In conversation with REGINA MARQUES
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Regina Marques
It was dance that brought Regina Nadaes Marques from Rio de Janeiro to Berlin. Then, out of love, she came to Milan where she works for the environmental NGO "Amazonia" and, for 11 years, has been directing "Agenda Brasil", the most important international festival dedicated to contemporary Brazilian cinema. We met her to learn more about a distant territory that is very close to Marcolin, which has been present in São Paulo with a branch for several years now.
Since the 1970s, Marcolin has established relations with Brazil and inaugurated its showroom in São Paulo: a meeting that immediately sparked the interest of the Brazilian public in Italian-made eyewear. You, on the contrary, have brought Brazilian cinema to Italy. Is this the confirmation of a mutual interest at all levels?
«It was 2003 and in Italy there was a lot of talk about Brazil. The world’s attention was on the Amazon, Lula had just been elected and the city of São Paulo (twinned with Milan) was celebrating the 450th anniversary of its foundation, so it was the right opportunity to organize an event with São Paulo films and directors. The success motivated us to continue and, little by little, we turned into a real Festival. With one goal: to go beyond clichés and bring to Italy a selection of contemporary films that is as varied and representative as possible of today’s Brazil. An immense, young country in great cultural, economic and artistic ferment».
Speaking of eyewear, the question must be asked: what is the look that distinguishes Brazilian cinema?
«Brazil is a vast and complex country, and its cinema reflects this complexity. They range from favela movies to docufilms on the 60 years of military dictatorship; from family stories that talk about patriarchy to indigenous and environmental issues, which are extremely felt in my country, to films more related to the themes of music and dance, because bodily expressiveness is a fundamental part of the Brazilian way of looking at reality. In general, I would say that ours is a young, curious, physical and sensitive look to environmental issues».
From your artistic point of view, what points are in common with Europe and especially with Italy?
«Considering the European and Italian origins of many Brazilians, there are many points of contact between our views. Starting from the love for art, design and fashion. And then, after all, there is a special bond that unites Italy to Brazilian cinema. It was an Italian, Vittorio di Maio, who made the first “Lumière-style” films on the streets of Rio at the end of the nineteenth century, offering Brazilians the opportunity to look at themselves with an outside eye. Not a game of mirrors, but of different gazes that are really interested in getting to know each other better».
