STORYLINE:

An architect discovers a clandestine cemetery on a worksite that belongs to his family.

SYNOPSIS:

In the heavily populated city of São Paulo, Brazil, a young architect discovers
a clandestine cemetery walking through the worksite of his first important
project, located in a lot belonging to his family. As terrible memories float
back, he must struggle with his conscience and question his own heritage.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:

Brazilian Filmmaker, born in 1983. Graduated in Fine Arts and Film Studies
at FAAP (Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado. His first Short Films have
been selected for preeminent Film Festivals such as Cannes Cinefondation,
Locarno, Mar del Plata, Clermont-Ferrand and IDFA. OBRA is his first feature
film. Currently developing his second feature TINNITUS, also produced by Zita
Carvalhosa at Superfilmes.

FILMOGRAPHY
O B R A 2014 | BW | 80’
39° TORONTO International Film Festival

M O N U M E N T O 2012 | BW | 10’
65° LOCARNO International Film Festival
21° IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

M I R A 2009 | BW | 12’
62° LOCARNO International Film Festival
32° CLERMONT-FERRAND International Short Film Festival

S A L T O S 2 0 0 8 | C olor | 8 ’
61° LOCARNO International Film Festival
31° CLERMONT- FERRAND International Short Film Festival

P H I R O 2 0 0 8 | C olour | 1 2 ’
21° IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
33° MOSTRA São Paulo International Film Festival

S A B A 2 0 0 7 | C olour | 1 5 ’
60° CANNES International Film Festival
19° IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
D I R E C T O R ’ S S T A T E M E N T:

Being born and raised in a city like São Paulo isn’t what one would call easy.
One of the biggest cities in the world, centered on the everyday life of its
inhabitants and short-term attention span of the modern life, it often ignores
facts related to its own past and memory. OBRA, my first feature film, is a
personal tale that deals with the relation between the individual and the city,
and how the present can’t ignore the past. It’s also an attempt to exorcise the
urban ghosts that haunt my subjective universe.

Traces of a long gone Jesuit village, a fading fresco in a church at the city
center and, above all, bodies that do not allow themselves to be forgotten
are all elements of the same urban archeology that float back to the surface,
impacting the day-to-day life of the architect João Carlos Ribeiro de Almeida
Neto. On the verge of the birth of his first son, he finds himself lost, surrounded
by an oppressive city. Born into a family of contractors, with a history of deep
emotional scars, and men that seem unable to express their feelings, our main
character must reach a point of physical and emotional exhaustion, before
looking back and confronting his own heritage in order to open up perspectives
for the new generation.

To make such a personal film wouldn’t have been possible without the utmost
trust of my producer, who gave me the necessary creative freedom, actors
I deeply admire and a directing crew comprised of friends who share my
enthusiasm and love for cinema. My sincere gratitude to all of them.

Gregorio Graziosi
INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR:

Where did the idea come from?

GG - OBRA was born out of my worrying about the memory of São Paulo. São Paulo is a city
centered on the day-to-day of its inhabitants, on the present. It doesn’t seem to acknowledge it’s
own past. The idea for the film came out this observation. OBRA tells the story of an architect that
deals with different layers of the city’s memories, some of which come back to haunt his present,
and that of those around him.

What about the city within the film’s context?

GG - This film deals essentially with the interaction between the character and the city, and
specifically the city of São Paulo. The city, thus, is a character in itself and it’s present in almost
every frame. We were really careful in choosing each location you see on the screen, so that the
architecture would narrate a story of its own, mirroring what we intended in each specific scene.

OBRA can be seen as an architectural journey throughout São Paulo. Our main character feels
the shadow of the urban scene over him, and the concrete and buildings seem to close on him
as the movie strives towards its climax. We shot in buildings designed and projected by the
famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (Eiffel Building, Copan Building), in a residence with
a Brutalist project by a young Ruy Ohtake, in a beautiful swimming pool designed by Ícaro de
Castro Mello (Baby Barioni Sports Complex), in a suspended running track located between
buildings in the city’s main avenue (designed by David Libeskind) and in a beach house designed
by Marcos Acayaba (Baeta Home). This last one is very unusual, suspended as if a tree house,
with glass walls that reveal the tropical forest surrounding it. The surroundings play an important
role in the characters’ interaction.

