Heaven`s Mirror

Transcription

Heaven`s Mirror

a Joshua Dylan Mellars film
HEAVEN’S MIRROR
A PORTUGUESE VOYAGE
WORLD PREMIERE
SANTA ROSA
INTERNATIONAL
WINE COUNTRY
FILM FESTIVAL
2011
ABUELA LUNA PICTURES
PRESENTS “HEAVEN’S MIRROR:
A PORTUGUESE VOYAGE”
ANA MOURA CAMANÉ MAFALDA ARNAUTH CARLOS DO CARMO KATIA GUERREIRO JOANA AMENDOEIRA
TEREZA TAROUCA CELESTE RODRIGUES JORGE FERNANDO CARLOS GONÇALVES HELDER MOUTINHO
CO-PRODUCERS ALEXANDER FREEMON
ISSAC PAZHO JOSHUA SCHNEYER ASSOCIATE PRODUCER ROBERT ELLEMAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MOJIB AIMAQ WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY JOSHUA DYLAN MELLARS
www.HeavensMirrorMovie.com
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HEAVEN’S MIRROR
A PORTUGUESE VOYAGE
DIRECTED BY JOSHUA DYLAN MELLARS
Logline: Heaven’s Mirror embarks on a musical odyssey to plumb the meaning of
saudade in Portuguese fado music; but as the filmmaker travels from Lisbon to
Goa, from California to New England, he finds that his inner quest mirrors the salient fado themes: the ephemerality of life, laments of lost loves and longings for
other times and other places.!!
World Premiere
P. O . B o x 2 9 3 2 2 S a n F r a n c i s c o C A 9 4 1 2 9 , U S A • t e l e p h o n e : ( 1 ) 7 0 7 . 3 2 1 . 1 6 0 0 • a b u e l a l u n a @ m a c . c o m
w w w. h e a v e n s m i r r o r m o v i e . c o m • w w w. a b u e l a l u n a . c o m • w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / H e a v e n s M i r r o r M o v i e
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HEAVEN’S MIRROR
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Synopsis (172 words)
Heaven's Mirror is filmmaker Joshua Dylan Mellars' mystically wild and
lushly romantic fado journey: the filmmaker travels from the ironwork balconies and narrow cobbled streets of Lisbon's Alfama to the cool bungalow
porches of India’s Goa, from the salt sprayed clapboard of New England's
former whaling ports to the dusty bullrings of Central California in search of
the meaning of saudade, the essence of fado. Like Proust, fado music tries to
recover lost times, ephemeral feelings, time moved on, laments of what could
have been if only.... In Heaven's Mirror, Mellars travels a geographical odyssey and an inner quest, mixing love with desire, memory with longing. Mimicking the Portuguese voyages of old, the filmmaker also sails an inner sea to
learn from those who have lived and sung life in fado--for somewhere, somehow, sometime, we all must travel fado's terrain. Heaven’s Mirror features
top fado performers Ana Moura, Camané, Mafalda Arnauth, Carlos do
Carmo, Helder Moutinho, Joana Amendoeira, Katia Guerreiro, Carlos
Gonçalves, Celeste Rodrigues, Jorge Fernando and Tereza Tarouca.
Long Synopsis (369 words)
Heaven’s Mirror: A Portuguese Voyage is director Joshua Dylan Mellars' love
song to fado music and a Chatwinesque travelogue, odyssey, and musical adventure that becomes the filmmaker's encounter with destiny and desire,
memory and regret.
Entering deep into the spell of this hauntingly beautiful Portuguese folk music and its salient emotion--longing (saudade), Heaven’s Mirror travels
around the world to tell the story of this two centuries old music whose influences were first carried by sailors to the port of Lisbon from Africa, Brazil
and the Arab world. Heaven’s Mirror sets sail from the Portuguese immigrant enclaves of California to New England's former whaling ports, then directs its course to Lisbon’s candle-lit fado houses and Indian Goa's steamy,
pastel bungalows. Lisbon shimmers exotic and mysterious above the Tagus;
the fado music of the past becomes palpable: the ghost of legendary fadista
Amália Rodrigues seems to shelter in the doorways of the narrow and cobbled streets.
In Heaven’s Mirror, the best new fadistas talk about Amália, life, longing,
love, and sing sultry, evocative Portuguese fado to illustrate their point: Ana
Moura, filmed singing in an intimate cabaret setting, has sung “No Expectations” on the big stage with the Rolling Stones; Mafalda Arnauth, filmed at
Sintra’s windswept Moorish castle and on the rugged coastline which inspires
her own fados, has also recorded Astor Piazzolla’s Argentine tangos and Tom
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H e a v e n ’ s M i r r o r : A P o r t u g u e s e Vo y a g e
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Jobim’s Brazilian bossa novas; Camané, who can sing with bossa nova and
jazz inflections, shows the old fado neighborhood of the Alfama and then
guides the filmmaker to a bohemian fado house and an impromptu fado session.
As the filmmaker travels, Portuguese saudade expands through the medium
of fado, a paper flower unfolding in water; the past becomes an enigma, the
present an illusion, the future a dream. Heaven’s Mirror follows the course of
the Portuguese voyages of old, but the filmmaker also sails an inner sea to
learn from those who have lived and sung life in fado--for somewhere, somehow, sometime, we all must travel fado’s terrain.
