Mariana Cardoso and Bárbara Albuquerque in Maria Vitória

Mario Patrocínio’s Maria Vitória is the writer-director’s first narrative characteristic, however it brings the chops of his documentary background to floor the story of the titular younger girl (Mariana Cardoso). Underneath the relentless eye of her controlling father Nacho (Miguel Borges), Maria is subjected to a rigorous soccer coaching routine that makes having a social life almost unattainable. When her estranged brother Bruno (Miguel Nunes) unexpectedly returns to their small Portuguese village, the movie expands from a father-daughter duo to a fraught triangle. Bruno’s queerness challenges his father’s stereotypical machismo; her brother’s former absence and her father’s fixed presence are each equally damaging to Maria. Looming over all three is the loss of life of Nacho’s spouse in a 2017 fireplace for which the daddy has but to take duty for his half.

Following the movie’s premiere on the Tokyo Worldwide Movie Pageant, I sat down with Patrocínio to speak about taking pictures within the distant Portuguese mountains, his casting course of and my sudden connection to his music supervisor.

Filmmaker: I’d like to start out with the situation. I don’t know what your connection is to that place, if any.

Patrocínio: I shot my prior movies exterior of Portugal and needed to discover a story and place that might join deeply with Portuguese tradition. In 2017 there was an enormous fireplace in that area, Serra da Estrela, and greater than 100 individuals died. I began going there and attempting to know the area itself, to attach with the vitality of villages and communities now there. [The city] was launched to me by a buddy, and undoubtedly, once I obtained in contact with that area, I felt like, “That is the middle of Portugal. It’s exactly the alternative of what individuals often affiliate with Portugal, which is summer season.” How is it to dwell within the coldest place? Not simply the climate, however individuals should be actually robust due to nature.

Filmmaker: It seems like a documentary immersion course of. How did that give you the results you want? Did you go and keep?

Patrocínio: Yeah, for nearly 5 years, I used to be going there not less than 3 times a yr—typically every week, typically 15 days, simply attempting to know the challenges that everyone would undergo. There’s a number of immigration, so in villages with nearly no individuals, those who stayed are actually pissed off. Or [the residents] did one thing improper exterior, they usually’re coming again. The one issues that folks nonetheless get round, the three issues that contact everyone, are church, soccer and the fires within the woods.

Filmmaker: Who was your introduction to the village? Was there somebody from the native council?

Patrocínio: Sure, firstly, I had somebody from there that might take me to locations. After which assembly individuals, simply being in a traditional cafe, seeing life passing by—step-by-step, you begin constructing a sure world. It’s not only one place, one village, it’s a number of villages that I went to the place I noticed the identical approach of being, the identical actuality that repeats itself.

Filmmaker: So, the story emerged out of your commentary of the place, reasonably than from the characters first.

Patrocínio: A buddy of mine had a narrative about somebody who got here residence, and I began to assume, how it might be to come back residence? However what actually modified for me on this course of was my mom died in 2018. The grief that I used to be feeling in the whole lot, I understood that every one that folks that lived in that very same place had the identical connection, as a result of that they had misplaced [people] in that massive fireplace. That fully modified the story. I needed to inform the story a couple of woman, as a result of I additionally linked with female vitality and my mom, my grandmother, and the way they deeply modified my life. I gave the primary character the title of my mom.

Filmmaker: Let’s discuss a bit about your casting course of. Your lead performer has to both be capable to really do, or appear to have the ability to do, three particular issues: be a goalie, sing and likewise rap a bit, which is a number of stuff for one particular person to do.

Patrocínio: Years in the past, once we didn’t have the financing but, I went to do casting to attempt to establish who can be the younger actress that might try this function. Then, when it got here to filming final yr, I referred to as her again as a result of I felt she was the one, after which we talked about that: “Look, I want this to be actual. How athletic are you?” And by probability, her father is a soccer coach, so having the understanding of what it’s to be on the sphere instantly helped. She lived in lots of locations on this planet due to that, so she understood all of it. Then, I requested, “You’ll be coaching for 2, three months to be a goalkeeper. Are you as much as it? And she or he was like, “I’m going to be the perfect goalkeeper.” On the similar time, I knew she sang. [Her singing] was not one thing that was there firstly within the movie, however once I understood that singing is a approach of gaining your individual voice, and a few individuals by no means have the braveness, it was symbolic and I needed to make use of that within the movie. So, it was a course of that began nearly two-and-a-half years in the past.

