At the Cannes premiere of his latest film Aquarius, director Kleber Mendonça Filho and his cast, including legendary Brazilian actress Sonia Braga, made a courageous and very public stand against the current Brazilian government. This resulted in a barely disguised attempt by the Brazilian authorities to sabotage the film and its director. Aquarius was initially given a very damaging 18 rating, which was later reversed, and more importantly failed to be put forward for Best Foreign Picture at this year Academy Awards. With all the drama surrounding it, the film became a story of its own and gained huge critical acclaim for the director and his cast.

Set in Filho’s own hometown of Recife, Aquarius stars Sonia Braga as sixty five year old Clara who lives in an old apartment building which is at risk of being demolished and made into a modern apartment complex. Clara is offered huge sums of money by the ruthless developer to leave her home, but refuses and finally finds herself as the only resident of the complex standing against the bullying tactics of the developer.

We recently had the chance to meet with Filho to discuss his film and all the political implications of being a very vocal filmmaker under the current Brazilian administration. And more importantly, asked him about the film itself and the themes running through it.

Youre one of a few people who have managed to make the transition from being a film critic to being a critically acclaimed filmmaker. Do you think being a critic helped in some way? 

I think it did, but I wouldn’t know how to quantify it as such.

Do you think being in the world of cinema in general has somewhat helped?

I think the best thing about being a critic is the way you’re exposed to so many films that normally as a civilian you wouldn’t see. I remember sometimes dragging myself to a press screening on a Tuesday morning in some multiplex and then actually thanking myself for having dragged myself to see that film because it was a discovery. And that’s the thing I miss the most, because now I have kids and I have so many projects. I used to see up to 300 films a year which I don’t do anymore.

Following on from that, can you tell me what were the kinds of films you grew up watching? Which directors were you influenced by? 

I think I was very lucky, I was a kids in the 70’s, which in my mind was the era for some of the best commercial films ever made. I was a teenager in the 80’s so I got to see all the films of  De Palma, Carpenter, Landis and Dante, as well as all the good Spielberg movies of the 70’s. They were all  major influences on my work…when I saw Raiders Of The Lost Arc,  it was a fantastic cinema-going experience, but it never really made me say I’d love to make films, because it was so spectacular….it wasn’t until I saw Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976) that I thought “ok maybe I can do something like this because this looks more doable”. I think Aquarius is kind of a siege movie which was very much influenced by Assault On Precinct 13

Theres a strong political statement about corruption, nepotism and also racism in the movie, how did people react to that back home? Specifically the race issues. 

They were very disturbed and confused because, I mean this is such a complex subject matter…..Brazilian society is an extremely racist society, but it’s not racism like European racism or the racism of the American South. We had slavery which was abolished in 1888, but nothing was done back then to welcome the new citizens when slavery was abolished. It was like “Tuesday slaves, Wednesday free people”, nothing was done to welcome these people and say “you are now decent and normal citizens of Brazil”. And that kind of became like a gigantic snowball effect for how people of colour are treated to this day. This dynamic generated ‘racism by design”, which means that even if your were not brought up as a racist person and your parents were not racist, you’re still socially trained to understand that -he who drives that expensive car and who also happens to be black- will always be just the driver and not the owner of the car. In the film, Clara refers to the black maid who had stolen the jewellery in a very insulting way, and later Diego uses the same approach against Clara because he is lighter than her….so he uses her skin colour to differentiate himself from her.

The films soundtrack has a rich mix of music, can you talk about the process you went through in selecting some of the music, and was it harder to acquire the American rock pieces than the classic Brazilian pop. 

Everything is hard to acquire, because you have to go through so many emails and contacts and publishing firms. So it’s a lengthy process, you can’t just have an idea in post-production and decide to bring a song into the film at the last minute, it just won’t work. There’s also a good side to this, because when you think of a good song or a track to use in the film, you really need time. Time has to tell you if this is a good idea, because what might be a good idea today may not be tomorrow.

Kleber Mendonça Filho Interview - AquariusMost people might latch on to the political themes of the film, but it seems to me that this is mostly a film about memory, nostalgia and the hankering for less complicated times. Can you tell us a bit about the opening sequence  which you chose to set in the 80s.

Many different things lead me to that opening sequence, for me it was like a technical challenge to create a time-travelling piece because I remember being at that particular party as a twelve year old, so I wanted to get all the details right and to shoot it in a way that would look real and honest. Every time I watch a film or read a book I think of them in terms of timelines; the film has a main character who is sixty five which would make the timeline of the film from 1950 to 2015, when we went to 1980, I automatically extended the timeline because now we had a very interesting woman (the aunt) who was seventy, which would take the timeline of the film to 1910.

How was it working with Sonia Braga? Did you have her in mind when you wrote the part?

Strangely no, because I had this ridiculous idea that I would find an unknown woman in the street or in the supermarket, until my friends and my wife convinced me that it was a ridiculous idea.  When I understood that, I went to Sonia because she is the best, and because she has a face that I’m fascinated by. She has a ‘movie face’ whatever that means…..in the same way that Greta Gabo has a movie face. Not only that, but she is also a great person to work with.

She seemed very much on board with you and your anti-government demo at Cannes, was that important for your? 

I mean that’s the best thing about choosing the right people to work with, because they share your views on life and on society and the things that should be addressed in society. I would find it vey hard to work with someone who didn’t believe in the same values I believe in. Imagine working with a wonderful actress who turns to me and says “I’m not sure I believe in what the Clara is doing, why doesn’t she just accept the money and leave?” I would be thinking, what is this person doing here?

In light of what happened with the film not being put forward for Best Foreign Picture and the controversy regarding its rating, do you feel like there was a deliberate attempt by government officials to sabotage the film. 

Yeah, especially with the Oscars thing, I actually predicted it before it happened. I feel like it was an aesthetic choice, you chose the things you like and admire….this film would never be understood by this horrible attempt at a government. For the first time in my life I can see extreme parallels between the American leadership and the Brazilian government which is disastrous

Can you tell me a bit about the next project youre working on?

Yes, the film is called Bacurau (roughly translated as nighthawk), it’s set in a very dry region of Brazil and I think it’s perhaps going to be a western which is set a few years into the future. I’m currently trying to finish the script, so it has yet to be cast.

Aquarius is released on March 24th – you can read our review of the film here.