo Machado and Fernanda Moro.
Paulo Nascimento, the head of Accorde Filmes, has already made three full-length movies: Diário de um Novo Mundo, Valsa para Bruno Stein and A Casa Verde, which is a children’s movie and should be released in July this year. He also directed short movies, series and worked on 100 advertising movies, video clips and DVDs. Nascimento was born in the city of Gramado, in Rio Grande do Sul.
*Translated by Mark Ament
