São Paulo – Actress Regina Casé and actors Lázaro Ramos and Otávio Augusto are going to walk all over the Saara, a popular market in Rio de Janeiro, next year. The three, together with other actors that are yet to be defined, should play parts in a movie to show Brazil, in theatres, a little of the Saara, an effervescent point of trade in the city of Rio de Janeiro where Arab immigrants have their shops. The director is Estevão Ciavatta, whose first long movie, documentary Programa Casé, will open in Brazilian cinemas in September.
The film about the Saara is Ciavatta’s second long movie. He plans to show the peaceful coexistence of several nationalities in the area. The film should include the Greek, Armenians, Chinese, Arabs and Jews. But it is around an Arab and a Jew that the storyline unfolds. The main Arab character will be played by actor Otávio Augusto. Who will play the Jewish character has not yet been defined, said Ciavatta. Regina Casé, the director’s wife, and Lázaro Ramos will be Brazilian.
"The fight in the Saara is neither religious nor ideological. It is for the lowest price," said Ciavatta. The director wants to make the production into homage to the tradesmen there. The storyline should show how, despite being connected to their homelands, immigrants and descendants soon develop strong ties with Brazil. An honour to culture and to immigration is another way that the director defines his next movie.
Ciavatta also stresses the part played by the Saara in the development of the centre of Rio de Janeiro. He said that the centres of cities are normally cold areas, but that does not take place in the Saara. “It is the opposite in the Saara. There are many shops. Everything is on sale. The whole city goes there to shop," he said, also pointing out the low prices offered. "With 20 Brazilian reals (US$ 11), you have a ball," he said. The director explains that he himself, originally from Rio de Janeiro, has been visiting the market since he was an adolescent and that he goes there whenever he has a party or has to shop for Christmas. "I am a great friend of the immigrants who work in the Saara," he said.
The long movie will b e called "S.A.A.R.A, São Jorge e o Pássaro Celestial" (S.A.A.R.A, St. George and the Celestial Bird) and it is currently in the phase of fund collection. Name S.A.A.R.A is a reference to the acronym of the Sociedade dos Amigos e das Adjacências da Rua da Alfândega (Society of the Friends and of the Area Adjacent to Alfândega Street). The director’s intention is to shoot in 2011 and have the production in movie theatres late next year. Ciavatta is also going to prepare an end of year special about the Saara for Globo TV. Production of the movie is by Pindorama Filmes, established by Ciavatta in 2000. The company develops creations and productions mainly for cinema and TV, among them program “Um Pé de Quê” (A What Plant?), on Futura channel, about trees, presented by Regina Casé.
Ciavatta, who studied cinema at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, has been responsible for several television programs, like Central da Periferia and Brasil Legal, on Globo TV. He also directed short movie Nelson Sargento no Morro da Mangueira and medium-movie Polícia Mineira. In the long movie Programa Casé, Ciavatta tells the story of Adhemar Casé, Regina Casé’s grandfather, a pioneer of Brazilian radio. Adhemar sold radios and later established Programa Casé, where the first radio jingle and the first radio soap-opera in Brazil were aired.
*Translated by Mark Ament