Heaven’s Mirror features top fado performers Ana Moura, Camané, Mafalda
Arnauth, Carlos do Carmo, Helder Moutinho, Joana Amendoeira, Katia Guerreiro, Carlos Gonçalves, Celeste Rodrigues, Jorge Fernando and Tereza Tarouca.
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HEAVEN’S MIRROR
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Director Bio
Joshua Dylan Mellars is the director and producer of Heaven’s Mirror: A Portuguese Voyage (2011), Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan
(2011), and Tango Illusions (2005)--a film trilogy which travels the emotional terrain of the world’s richest traditional music.! After graduating from Brown University, Joshua worked!as a news correspondent in South America: filing stories for
Bridge News, UPI, the BBC and NPR. He reported the coming to power of Hugo
Chavez in Caracas, the turmoil of political and economic meltdown in Buenos Aires (his film Tango Illusions is a mix of Argentine tango and politics), the accession
to the Brazilian presidency of!left leaning Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the celebration of the World Cup championship in Rio de Janeiro. Concurrent to his political and oil reporting, Mellars!reported classical music events in South America to
Andante. After returning to the United States, Mr. Mellars began work on his film
trilogy. Tango Illusions screened at film festivals in the US and Canada, winning
the “Best Cine Latino” prize at the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival and
the “People’s Choice” award at the Bay Street Film Festival in Canada. Play Like a
Lion is an Official Selection at California’s prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival,
Berlin’s Globians Doc Fest, and the Bay Street Film Festival. Heaven's Mirror will
make its World Premiere at California’s Santa Rosa International Film Festival.
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Director’s Statement
In 1997, while studying in Madrid, long before any thought of making Heaven’s Mirror,
my first love affair came to an end. Feeling a bit down and with a week free, I bought a
ticket for an early morning train bound for Portugal. When I arrived in Lisbon, the late
afternoon sun lit up the red-tiled rooftops, washing hung from the balconies and colorful
boats bobbed on the Tagus. The beauty of the city was such that, arriving there, I felt I
had gone through a hidden door, discovered my own personal Xanadu.
That evening, as the sun plunged into the Atlantic, I descended a flight of stairs from my
hotel, hungry for a good meal, thirsty for a glass of vinho verde. On an Alfama street, I
found a half submerged, candle lit restaurant, and sat down alone at a table by the window. Later, as I finished my fish soup, pulling on my second glass of wine, two musicians
appeared carrying their own chairs and guitars accompanied by a woman dressed in green
satin, a black shawl across her shoulders, a large red ring on her finger.
As the musicians began to play, the singer to sing, I was mesmerized by the mood and the
sound. I could make out from the style of the delivery, and the minor key of the song that
it was a woman’s lament for a long lost love. Soon the music, the approach of the evening, the vinho verde, the musicians, the singer, the shawl, and my love-affair-just-ended
combined to work their magic.
But what was is it that propelled me into fado’s
orbit? Was it fado’s feeling of lost things. Of
time having moved on. Its lamentation of what
could have been if only.... Or was it just “that
sound.” I left Portugal with a feeling, and that
feeling was cathartic. Fado, like the blues, like
flamenco is a music that says, “This has happened to me and I’m telling you about it and I’m
fighting it to a certain extent. But at least I’m
addressing it and making it verbal and public.
And you are going to have to deal with these
feelings too.”
I knew then that I wanted to capture that elusive
fado feeling, to show its mystery and to take my
audience on a journey into the emotional life of
Portugal and its music. For sooner or later we all
travel fado’s terrain.
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CAST BIOS
Ana Moura
Fadista Ana Moura was born in 1979 in Santarem, Portugal which is located on the Tagus
River just north of Lisbon in the center of Portugal’s heartland. Ana explains, “I’ve been
singing fado since I was little…my parents
sang well…we all could sing.” She sang at
home and at family gatherings; then, in her
teens, she sang rock and pop. One night, she
sang at a fado house and found the audience
most receptive.! Then fadista Maria da Fé invited her to sing at her fado house, where Ana
learned her trade from the best singers. Ana’s
debut album in 2003 met with wide public acceptance. Invited by sax player Tim Ries, she participated in the Rolling
Stones Project, has sung with fado legends Beatriz da Conceição and Maria
da Fé and is a favorite fadista for both Mick Jagger and Prince—Moura!sang
“No Expectations” on stage with Mick Jagger. !The youngest fadista to be
nominated for the Dutch Edison Award,!the fadista received the prize for Best
Performer by the Foundation Amália Rodrigues. Her album Para Alem da
Saudade was in the top 30 Portuguese albums for 120 weeks; she was nominated for a Portuguese Golden Globe in 2008. Her album, Leva-me aos Fados, has gone platinum in the top ten of best selling albums in Portugal. !Ms.
Moura now has an international following as she performs at the world’s
premiere concert halls including The Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Getty
Museum in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Camané
As a child, international fado star Camané discovered his parents record collection which included records by all the fado names of the day: Amália
Rodrigues, Fernando Maurício, Maria Teresa de Noronha, Alfredo Marceneiro and Carlos do Carmo. He has been enamored with fado ever since.
His career was launched when he won the Grande Noite do Fado in 1979.
