It has been quite a long time since, I posted here, but of course I feel my absence has been justified. I have sent out seven applications for grants for my documentary, working title WHY BRAZIL. To do this I first bought a new computer right after returning from Carnival 2011, and was busy learning Final Cut so that I could edit the work sample of the documentary, which is actually a rough cut of an opening sequence for the film.
In the meantime, I have been getting to know my subjects, Zezinho, Patricia, and Rotimi, through emails, and facebook, and sharing my experiences with them through the social media.
What I have come to realize is that for the documentary to be real I will have to open up myself, and share even more of my own background with my subjects who are now my friends as well. I am here in Rio now, and beginning to do that. This time around having only been here two days I have spent a day hanging out with Zezinho, essentially just getting to know him, and sharing some of my history, and the next night I got an opportunity to go to my first baille funk with Patricia and her sister Priscilla who I met in person for the first time, yesterday. Its funny how you can feel comfortable with someone just from seeing pictures of a person, and in Priscilla's case knowing her sister Patricia. We partied like old friends. I'm sure many people can relate, how disarming it is to first meet or hear of someone through the internet.
This is how I met my boyfriend of almost two years, and I am a solid convert, and believer that sometimes people are braver and more open on the internet, than they would normally be in person upon meeting someone for the first time.
Along with editing, and grant writing, I have been following the progress, and challenges of Zezinho, Patricia, and Rotimi, and the progress and challenges of its new leader Dilma Rousseff. I believe that the Brazilian people were not quite prepared to have such a strong female leader. I have come to know that she is cleaning house in the Brazilian government, and I hope this will have a positive effect on the ability of "all" Brazilians to benefit from the money and opportunities that will come to Brazil with the advent of the World Cup and the Olympics.
A large part of me created this documentary is me experiencing first hand how Brazilians feel about about their reality. One example was the experience I had catching a taxi to Vidigal, a favela in Rio where I am staying. The hostel sent a taxi to meet me, but it broke down right outside the airport, and I had to get a regular cab. Some of the cab drivers, made a face when I mentioned my destination like "why would you want to go there?" I might have been assuming, but I got the impression that this was not a desirable location, and they couldn't understand why I would want to go there. Its one thing to be told by favelados that they are discriminated against, and its another to experience that discrimination indirectly myself.
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