Interview with Caru Alves de Souza

By Sofi Abouassali

Caru Alves de Souza

Caru Alves de Souza is a director, screenwriter, and producer from SaoPaulo, Brazil. She is a partner in Tangerino Entretenimento, a productioncompany based in Sao Paulo. Her debut fictional feature Underage(2014) won Best Film at Rio IFF and was licensed by HBO Latin America.Her second fictional feature My Name is Baghdad won Best Film in theGeneration 14 plus section at the 70th Berlin IFF. She is also a memberof Coletivo Vermelha, a Sao Paulo based group of female audio visualprofessionals.

How did you begin writing, directing, and producing?

I did my major in History, I didn't go to film school, but my parents arefilmmakers in Brazil, so I was always in this environment of film. I grewup in it, so when I was studying History I started to make some moneyby working in film festivals as a producer or an intern. I worked at MTV,but at that time I thought it was only to make some money because I wasstudying. But when I finished college I realized I didn’t want to work as a teacher or as a researcher, and I was taking a scriptcourse even though I don’t know why because I didn’t want to be a screenwriter, but in that course I realized that’s what Iwanted to do. So it was by chance, but not completely, because I was very close to a film environment.

“My Name is Baghdad explores a full range of expressions of femininity in its characters, as well as responses to these varying expressions through the use of other characters. What made you want to explore this?” Well since my first film I was always concerned about how women were depicted in films. This concern began to be morepresent in my life when I started to be a member of Women’s Collective in Brazil, and we began this collective to thinkabout how women are represented in films, and that is when I started to do My Name is Baghdad so it was built togetherwith this. One of the things that makes me very angry is when I see films and women can only be this or that. This is notnew – everyone’s talking about it now, but I mean five or ten years ago no one was, this idea was very new. So when I startedMy Name is Baghdad I thought, “okay as a woman I cannot be writing and directing this film and allow there to be only onetype of woman.” So it was very important to have different bodies, different stories, different ages, and different accents.There are people from all over Brazil in the film.

"The film makes use of documentary-style shooting within the story context of the feature. Does this come from previous work on documentaries or a love of the style?" Actually, this was more a result of the way I wanted to make the movie. I didn’t set out to do a documentary style, but it wasmore a result of some thinking. I didn’t want to tell the actresses and actors how they had to move and how they had to talk.For me, My Name is Baghdad is a film about people, so the people were more important than the machines. That’s why thecamera follows the actors and actresses and why we improvised a lot. We rewrote the script with the actresses and that’swhy we didn’t have lighting with all this paraphernalia. I didn’t want any of that. I said to Raphaelle that I don’t want to waitthree hours for the crew to make the set and then thirty minutes to shoot the scene – let’s do the opposite. It was importantfor this film that it was made like that. I didn’t want to make a movie about skateboarders or about women. I thought thisfilm should be a result of collective collaboration and that’s why it’s more documentary-style.

"The camera work in My Name is Baghdad is very interactive in style. Is there a reason why you chose to have this feeling of following the performance?" To me the camera is level with and like one of the characters. I didn’t want the camera to be totalitarian. I wanted it just tobe one element of the scene because the camera can be very oppressive, dictating everything, and I didn’t want that.

"What inspired you to start a production company with your partner?" It’s not a romantic story. My mother was beginning a film company, and I said, “I’ll help you build the company butthen I’ll go.” Because I didn’t plan to work with my mother, but that partnership still lasts until now. Since My Name isBaghdad, I’m working more with my friend, Raphaelle. Now I don’t want to produce my own films anymore, but whatmade me stay was that I could make the films I wanted to make. To this day, I never made anything I don’t believe in justto make some money. I am very fortunate – all the movies I have made have been with love and passion and because Ibelieved in the project. To have your own production company, at least in Brazil, gives you the freedom to do the projectsthat you believe in, and for me that was very important. I’m not comfortable doing something I don’t believe in.

So what is the story of how you began partnering with Raphaelle? Well, Raphaelle introduced a film to the company and we became friends. Then after my first feature, it was really hard forme to produce and direct. I was like, “okay I can’t do this anymore”, I will always think about producer things while directing,but I didn’t want to carry the whole burden of producing while directing. So I started to talk to Raphaelle about this andshe was like, “okay why don’t we do your next film in my production company,” and it was like the perfect match – I loveher. For the project that I’m writing now she’s in all the meetings with the script writers because we both see the producingand directing as very intertwined.

"Between your debut feature Underage and your most recent feature, My Name is Baghdad, there seems to be a theme of family in your works-both biological and chosen. What makes you want to explore this?" Well I think that family offers some interesting dramaturgic possibilities. I mean, in family, you have everything there.Everything there in society is what you have concentrated in family connections, and what I like the most is that in familiesyou can explore these things in a microscopic way. I love how these things present themselves in a daily way, so the littlegestures, the little violence, little demonstrations of affection. I like the vibe, so I think that’s why I always think aboutfamilies and if not biological then chosen. My next movie is completely about that, people who don’t have family so theystart a quirky family.

"Is there a certain work that you continuously go back to for inspiration or a steady source of inspiration for your work?" Unfortunately, most are male directors. Jone Casa Vetz, I never went to film school but he is my teacher. I love his style, Ilove his book. My Name is Baghdad is inspired by the things he did. Agnes Verda also because I want to be her when I growup – she is amazing and her movies are amazing. But what inspires me most about her is she only did films she wanted todo, she never got distance from the films she believed in. There is one particular film I always see before I do my work, andthat is Kids by Larry Clarke because that is an amazing movie, it’s perfect.

"What is the best piece of advice you could give to aspiring screenwriters, directors, and producers?" I would say it’s very nice to set up a plan. A plan could be a dream or a dream can be a plan, and go for it. Stop and thinka little bit about where you want to be in five or ten years then make things work to go for that. But also it’s very importantto make room to lose yourself in this world and make space for chance or things that are not planned. Question yourselfbecause we are never completely right or completely wrong. Unfortunately, as artists we are always doomed to questioning.