{"id":252569,"date":"2019-07-22T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=252569"},"modified":"2019-07-19T19:33:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T22:33:35","slug":"series-portrays-arabs-brazilians-together-at-occupation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/series-portrays-arabs-brazilians-together-at-occupation\/","title":{"rendered":"Series portrays Arabs, Brazilians together at occupation"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 August 1st<\/sup> on pay TV channel\u00a0HBO Max<\/a> will see the premiere of documentary series \u201cBabel SP which portrays the lives of Arab refugees and homeless Brazilians living together at Occupation Leila Khaled \u2013 an occupied building in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Liberdade neighborhood. Two hundred and fifty residents have come together to share the facilities in the struggle for housing amid real estate speculation in the city.<\/p>\n

The series is directed by Andr\u00e9 Amparo, whose efforts include 20 anos de Grupo Galp\u00e3o<\/em>, and producers including Samantha Capdeville, who worked on Selton Mello\u2019s feature offering The Clown<\/em>. Instead of an actual person, the lead character in Babel SP<\/em> is the unlikely relationship that evolved between Brazilians and Arabs in downtown S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cOur focus is on their interactions. The possibilities of solidarity-based coexistence between these people who struggle. With so many cultural differences, an 80-year-old lady is sharing that space with a transvestite who\u2019s a prostitute. It\u2019s a cultural and religious chasm. And by the way the refugees were way better informed than the Brazilians. Almost every one of them were college-educated,\u201d said Capdeville.<\/p>\n

The production was originally going to portray only Syrian refugees, but the subject matter grew broader once Andr\u00e9 Amparo found out about the Occupation by homeless Brazilian citizens affiliated with Movimento Terra Livre<\/em> (the Free Land Movement), who welcomed the refugees. \u201cWe submitted our project and several channels became interested. It was originally a feature documentary,\u201d explained Amparo, who ultimately opted for a series of seven 1-hour episodes.<\/p>\n

The show went into production in March 2017, after the team completed a long process of approaching the occupants. \u201cI began going there a lot, I spent a year coming and going,\u201d explained Andr\u00e9, a native of Minas Gerais, Brazil. \u201cIt\u2019s a very political process. You frequent the place in order to get close with them, to win their trust \u2013 especially so with the Arabs,\u201d said Capdeville.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Moradores da Ocupa\u00e7\u00e3o Leila Khaled reunidos em assembleia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To get into their first meetings, the Babel SP team got help from activist Hasan Zarif, a Brazilian-born Palestinian descendant who owns restaurant Al Janiah. He was the filmmaking team\u2019s ticket in: before going to the actual building, they met residents who work at the restaurant. Zarif is a son to Palestinian refugees and speaks Arabic. \u201cHe met an elderly Arab man on the street and found out he\u2019d been living in a tenement house in [S\u00e3o Paulo neighborhood] Br\u00e1s with several other fellow countrymen. They were being explored, paying a fortune to live in tiny spaces. They\u2019d get lured in upon arrival at the airport,\u201d said Capdeville.<\/p>\n

So Zarif began including the refugees in activities of Movimento Terra Livre<\/em>. \u201cThe question of real estate speculation was what worried us the most, so I spoke to them so they\u2019d include Arab families in this occupation,\u201d said Zarif. \u201cThey\u2019d resist living there, due to political concerns. They didn\u2019t understand how it worked and how someone could live in a place that\u2019s not their own, or nobody\u2019s. They\u2019d go \u2018Who are these people who live in such a place? For an Arab, there\u2019s no such thing as homeless family. They\u2019d never allow a family member to live in the streets,\u201d explained Capdeville.<\/p>\n

The Arab families settled in floors 7 to 10, and during the first residents meeting, the name was chosen: Occupation Leila Khaled, in honor of a 1970s militant for the Palestinian cause. Throughout 2016, the team kept track of life at the Occupation, but the actual filming wouldn\u2019t begin until March 2017. With two cameras, the professionals would assume their position in 10 to 30 sqm rooms. \u201cThinking back to when we were there with those cameras, doing that was really wild. This only happened because of this protracted yearlong process before going in [with the cameras],\u201d the producer explained.<\/p>\n