The singer then served an apprenticeship in all of the most prestigious fado
houses and then was cast in a variety of musical productions directed by the
prominent Portuguese director Filipe La Fera--among these were “Big
Night,” “Damn Cocaine,” and “Cabaret.” Throughout his career, he has remained true to the spirit of fado, while innovating within the form: backed
by the traditional bass, viola and Portuguese guitar, Camané injects traces of
bossa nova and jazz into his
phrasing as he sings fado with
great emotional power. For a
number of years, Camané was
half of a wonderful singing duo
with producer Jose Maria
Branco. He won the 2005
Amália Rodrigues Prize and is a
2009 Portuguese Golden Globe
winner. Camané has had a
string of best selling albums
beginning with A Night of Fado
in 1995, including This Thing of
Soul in 2000, The Art of Camané: Prince of Fado in 2004,
Live in S. Luiz in 2006 and
Sempre de Mim in 2008, and Do
Amor e Dos Dias in 2010. The
international star still occasionally returns to the fado houses
where his inspiration was born.
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Celeste Rodrigues
Celeste Rodrigues has had a long and fruitful career as a fado singer which
began in 1951. She has appeared in the premiere halls of Europe, performs
on Portuguese radio and TV and also in England, Africa, Brazil and the US.
Celeste has had fado hits with “Fado Celeste” and “Lenda das Algas” but has
recorded rarely, preferring the intimacy of the fado houses and live performances to the sterility of the recording studio. Born in Fundão, near the Estrela
Mountains in central Portugal in 1923, she came to Lisbon when she was 5
years old. She remained close to her sister, fado legend Amália Rodrigues,
throughout their careers, but chose to sing her own repertoire and to sing
Fado Castiço rather than the more modern style chosen by her sister. Her
best work was with the songs written by Varela Silva and Santos Moreira, using a less forceful, more subdued but subtle approach in parsing the intricacies of the emotional terrain that is fado.
Tereza Tarouca
Throughout her long and prestigious career, Grand Fadista Tereza Tarouca
has sung and worked with the most talented and prestigious writers, poets,
and songwriters including D. Antonio de Bragança, João de Noronha, Alfredo
Joiner, Pedro Homem de Mello, and Maria Manuel Cid and she has performed on exquisite stages around the world.
Teresa de Jesus Pinto Coelho da Silva Telles who borrowed an old family
nickname for her stage name,!Tereza Tarouca is the granddaughter of the
Counts of Tarouca,!a family connected with music, and is a cousin of Frei
Hermano da Câmara and also related to Maria Teresa de Noronha.! Tereza
started singing at charity performances at the age of 11 as a child prodigy and
debuted singing fado at the age of 13 at the Hall of Fire at Orés. In 1958, she
received the Oscar of the Press, signing a recording contract with RCA in
1962. Ms. Tarouca celebrated 33 years of performing at a retrospective show
at the Tivoli Theatre. She has now become a Grand Dame of fado, respected
for her taste and wisdom as much as for her emotional musical artistry.
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Mafalda Arnauth
When fado singer Mafalda Arnauth's first album won the prize for “Best Upcoming Voice” by the weekly magazine Blitz in 1999, it signaled a resurgence of interest in fado by a new generation. With its release, Mafalda
helped to resuscitate the venerable Portuguese music style, coupling her crystalline purity of tone and emotion with an honesty of composition which is
unmatched in the new fadistas.! She now has amassed an inspired collection
of songs which plumbs to the core of our most basic human emotions.!
Born October 4,
1974, Mafalda Arnauth's career began
in 1995 when she was
invited by João Braga
to participate in a
concert at S. Luiz
Theater.! What started
out to be a single fado
experience became a
way of life. Steeped
in the tradition, but
always intrepid, Ms.
Arnauth never fears
to go beyond the cape
of fado into cabaret
songs, tango and
other genres with
definite jazz phrasing,
while bringing a new sophistication to the Portuguese folk idiom. With her
self produced album Encantamento, followed by the albums Talvez se Chame
Saudade, Diario and now Fadas, the songwriter “left fatality, disgrace and
nostalgia behind...to feed hope on sadness.” Malfalda Arnauth is indeed a
multi-talented, multi-dimensional songwriter and singer for the new age who
is forever expanding her musical world but who always remembers the way
back to her musical home--fado.
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Katia Guerreiro
Fadista Katia Guerreiro sings bittersweet songs with pure, simple and elegant
tones with the belief that “when poetry and fado come together, singing is
born.”
Not long after Katia Guerreiro was born on February 23, 1976 in South Africa, her family returned to the island of S. Miguel in the Azores. At 15, Katia played a guitar-like instrument with a local folk band. After graduating
from high school, she traveled to Lisbon to attend medical school, graduating
as a doctor in 2000, but she also spent time during her academic years singing
for a rock band called “Os Charruas.” In 2000, Katia began her fado career
on stage in a tribute to Amália Rodrigues in Lisboa and was an instant audience favorite. She has sung at the premiere international concert halls including Concert Hall in Bern Switzerland, Opera De Lyon in France, participated
in the Rencontres pour l’Europe de la Culture at the Comedie Francaise in
Paris by invitation of the French Minister of Culture and was nominated as a
member of the European Cultural Parliament. Katia has performed on the
most important stages of the world including Teatro de S. Luiz,!Teatro
Camões, Teatro National de São Carlos, Sala Luz De Gas in Barcelona, Casa
de Americas in Madrid, Theatre Trianon in Paris,!Queen Elizabeth Hall in
London, Cathedral de Reims in France, Cathedral de Amiens in France, and
the Saporo Symphony Hall in Japan. Katia has likewise collaborated with a
wide range of international orchestras and musical artists from Portugal to
China to Brazil. In 2010, Katia received the Best Performer of Fado Award
from the Amália Rodrigues Foundation.
