CLAUDIA TOMAZ

2021

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I received news from Portugal to say that my old film Noites had shown on tv last Saturday, and since then there's been lovely messages from new and old friends, thank you. I end up visiting my archives and memories, found a few pictures, and remembered the pioneering methods and the ways we made this... here a few stories.

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We made this film in the year 2000, on a very low budget and with a very intimate crew. We worked a lot on the preparation. I had been writting and preparing this film for about 4 years and had many photos, drawings and notes. The pre-production with the crew, and finding the appropriate and ethical way to film each scene / space / people was very important too.

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The photo above with the trees, is a shot of the film, in this place of trees. I used to see this place from a train and it was an adventure to find the way to it. Everytime I saw it from the train it was flooded, which gave it a lot of mystery, but possibly would make it impossible to film it with the small means we had. When we came to film, it was dry and sunny in those January days. We filmed in Winter because I wanted to capture the soft winter light.

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During the pre-production we designed pocket-size scripts for everyone in the team, which made it easy to carry around and somehow was a symbol of the simplicity, creativity and authenticity we worked in.

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The next pic it's our team in action, small and close, working like an organism.

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The way we organized the shooting was to film first all the scenes that were out doors, or included travelling, we were 10 people. In the second part of the shooting, we filmed all the scenes inside the house, we were mainly 4 people: me, the actor, camera and sound. With minimal presence of a couple of assistants to organize food etc. This way we were very focused and could create the intimate atmosphere we needed. The house we filmed in was not in the slum, it belonged to my neighbour and was right next to my house, which made it very practical.

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Also we had a co-operative approach and everyone in the film earned the same amount.

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The next photo is the light designs by João Ribeiro (director of photography and camera). We worked in a very particular way as I wanted to use natural light as much as possible. So sometimes we would record the same scene over several days at the same time, or use only small lights for consistency and interiors. The experience in documentary of João and Armanda Carvalho (sound), and the fact that they had worked together many times, made the process very organic and I completely trusted them.

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We filmed in digital video to be able to improvize with the actors and do long-shots. This was very useful also because I end up being in front of the camera (a role I had not planned, but when our actress gave up  4 days before the beginning of the shooting, I said, ok I'll do that, as we didn't have the time to train another person and we couldn't stop the process). This way, in the scenes I was in, we could film and watch the footage right after, so I could see the key moments to devellop further, and repeat more to reach the essence of each scene. In other parts of the film, the shots were quite precise, adding to the focused minimalism of the silent scenes and wanders in the city.

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We edited the film at Tobis on Avid on the night shift. I guess it was cheaper to rent the studio at night! These were long nights, when the studios were really quiet and the film was slowly coming together. In those days editing rooms had no windows, so possibly it was a good thing that we could see the day light in the morning!

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Then we transfered the film into 35mm, which at the time was a requirement for exhibition and distribution. At the time this process was new and not available in Portugal, so we went into a Lab in Paris to do this. First I went alone and then the director of photography came for the étallonage. I remember the moment when the film was all done and we had a private view with the french crew to make sure that everything was correct.

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When the film was selected to Venice, I remember the contrast between the slum spaces in demolition we filmed in and then staying in the same hotel where 'Death in Venice' by Visconti was filmed...

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This film won The best film award of the Week's Critic in Venice film festival, an award for first feature films, and went on to many festivals around the world, with theatre release and a VHS tape.

I was 26.

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