Filmmaker: The brother has to drive stick-shift.

Patrocínio: Nicely, in Portugal, it’s fairly widespread. Now it’s changing into computerized, however for years it was simply sticks.

Filmmaker: The explanation I observed is as a result of usually when individuals shoot the method trailer, you’ll be able to inform as a result of it’s gradual and in entrance, and also you make an actual level of taking pictures from the again seat so you’ll be able to see that he’s driving. So, was it integral to your conception of the function that the actor who performed it had to have the ability to drive?

Patrocínio: I don’t do regular castings, like [where I] provide the textual content. I initially have a dialog [with the actor already] in character. Even when I don’t know 100% what’s the character, I see what I can grasp from what you might be or have within you that I will construct up with you. In fact, we requested if he may drive and he may, which was good for us. Crucial factor is for them to know the character. We after all have the script as a information, however then there are particular issues that I maintain out, particular sentences that I solely give within the second to at least one actor or the opposite. For instance, there was a sentence that I solely gave to Miguel: “It’s best to have been the one who died.” That was a sentence that the daddy didn’t know [was coming]. I waited till the fifth or sixth take, then I went to Miguel and mentioned, “At this second, simply say that.” And the daddy says, “I do know.” The daddy, from the start, would by no means say that, and I didn’t give give the sentence to the daddy, so he reacted naturally. It fully modifications the dynamic between them.

Filmmaker: How lengthy is your rehearsal course of earlier than you begin filming?

Patrocínio: Ideally, we’d have two months to play.

Filmmaker: How lengthy did you even have?

Patrocínio: I believe a month and every week or so. We had 35 days to shoot. I all the time inform manufacturing “If we rehearse, it’s going to be simpler once we shoot,” even when it’s twice every week.

Filmmaker: There’s additionally a choreographer credit score. Is that for the for the gameplay itself?

Patrocínio: Barbara [Albuquerque]—she’s the woman who kisses the primary actress—was 100% new. She had executed no movies and was type of stiff. I wanted her to know her physique and the way she may transfer. The choreographer helped rather a lot to know physique motion and get free.

Filmmaker: Did the choreographer work with anybody else or simply along with her?

Patrocínio: No, simply her.

Filmmaker: That’s such a luxurious. What a deal with. What are among the challenges of taking pictures in a location like that that’s distant and elevated?

Patrocínio: To begin with, taking pictures in winter, you might have nearly no hours of sunshine. It was fairly chilly. In fact, we tried to pay attention the areas as a lot as attainable However, you recognize, it’s a mountain—it might probably rain, wind, snow. The climate itself brings you one thing. We had been fairly fortunate, I can say, as a result of all the times that we actually wanted to be stunning, we had it. However I believe the most important problem is complete isolation, as a result of it’s a distant place. It’s three hours from Lisbon, however it’s distant within the sense that there’s nearly nothing within the winter: not a number of eating places to go or locations to calm down. It’s simply, you recognize, 30 residents, two issues. So you must maintain your self properly. That was the problem for me. However I needed a lot to do the movie that that’s nothing. You get in chaos typically, however then you definitely simply drive by way of it. For instance, we had been speculated to shoot in a sure place—however it rained rather a lot, so a small river turned a giant river, so we needed to discover one other location.

Filmmaker: For my final query, I need to ask you about working along with your music supervisor, Troupe Gammage. There’s a number of completely different sorts of music within the film, but in addition I went to highschool with that man I noticed his title within the credit and misplaced my thoughts a bit of

Patrocínio: So Katie Byron, who’s a manufacturing designer, [as a co-producer] I did a movie along with her with Nicolas Cage shot in Portugal, Coloration Out of Area. We obtained to be buddies, and at a sure level she married Troupe and needed to return to Portugal. Principally, Katie Byron did the manufacturing design of our movie, and I knew Troupe works with music for video games and movies. There was a sure level the place  wanted one thing that I used to be not attaining, and I wanted somebody to come back from exterior. That’s once I talked to Troupe: “Man, please come right here and assist me, as a result of there are some issues lacking right here which might be essential to sure scenes.” They usually had been having the newborn on the similar time! So, Katie did the preparations, then she went to have a child, then she went on-set to do the preparation of the home. Then she may calm down a bit, as a result of it was insane.