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Helder Moutinho
Born in Oeiras, Portugal in 1969, where the
Tagus meets the Atlantic Ocean, Helder
Moutinho, one of the few male fado singers, is
a highly regarded performer throughout
Europe. Known for his warm, powerful voice
and depth of emotion, he is not only a world
class singer and interpreter of fados, but also a
songwriter, manager, agent and music editor.
He began singing only to friends, then, desiring to share his voice and soul with a wider
public, he sang in fado houses; then he began
to premiere his own songs with his first album
Sete Fados e Alguns Cantos which was enthusiastically received by critics
and the public. He won the Amália Rodrigues Award for Best Album in 2004
with his album Luz de Lisboa. He wrote of Lisbon, city of passions, seven
hills, vinho verde, and poetry. He has written for Mafalda Arnauth and Joana
Amendoeira among others; he has his own record label HM and edits albums
for the likes of Jorge Fernando, Argentina Santos, Joana Amendoeira and
other World Music performers. He finds himself on a constant quest to find
“where fado came from, where it has been and (most importantly) where it is
going.”
Jorge Fernando
Jorge Fernando is a multi-talented fado songwriter, performer, guitar player,
and producer born on March 8, 1957. Growing up in a poor Lisbon neighborhood, Jorge began singing as a child and became versed in jazz and pop in
addition to fado music. At the age of sixteen, he worked with the “King of
Fado,” Fernando Maurício and was invited to play guitar behind fado legend
Amália Rodrigues at the age of 19. He subsequently wrote songs and produced for Amália. Five years after Amália's death, he produced the seminal A
Tribute to Amália Rodrigues. Today he is one of the most performed songwriters in fado and has written for and produced for Ana Moura, Mariza and
Fernando Maurício. Among his many fado compositions are “Chuva,” “Os
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Buzios,” and “Goodnight Loneliness.” His 2009 album Vida brings the multitalented fadista to center stage with the help of young fadista Fabia Rebordão.
Joana Amendoeira
When Joana Amendoeira brings alive the words of the poets, past or present,
her voice can evoke the murmur of a prayer, the plaintive cry of longing and
anguish or the sheer joy of being alive.
Born in Santarem on Sept 30, 1982, Joana is a
star of the “New Generation” of fado. At the
age of 13 she won the First Prize for Juvenile
Interpretation at Porto's Great Night of Fado
and in 1998 she went abroad for the first time
to sing in Budapest Hungary's Days of Portugal. The youngest fado singer to record an album (Olhos Garotos), in 2000 Joana began a
long association with Clube de Fado, one of
the most prestigious fado houses in Lisbon. In
2003, the young fadista was asked to participate in a tribute album to fado legend Carlos
do Carmo (The New Man in Town), with Mariza, Camané and the other fado elite. Critics
applauded her second album Aquela Rua, on
which she showed a new attitude toward fado,
while remaining true to the venerable music's traditions. She has performed
at many of the premiere venues of Europe including the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, Teatrum Millenaris Park in Budapest, and the Royal Opera
House in London; she recorded a live album at the Teatro Municipal São
Luiz in 2005.
At the age of 27, Joana released her seventh album, Sétimo!Fado, which is
comprised of cello, piano and accordion arrangements of traditional fado.
Ms. Amendoeira produced this, her latest album, through her own company
Nosso Fado, an organization founded to preserve traditional Portuguese culture.
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Carlos Gonçalves
Carlos Gonçalves was born in 1938 in Beja (Alentejo), Portugal. He fell in
love with the Portuguese guitar at the age of 15 listening to radio programs,
especially those of guitarist Jose Nunez.! Carlos began working at Adega de
Anita in 1957 and later played at Lobos do Mar.!!While working at the elite
fado houses, he accompanied the famous fadistas:! Alfredo Marceneiro,
Maria Teresa de Noronha, Argentina Santos, Fernando Farinha, Lucília do
Carmo, and Beatriz da Conceição. In 1968, he began a 31 year association
with Amália Rodrigues, accompanying her in concert halls and on television
shows throughout the world. Mr Gonçalves composed the music to complement the poetry written by Amália, especially noted on the albums Lagrima
and Gostava de Ser Quem Era. Today he continues to compose, work as a
soloist and accompanist for the best fado singers. His unpublished compositions include “Mar de Amália,” a tribute to Amália Rodrigues, with lyrics by
Tiago Torres da Silva.!!Critics applaud his virtuoso playing explaining that he
can make the Portuguese guitar both cry and laugh with his complete mastery
of the instrument.!!!
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Carlos do Carmo
International fado star Carlos do Carmo has had a wide ranging impact on the
art of fado. Born in 1939 in Mouraria, Lisbon's old Moorish section, he is the
son of Lucília do Carmo, one of the most famous fadistas of the 20th
century--his mother owned and operated the Faia fado house in Lisbon for
many years. As a youth, Carlos studied hotel management in Switzerland,
but returned to help his mother run the family fado house. Carlos turned professional after being encouraged by friends and fado house customers who
heard him sing.
