Entertainment · Film · 1 hr ago
Film follows São Paulo theater group that treats madness as creative force
A new documentary follows Ueinzz, a theater company in São Paulo that is nearing its 30th anniversary.
The group began after Alexandre Bernardes, who attended a day hospital, suggested starting a theater company.
Its aim was artistic experimentation, not therapy or teaching, using experiences of madness as creative material.
The film, directed by Mariana Lacerda, follows rehearsals and performances of “Telúrica,” a play directed by Elisa Band at Casa do Povo.
Lacerda first filmed with a phone and a small camera, then brought in a cinema camera as the group grew used to her presence.
The filming gave the group more time to meet and create together, with some rehearsals expanding from two hours to eight.
The film is showing at the São Paulo International Film Festival, with screenings at Instituto Moreira Salles on October 24 and Espaço Petrobras de Cinema on October 28.
A documentary follows Ueinzz, a São Paulo theater group that treats experiences of madness as a creative force.
Telúrica, a Íntima Utopia, directed by Mariana Lacerda, shows the group rehearsing and performing the play Telúrica.
The play is directed by Elisa Band and has been developed for two years at Casa do Povo in central São Paulo.
The company is approaching its 30th anniversary and began with a proposal to create a theater group from Alexandre Bernardes, then attending the day hospital A Casa.
The film is showing at the São Paulo International Film Festival, with screenings scheduled at Instituto Moreira Salles on Oct. 24 and Espaço Petrobras de Cinema on Oct. 28.
- Who
- Ueinzz, a theater group in São Paulo, and filmmaker Mariana Lacerda.
- What
- A documentary follows the group’s artistic process and performances of Telúrica.
- When
- The film is showing at the São Paulo International Film Festival. Screenings are scheduled for Oct. 24 and Oct. 28.
- Where
- The group rehearses and performs at Casa do Povo in central São Paulo; the film is also screening at venues in São Paulo.
- Why
- The group uses theater as a space for aesthetic experimentation, treating experiences of madness as a poetic and political force.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Ueinzz began after Alexandre Bernardes proposed creating a theater group while attending the day hospital A Casa.
The group began developing the play Telúrica, directed by Elisa Band, at Casa do Povo.
Lacerda began with a cellphone, moved to a small camera and later introduced a cinema camera as the group became used to her presence.
The documentary was shot over 12 days, and rehearsals that had lasted two hours grew to eight hours.
The film was scheduled to screen at Instituto Moreira Salles during the São Paulo International Film Festival.
The film was scheduled to screen at Espaço Petrobras de Cinema.
- Group
- Ueinzz
- Film
- Telúrica, a Íntima Utopia
- Director
- Mariana Lacerda
- Theater director
- Elisa Band
- Filming
- 12 days
- Screening venues
- Instituto Moreira Salles and Espaço Petrobras de Cinema
What people are saying
I think it has a little to do with my experience with paranoia. I got used to this feeling that someone was listening to me, someone was watching me, something strange was happening
When you arrive with the camera, you awaken something in the other person that they also do not know
a kind of provisional community for existences that have learned to survive without needing to pretend they are whole
We were able to put into the circle the most unusual, unheard-of thoughts, practices and fictions. In our daily lives, some of these dimensions sometimes do not appear, but everything fit there. Not only did it fit, it gained splendor.