24\/7 in Ramadan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fa\u00e7ade of the Occupation Leila Khaled<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show depicts the interaction between the building residents during the Muslim sacred month Ramadan, when the worshippers fast from sunrise till dawn. \u201cFilming during Ramadan was super nice because we had a close relation to Mesquita Brasil [in S\u00e3o Paulo], which supported us. They appreciated the proposal, that we were doing in the sincerest way. I let it clear from the start that our idea was to tell their story from the fresh start. How was their arrival in Brazil, having to work with something that wasn\u2019t what they did [in their homeland]. The daily life of this new reality. It\u2019s not just a show about refugees. It\u2019s about this encounters,\u201d Andr\u00e9 Amparo said.<\/p>\n

The challenge to film in the period implied in a team effort during the day to follow the Brazilians and, at night, when the Muslim Arabs broke the fast. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s something rational. They (the occupation residents) act more out of their emotions. They are doing what they do every day. The Arabs only worked at night, while Brazilians worked during the day. It was a great opportunity. The Arabs threw feasts and gathered in one house,\u201d Capdeville pointed out.<\/p>\n

Refugees in their own land<\/strong><\/p>\n

The directors say that, during the filming, the number of refugees reached 57, most of them from Syria. Moreover, most of them were Palestinians born in Syria. \u201cThe Brazilians are refugees from their own land. The Arabs in the occupation were refugees twice. Palestinians who went to Syria and then were expelled again. There, we found out that some of them had lived in the same refugee camp in Syria. They made a life there and had years of friendship. People that had accomplished a stable life and then met again in the occupation [in Brazil],\u201d Samantha Capdeville said. Over the episodes, one can follow the life and relations between the residents, who often work together in restaurants or activities such as moves.<\/p>\n

Women are the majority in the place, which was named after an Arab woman. \u201cWe learned that, when the Arab men can\u2019t afford leaving with his whole family, they first send the women,\u201d Capdeville said. Therefore, the women have a key role in the occupation. \u201cThere is a female leadership. Within [Brazilian women\u2019s] own reality, many have incarcerated husbands. And I think we women are more eager to go someplace. It\u2019s rarer seeing a woman living on the streets. And their confidence is also something unique, being present at the occupations, fighting more for that place,\u201d she reported.<\/p>\n

If the name Babel reminds of the Biblical story of how different languages created barriers between the peoples, its characters sometimes undo demystifies this idea. \u201cWe talked, for example, with a man from Bahia and an Arab that became friends. It was very funny because the Arab only understood what the Bahian said, and no one else. They joked they had created their own language,\u201d Capdeville recalled.<\/p>\n

Quick facts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Premiere of \u2018Babel SP\u2019
\nAugust 1st<\/sup>, 11 pm
\nCanal MAX<\/a>, HBO<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum & Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Divulga\u00e7\u00e3o<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Babel SP takes an in-depth look at life in a S\u00e3o Paulo building. The show slated to premiere August 1st on HBO Max spans a year in the lives of homeless people and refugees at Occupation Leila Khaled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2324,"featured_media":252546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3066],"tags":[10076,32881,10077,10078,10587,5898,1826,10079,10075,10073,10072,10074,9897,1902,10080,28655,10081,9623,9611],"class_list":{"0":"post-252569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-al-janiah-en","9":"tag-al-janiah-en-2","10":"tag-babel-en","11":"tag-babel-sp-en","12":"tag-brasileiros-ar-2","13":"tag-brazilians","14":"tag-documentary","15":"tag-hbo-en","16":"tag-homeless","17":"tag-housing","18":"tag-interaction","19":"tag-occupation","20":"tag-palestine-en","21":"tag-refugees","22":"tag-sao-paulo-en","23":"tag-serie-en","24":"tag-series-en","25":"tag-show-en","26":"tag-syria-en"},"wps_subtitle":"Babel SP takes an in-depth look at life in a S\u00e3o Paulo building. The show slated to premiere August 1st on HBO Max spans a year in the lives of homeless people and refugees at Occupation Leila Khaled.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}