Mr. do Carmo helped to open fado to jazz, bossa nova, French music, Jacques
Brel, Frank Sinatra style phrasing, jazz like chord progressions, orchestral arrangements, and wider use of new lyrics by contemporary poets and songwriters. He experienced great popularity in the 1970's. Do Carmo won the
Portuguese Song Contest with the song “Uma flor de verde pinho” in 1976.
Later, while continuing to pursue his own career, the fado singer helped to
nurture the careers of fadistas like Camané and Mariza and to foster the
spread of Portuguese culture. Many of his albums have reached platinum and
gold status and Mr. do Carmo has performed at the premiere music venues of
the world including Royal Albert Hall, Paris Olympia, and Carnegie Hall.
Honored by the Portuguese government with a Commander of the Order of
Prince Henry, Carlos
do Carmo continues to appear at the world's elite
music venues and to
record new albums--his latest is Fado Maestro.
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Production Notes
When production on Heaven's Mirror was drawing to a close, filmmaker
Joshua Dylan Mellars said, “I feel that with the completion of Heaven's Mirror I'm paying back, in a small way, the immense trust, kindness and support
that the Portuguese people in Providence, California, Portugal and Goa lavished on me and the film.”
So what was it that brought Joshua Dylan Mellars to film a documentary on
fado music and its characteristic emotion, saudade or longing? When attending Brown University, the filmmaker came into contact with the Portuguese
community of Fox Point in Providence, which was situated close to where he
lived. Mellars was first exposed to fado when visiting Lisbon from Madrid
where he was studying for a year abroad. Later, while living in Copacabana,
the filmmaker thought of doing a film on the "saudade" expressed by the Portuguese immigrants living in his neighborhood.
“In 2005, after finishing my documentary on tango, a dance which is a window into the soul of the Argentine people, I decided I might do a similar film
to attempt to come to an understanding of the Portuguese soul but which
would also examine emotions that we all experience as human beings-longing, memory, regret, loneliness--saudade. Fado music seemed to encapsulate all these feelings for the Portuguese.”
In 2005, Mellars was contacted by Donald Cohen who had written a book
about fado with photos and fado music and lyrics. Cohen wanted any suggestions Mellars could make about tango contacts in Buenos Aires and asked
for a dvd of the filmmaker’s Tango Illusions documentary--Cohen was then
planning a book on tango. In return, Don Cohen sent Mellars a copy of his
fado book.
“We talked several times about what seemed to be an emotional similarity at
the core of the two art forms: tango and fado,” said Mellars.
From the time of the filmmaker’s matriculation at college, he began to be
pulled into fado's orbit, “After all, fado is Portuguese for the English word
fate; but I think what made my mind up to find out more about this music
was its strong emotional appeal and what fado singer Camané was to describe
to me later as ‘that sound.’”
After determining that the fado film was a go, the filmmaker made contact
with fado singer Ana Moura to ask permission to film her at The Triple Door
in Seattle at the beginning of 2006. Mellars, along with executive producer
Mo Aimaq and co-producer Issac Pazho, then went about hiring local Seattle
cameramen, purchasing plane tickets for the crew, and renting equipment but,
as fate would have it, the concert was cancelled: Ana's band was sick in Mozambique.
When the concert was rescheduled for April, the filmmakers again made
plans to film the concert but production had to be scaled back. Mellars
economized where he could, knowing that to accomplish filming on a small
budget would require resourcefulness, ingenuity, tenacity, frugality, and the
kindness of friends and strangers: a friend from Brown, Rob Elleman, graA b u e l a L u n a P i c t u r e s!
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ciously offered to put the filmmaker up and also set up interviews and helped
in the interviewing of local fisherman.
The crew’s San Francisco based sound recordist stayed at the house of a generous Brown alumna. “The concert itself was enchanting and filming it made
me feel I was on the right track doing a fado documentary,” said filmmaker
Joshua Dylan Mellars. To illustrate fado's themes of saudade and of nostalgic
longing for the past, Mellars was interested in reconnecting with the first Portuguese he'd known in Providence while fulfilling a longing he had to see his
old college campus. So Providence became the next stop on the fado journey.
Before leaving for Providence, Joshua met a good friend, journalist and audio
engineer Joshua Schneyer, who was visiting in San Francisco. When Mellars
showed the journalist clips from the Ana Moura concert, Schneyer became
interested in helping out with the documentary. (Schneyer speaks Portuguese
fluently, having spent many years working as journalist in Brazil.)
“Josh told me that that when I was ready to film to just give him a call and
he'd be there,” Mellars explained.
Before leaving for Providence, Mellars contacted two Providence fado singers. He also got in touch with the Brown Portuguese and Brazilian Studies
department and local fado singer/restaurateur Dinis Paiva. Pascal Molenat, a
friend from college days who lived in North Providence, kindly offered to let
the filmmaker stay at his house while in Providence. Once in Providence, the
filmmaker went about contacting Portuguese clubs.
Said Mellars, “I came to rely on the hospitality and the generosity of the
Providence Portuguese community to film the New England fado scene.”
A typical day would begin with Mellars carrying his large camera and a second bag with tripods and audio recording equipment onto local bus 57 from
North Providence to the Brown University campus to film. Mellars had only
been in Providence for a couple of days when he heard a fado event was
scheduled by an organization on the Brown campus--it was there that he
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filmed fadista Madalena Pata. (The Brown campus is near the Portuguese
neighborhood of Fox Point and several Portuguese social clubs).