How did you work with the actors?

GG - Irandhir Santos, who plays the architect, heads the cast. Irandhir has an amazing capacity
to concentrate himself on building the character, to the extent that in some cases you can’t tell if
you’re speaking to the actor or to character he’s playing. If you look into his eyes, it’s almost as
if he’s in a trance. His architect is a character “imprisoned” in São Paulo, a concrete jungle of
cement and geometry, at the same time suffering from a ruptured disc, which also destabilizes
his physical structure. Irandhir’s physical work in the film is so impressive that at moments I felt as
if I was filming some contemporary ballet dancer.

In addition to his physical acting, his capacity of acting without dialogue, bringing the subtext
afloat in his performance, is extraordinary. During our pre-production meetings, he’d write lines
in the script, building an internal dialogue; what he’d think the character was feeling and his
internal conflicts. Another interesting coincidence was that I usually draw all the scenes before
turning them into a screenplay. I found out that Irandhir also did that, so the act of drawing was
very important for our method. So singular was this coincidence, we decided to incorporate it in
the film. The architect is seen drawing in moleskines during many scenes.

The film’s antagonist, the master builder, is in direct conflict with the architect. He’s played by
Julio Andrade, an extremely talented actor that also has a great capacity to act in silence. But
where Irandhir is very methodical, Julio goes into a different direction, improvising a great deal.
His eyes are very powerful, always looking as if he’s in an internal turmoil and about to explode.
Julio is the kind of actor that can bring someone down with one quick stare. The conflict between
the characters and the different styles of acting brought the film a great deal of energy.

Directly related to the architect, we have his family. The architect’s wife is played by the beautiful
Lola Peploe, an English actress whose character’s profession is directly related to one of the film’s
core questions: the city’s memory. She plays an urban archeologist working in the excavation of
an old Jesuit village located at the city center. There, she comes in contact with the various layers
of the city’s history. She’s also pregnant with their first son, the next in line, which will have to
deal in the future with the decisions the architect makes in the film.

His father is an engineer, played by Marku Ribas, one of the gentlest people I’ve ever met. In
addition to being a talented actor, he’s also an extraordinary musician. Amongst other things,
Marku has played guitar on screen in a Robert Bresson film. Very few did the same. His last
recording (sadly, Marku passed away after the shooting and before the film was completed) is an
interpretation of a song by Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, called “Trastevere”. The song
talks about a son attempting to reach his father. They’re both made of marble.

Still in the family, the architect’s mother is played by Luciana Inês Domschke, an excellent actress,
whose work is well known in theater stages. She was, for many years, part of the regular cast
of Zé Celso’s “Oficina Theater”, one of the most important groups in Brazil. Her gaze is almost
“Bergmanian” and reflects her life experience as a mother and a physician. And finally, the
film is graced with the special appearances of many actors in smaller roles. Cristiana Ubach
- who starred in “Goodnight, My Love” a feature film I co-wrote and co-edited with the film’s
director Daniel Aragão - and Marisol Ribeiro are two of the architect’s students (he also teaches
architecture in college). Vinicius Zinn plays a doctor, Helena Albergaria is a public notary and
Sabrina Greve is a nurse.

You shot in Black&White and Scope. Why was that?

GG - My two latest short films were shot in black and white. For OBRA we made tests to shoot
in color, but ultimately chose to return to B&W. It seemed to better reflect the rawness of the
narrative.

In achieving our final look, we were influenced by Modern Brazilian Photography of the 50s
and 60s. There’s a geometrical language throughout the film, also influenced by the Concretist
paintings of the same period. We felt that the careful framing of vertical and horizontal lines were
the best way to bring the city to the screen. Those who live in São Paulo know these geometrical
lines are present in our day to day. In some ways, it also affects my subjectivity and that of
the architect, whose life and work is deeply related to the buildings that surround him.The use
of lighting in Modern Brazilian Photography is also interesting, incorporating the high contrast
present in our tropical weather. It’s not uncommon to see long shadows cast by the city in these
photographs. We tried to bring that to our film.

