Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – The Arabs are much more like Brazilians, or citizens of any other part of the world, than the common image shows. Some Arab women are also intellectuals, like Europeans, and many Arab men are also Christians, like a large share of the Brazilians. With the aim of demystifying some of these stereotypes the West has about the Arab world, two university students from Rio de Janeiro, from the Philosophy college at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) decided to put a camera in their bag and to seek arguments to produce a documentary. Laura Magalhães and Humberto Giancristofaro should finish the film about Arab identity by the end of the year.
They already have ten hours of images recorded in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In the film, they are going to show interviews and to tell stories of Arab descendents who have just arrived in Brazil, of Arabs visiting the country and of residents who left the Middle East and North Africa a long time ago to live in Brazil. The intention, according to Humberto, is to show that there area differences and particularities in the culture and way of life of the Arabs, but that there are many more similarities than people believe. Laura and Humberto are going to visit Arabs who develop similar activities to those of any other westerner in Brazil, like, for example, the job of chef and artist.
One of the objectives is to undo the image that all Arabs are Muslim, showing that some are Coptic, Druze and Orthodox Christian. The film also intends to show where ethnic and religious questions meet and present the differences from one to the other. "It is not hard to understand," said Humberto. Both future philosophers do not intend to make a teaching documentary, full of discourse, but to show their theory through images and stories. According to Humberto, showing female artists and Arab intellectuals discussing matters, for example, is a way of reducing the idea that women are always oppressed.
The idea behind the documentary arose after they worked on an academic paper, but now the work, despite counting on the support of UFRJ professors, is disconnected from the university. Humberto thought of working on the film as part of one of the disciplines of his course, History of the Present Time Laboratory. In the laboratory, a line of research about the national identity of countries in Asia and Africa is developed. Initially the documentary was meant to be a subject conclusion work. Humberto, however, invited his colleague Laura to participate in it and went further. Now they are working on the documentary of their own accord and will be in charge of the filming, computer editing and even distribution.
Humberto is a son of an Italian descendant born in Egypt, but, according to him, his descent was not the main reason for his deciding to make a movie. "It was the socio-political situation. The objective of the documentary is humanitarian. We are seeking clarification," stated the 26-year-old student. Laura, aged 20, is not of Arab origin, but she took a technical cinema course. Both participants intend to start editing the film in November. After that, the intention is to promote it at universities, institutes and festivals, among other spaces. After the documentary is finished, they want to develop other cinema projects. The film should be called Sete Véus (Seven Veils).
*Translated by Mark Ament