Mellars made friends at the Portuguese Sporting Club in Fox Point and the
members invited him to Portuguese Holy Spirit celebrations which were going on in Providence and in nearby cities.
“I can remember eating some delicious grilled sardines in the parking lot of
one sporting club,” recalls Mellars.
One Portuguese club member would give Mellars a ride to an event and another member would in turn give the filmmaker a ride to another event or to
meet other people in the Portuguese community. “It was like having a gratis
underground Portuguese cab service at my disposal. I was a filmmaking
gypsy; I didn't know what the next day would bring, but I put my faith in the
Portuguese community, hoping that something good would come of it,” explained the filmmaker.
Restaurateur Dinis Paiva invited Mellars to film fado nights at his restaurant
and permitted him to set up his cameras wherever he wanted them. He also
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treated Mellars to a Portuguese buffet each night he filmed at the restaurant.
The filmmaker’s friend, Pascal Molenat, drove Mellars to Portuguese fado
night at the Amigos da Terceira Portuguese Club in Pawtucket and helped the
filmmaker film performances by fadistas Tania DaSilva and Catarina Avelar.
Molenat also helped with the filming of the water fire festival on the Providence River. The creator of the WaterFire festival, Barnaby Evans, also a
Brown graduate, gave Mellars a VIP pass to the festivities and free passage
on a VIP boat to facilitate filming from the river.
At Brown University, Mellars interviewed the head of the Portuguese and
Brazilian Studies department, Onésimo Almeida, who educated the filmmaker about Portuguese immigration patterns to the US, telling him that
many of the first Portuguese immigrants came from the Azores where they
made their livelihood as farmers. These same Azoreans, explained Almeida,
boarded whaling ships and then jumped ship when they arrived at ports in
California or New England. In California, the Portuguese settled in the Central Valley and as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area where Mellars was
born and raised.
Completing Providence filming, Mellars returned to California and from June
to October of 2006, edited footage. In preparation for his first trip to Portugal,
the filmmaker set up interviews with fado singers Mafalda Arnauth, Katia
Guerreiro, and Joana Amendoeira.
Just before Mellars left for Portugal, he met a friend from high school, Bryan
Maddan, who was leaving for Paris at the same time. Maddan volunteered to
help take equipment to Portugal for the production before continuing on to
France. Maddan was to stay on in Lisbon for two weeks working as a grip
and taking publicity photos. Josh Schneyer, a journalist friend of Mellars
from his print and wire service days in Caracas, conducted many of the interviews with the fado singers; Mellars contributed some additional questions at
the end of the interviews while manning the camera. The filmmaker and the
journalist particularly enjoyed working together again on a topic that fascinated them.
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In filming the fado singers, Mellars wanted to film the fadistas in places that
had special meaning for them so he asked each of the singers to pick their
own interview location. Katia Guerreiro chose to be filmed near the Tower of
Belém because it is the place where the Tagus river opens toward the
Atlantic--the ocean that the Portuguese explorers set out upon so boldly centuries ago.
Mellars and Schneyer located a spot with a good backdrop and decent sound
but on the the day of the shoot, a loud band and a large crowd made it impossible to film effectively. With little time to spare before Katia and her publicist would arrive, Mellars ran to a location near the Jerónimos Monastery
while Schneyer waited to greet the fadista in order to escort her to the new
shooting spot. Fortunately, Mellars had filmed at the monastery on the previous day and recalled a spot suitable for the interview before Katia and
Schneyer arrived.
Mellars reconnected with Jorge Fernando and Ana Moura in Lisbon, he had
met both in Seattle, and filmed them at the Casa de Linhares fado club where
they sometimes perform. Mellars also met Celeste Rodrigues, sister of fado
legend Amália Rodrigues, at this fado house.
Celeste rarely gives interviews, but Mellars and Schneyer asked if they could
just talk with her after one of her shows. After a long and entertaining chat,
Rodrigues decided to let the two film her. Later the fado singer remarked, “I
normally don't do interviews, but I just couldn't say no to your charming
smile.”
When Mellars and Schneyer told Ana Moura that they thought it important to
go beyond the fado houses to capture other dimensions of fadistas’ lives, the
fado singer proposed that the two film her at a favorite second hand record
store in Lisbon's Chiado.
Renowned fado singer Camané, at first reticent to the idea of being filmed,
warmed to the idea when told of the filmmakers’ approach to filming fado:
the idea of filming the music in an informal and authentic way. After Mellars
22
and his crew filmed Camané singing at the Mesa de Frades fado house, Camané proposed that he give the filmmakers an afternoon tour on camera of
the Alfama. (Mesa de Frades, originally a chapel, provided an intimate, bohemian setting and a haunt of fadistas in which to capture the fado experience).
Explained Mellars, “Camané was interested in an intimate, authentic shoot, to
reflect the kind of fado he most enjoys. He told me that he was going to dress
casually and wear an old white t-shirt, if that was okay.”
When the fado singer arrived he was dressed in jeans and a dress shirt. “His
performance was just as immediate and familiar, as if he were singing for just
a few friends at his house,” Mellars said.