As for the aspect ratio, scope was, for me, always the obvious choice to put the characters inside
the locations they live. It allowed me to frame them and still have enough space to insert the
architecture; the city, inside the same image.
M A I N C A S T:

irandhir santos
Widely awarded and considered one of the most talented
actors in Brazil today, Irandhir has a performing arts degree
from the Federal University of Pernambuco. Aside from
a memorable part in José Padilha’s “Elite Squad 2” and
several other film, TV and theater projects, Irandhir has had
a particularly strong presence in the rising Pernambuco film
scene, such as in Marcelo Gomes’ “Cinema, Aspirines and
Vultures” (2005), Cláudio Assis’ “Bog of Beasts” (2007) and
“Rat Fever” (2011), Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Neighbouring
Sounds” (2012) and Hilton Lacerda’s “Tattoo” (2013).

JULIO ANDRADE
Born in southern Brazil, Julio Andrade has acted for several
exponents of a generation of talented directors, such as
Jorge Furtado, Gustavo Spolidoro, Beto Brant and Paulo
Morelli. He became a household name after starring in
Breno Silveira’s “Gonzaga: De pai pra filho” (2012), and
most recently took on the part of writer Paulo Coelho in
Daniel Augusto’s biopic “Não pare na pista: a melhor
história de Paulo Coelho” (2014).

LOLA PEPLOE
Lola Peploe is an English actress living and working in
Paris. After studying English Literature at Oxford University
she went on to train as an actress at The Drama Centre
London, where she practiced for three years. Since then
she has worked in theatre, television and film and acted for
artists such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Stephen Frears, Declan
Donnellan, and Richard Eyre. She has just finished writing
and directing her first short film.
F U L L C A S T:
A rchitect - IRANDHIR SANTOS
M aster B uilder - JULIO ANDRADE
A rchitect ‘ s wife - LOLA PEPLOE

A rchitect ‘ s father - MARKU RIBAS

A rchitect ‘ s mother - LUCIANA INÊS DOMSCHKE
nurse - SABRINA GREVE
A rchitect ‘ s grandfather - TURÍBIO RUIZ
student - CHRISTIANA UBACH
student - MARISOL RIBEIRO
public notar y - HELENA ALBERGARIA
doctor - VINICIUS ZINN
bureaucrat - FERNANDO COIMBRA
pharmacist - DONIZETE MAZONAS
master builder ’ s wife - LIGIA FRANCHINI
intern - R AV E L A N D R A D E

crew :
D irector - GREGORIO GRAZIOSI
P roducer - Z I TA C A R VA L H O S A
S creenpla y - G R E G O R I O G R A Z I O S I and PA O L O G R E G O R I
C inematograph y - ANDRÉ BRANDÃO
P roduction D esign - M A R I O S A L A D I N I and V E R A O L I V E I R A
E diting - GABRIEL VIEIRA DE MELLO
S ound D esign - FÁBIO BALDO
E x ecutive P roducer - LEONARDO MECCHI
P roduction M anager - FA R I D TAVA R E S
T ittle D esign - B R U N O A L FA N O
production company :
Founded on 1983, Superfilmes is based in São Paulo and has adjusted itself to
perform over the multi-audiovisual production ranges. Superfilmes has produced 16
features films, over 30 shorts, TV series and Docs, released in Brazilian and foreign
film festivals such as Cannes (“Damned Meat” at Critics Week, 1985), Berlinale
(“Posthumous Memoirs”, 2000; “Alice’s House”, 2007), Rotterdam (“Southwest”
Tiger Competition, 2012) and others.

The challenge of vouching a market for its productions has been fulfilled over
theatrical exploitation, television release and international market. Superfilmes is
also used to being the Brazilian co-producer of foreign productions in Brazil and
Latin America, having collaborated with BBC, Central Television (UK); Canal +,
ARTE, Les Films D’ici (France); and NDR (Germany).

Brazil / 2014 / 80min / BW / 2K / Scope / 5.1

F U R T H E R I N F O R M AT I O N

www.facebook.com/obra www.superfilmes.com.br/obra

S ales & F esti v als P ro d u c tion c ompan y

FIGA/BR FILMS S uperfilmes ( Z I TA C A R VA L H O S A )

+1323 229 9816 + 55 11 3031.5522 / 98484.2524
contact@figafilms.com zita@superfilmes.com.br
www.figafilms.com www.superfilmes.com.br

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