Fado singer Mafalda Arnauth chose to be filmed at an old aqueduct and waterworks in Lisbon, but a few hours before the shoot, the wind began blowing
hard, making it impossible to shoot outside and, although she had filmed music videos inside the old, cavernous waterworks, Mellars knew he didn't have
adequate lighting to make the shot work.
“I quickly flipped through a travel guide of Lisbon, noticed the Moorish interior of the Casa do Alentejo and decided to relocate the interview there,”
Mellars said. Two weeks after the interview, the filmmakers filmed Mafalda
giving them a tour of Sintra, and at Guincho Beach, a place which has been a
source of inspiration for the fado singer's songwriting. Mellars also filmed
Helder Moutinho rehearsing at the Teatro São Luiz and Joana Amendoeira in
the Clube de Fado.
The filmmakers met songwriter Tiago Torres da Silva at the Mesa de Frades
fado house: Torres da Silva, who knew fado legend Amália Rodrigues and
lent a songwriter’s perspective to the filmmakers, facilitated interviews, introduced fado singers, scouted locations for filming and provided additional
fado background information. Torres da Silva drove the filmmakers to Coimbra where Mellars experienced a very different fado style.
23
Carlos Gonçalves, Amália Rodrigues' Portuguese guitarist, was at the concert.
(Mellars later filmed Gonçalves at the Guitarras de Lisboa fado house). Late
that evening, after filming Gonçalves and fadista Maria João Quadros playing
at a church, the fadistas took the filmmakers to a fado house named àCapella
where they filmed and enjoyed several sets of Coimbra style fado. Quadros
also arranged an interview for the filmmakers with legendary fadista Carlos
do Carmo. Schneyer and Mellars interviewed Do Carmo late one evening in
the fadista's living room.
A few days later, the filmmakers interviewed Sara Pereira, the director of the
National Fado Museum, Museu do Fado. Mellars was not able to include this
footage in the final cut, but the information Ms. Pereira imparted and the experience in the museum was extremely helpful in the film's completion.
After a week of filming, an extremely swollen right ankle forced Mellars to
visit the emergency room. Portuguese doctors prescribed antibiotics and
noted an insect bite as a contributor to the swelling. As Mellars was the only
cameraman and the schedule tight, the filmmaker continued to film. The
most challenging part of filming with the extremely swollen ankle was following Camané up the steep, curvy cobbled streets of the Alfama. “I was
walking backwards up what felt like 90 degree inclines to film the fadista.
Camané moves at a pretty good clip, but I knew I had to stay in front of him
as he walked--I thought he was on a roll and I didn't want to disrupt his momentum by slowing him down. I remember being glad when he stopped
momentarily in a doorway to talk to a friend,” said Mellars.
Upon returning to California, Mellars was invited to the residence of the Portuguese Consulate General, António Alves de Carvalho, where he was introduced to Portuguese American artist, João de Brito. The artist, who grew up
in Providence, took an immediate interest in the project and helped the filmmaker connect with the Portuguese community.
When the Consul General learned that the filmmaker was bound for India to
film his documentary Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of Ali Akbar Khan, he
suggested a visit to Goa while on the Indian Subcontinent and facilitated conA b u e l a L u n a P i c t u r e s!
24
tact with the Portuguese consulate there. Once in India, after filming Khan's
son, Alam, in Kolkata (Calcutta) for a few weeks, Mellars traveled to Goa to
capture images of the Portuguese colonial era: what began as a day filming
Portuguese colonial architecture in Panjim developed into a few days of filming and getting to know the Portuguese Goan population.
In Goa, Mellars filmed the Shirsat family and then was invited for lunch.
Sonia is a Goan who trained to sing fado in Lisbon; her mother, Alice, grew
up speaking Portuguese and also sang fado; her brother showed the filmmaker the family garden, regaling the filmmaker with stories of the way Portuguese saudade still manifested itself in Goa. The filmmaker then met and
interviewed Goan Orlando Noronha who plays Portuguese guitar and also
learned to make Portuguese azulejos in Portugal. (Now Noronha has a thriving business producing his own style of Portuguese azulejos for residences
and hotels in Goa). The filmmaker extended his stay in Goa to view and film
the “Liberation Day” celebrations commemorating the end of Portuguese rule
in Goa in 1961.
After leaving India, Mellars returned to Portugal for additional footage, interviews and to capture winter in Portugal. Mellars wanted to film Portuguese
guitar maker Gilberto Gracio and fado singer Tereza Tarouca.
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“It was comforting to be in the guitar maker's workshop watching him work
and seeing the guitars in various stages of completion. While the guitar
maker worked, he talked of saudade and of the three generations of his family
who have made guitars,” recalled the filmmaker.
The filmmaker then shot various atmospheric, exterior shots in Cascais and in
downtown Lisbon. The filmmaker explained, “You can only fully understand
the emptiness and loneliness that some fados express when you visit Lisbon
in winter.”
A few days later, Mellars rode with fadista Tereza Tarouca and Tiago Torres
da Silva to watch the singer recording. The filmmaker talked with the fadista
en route and again in between takes in the studio. On another occasion, Mellars met Tereza for soup and conversation at a neighborhood cafe. The filmmaker interviewed the fadista on camera on his last day in Portugal.
“I found a natural affinity for the singer: she had a down to earth way of seeing things that I found refreshing,” Mellars recalls.
Returning to California, the filmmaker sought out Portuguese-Americans and
remnants of Portuguese influences there. Mellars was introduced to the Portuguese community through events at the Portuguese consulate in San Francisco. The filmmaker met Portuguese-Americans Alexander Freemon and
Sandra Coelho at Portugal Day festivities in June of 2007 at San Francisco's
City Hall hosted by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Alexander's family traces roots
deep in Portuguese history. Alexander was later to become a co-producer on
the Heaven's Mirror documentary because he was intrigued by the themes of
saudade and enchanted with the haunting melodies of fado.
Ms. Coelho, who grew up in Central California and is now an investment
banker in San Francisco, invited the filmmaker to view a Portuguese bullfight. Later in the week, Mellars journeyed south to San Jose's Kelley Park to
the Portugal Day festivities there where, during a break in filming, the filmmaker shared Portuguese sausages and Alentejo wine with Portuguese artist
João de Brito and Consul General António Alves de Carvalho. In July 2007,
26
Mellars, along with Abuela Luna Executive Producer Mo Aimaq, accompanied Ms. Coelho to the bullfight in Gustine and also met with the Coelho
family there.
“In Central California, the Portuguese presence is evident but, as you travel
north to the San Francisco Bay Area, the community becomes more diffuse
within the larger community so that you could easily miss Portuguese influences if you don't look very carefully,” explained Mellars. Sandra is a quintessential first generation Portuguese American, having moved with her family to California from the Azores at the age of two.
Throughout the filming in California, the Consul General was a consummate
host and guide to the Northern California Portuguese American community:
the filmmaker remembers the Consul General making the comment that we
are all like the Portuguese immigrants--sailing our own boats out into the unknown to discover our fate.
“As filming began to wind down, I knew I needed some sailing images for
my closing shot--Howard and Eileen Turner were kind enough to allow me to
sail on their yacht on San Francisco Bay in order to capture those images,”
commented the filmmaker.
It was a rough day on the bay and the filmmaker got seasick midway through
the shoot but, after a short break on Angel Island, Mellars finished the last
shots of the documentary. Even getting sick played into the film's
cinematography--because of the delay, the filmmakers shot at the magic hour,
the sun low in the sky and the fog beginning to roll in. Abtin Forghani, the
yacht cameraman, captured those beautiful shots despite the waves and the
rising swells.
With the bullfight and sailboat footage complete, Mellars and co-producer
Alexander Freemon filmed one last fado concert for the documentary during
Helder Moutinho’s US tour in March of 2009. As post-production began,
Mellars was also finishing his documentary Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of
27
Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and as a result he was forced to delay completing a
final cut of Heaven's Mirror until 2011.
Director Joshua Dylan Mellars said of filming Heaven's Mirror, “They say
filmmaking is a collaborative effort and I found that especially descriptive of
my experience making this film. I'd like to thank the generosity of all those
who helped in a multiplicity of ways to see Heaven's Mirror safely into port.”
Brief Fado History
Born in the old Moorish district of the Alfama 150 years ago, Lisbon fados
are Portuguese songs filled with saudade, lamenting unrequited love, danger
at sea, and the beauty and poetry of the bullfight. Fadista Amália Rodrigues’
popularity beginning in the 1940!s spread interest in fado music throughout
the world. Singer Carlos do Carmo now serves as a bridge between the older
generation of fado singers and a New Wave of fado singers lead by fadistas
Camané, Mafalda Arnauth, Katia Guerreiro, Mariza and Ana Moura.
28
A
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Presents
Film Details
Cast: Ana Moura, Camané, Mafalda Arnauth, Carlos do Carmo, Helder Moutinho,
Joana Amendoeira, Katia Guerreiro, Celeste Rodrigues, Carlos Gonçalves, Jorge
Fernando, Tereza Tarouca
World Premiere: Santa Rosa International Film Festival--A 25th Wine Country
Film Festival Event (September 2011)
World Premiere Location: California, USA
Genre: Documentary (Music, History, Travel)
Running Time: 70 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 (16:9)
Country of Production: USA
Countries of Filming: Portugal, USA, India
Filming Locations: San Francisco Bay Area, The Central Valley, Lisbon, Sintra,
Goa, New Bedford, Providence, Pawtucket
Year of Completion: 2011
Original Language: English, Portuguese
Print Details: Color, Stereo
Producer, Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor: Joshua Dylan Mellars
Executive Producer: Mojib Aimaq
Co-Producers: Alexander Freemon, Issac Pazho, Joshua Schneyer
Associate Producer: Robert Elleman
Production Company: Abuela Luna Pictures LLC
Web Links
Official Heaven’s Mirror Website: www.heavensmirrormovie.com
Production Company Website: www.abuelaluna.com
Director’s Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/joshua.dylan.mellars
Heaven’s Mirror Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/HeavensMirrorMovie
Director’s Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/JoshuaMellars
Heaven’s Mirror IMDB Page: www.imdb.com/title/tt1560641
Director’s IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3562895
Teaser Trailer YouTube Link: http://youtu.be/kbRlEIxlW0Y
Abuela Luna Pictures Channel: www.youtube.com/user/AbuelaLunaPictures
Heaven’s Mirror Teaser Trailer Vimeo Link:
www.vimeo.com/joshuadylanmellars/heavensmirrorteaser
Director’s Vimeo Page: www.vimeo.com/joshuadylanmellars
30

Heaven`s Mirror

Transcription

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