PRODUCTION Portugal
Silence: We’re shooting Fados
by Vitor Pinto
27/12/2006 - Carlos Saura's particular interest in musical and dance-related projects is widely known and now the time has come for the Spanish director to focus on Portugal's traditional music.
His new film Fados [trailer] was already presented to the press back in June 2005 (see news) but pre-production took over a year and half, before principal photography was finally scheduled to begin in the second week of January 2007, in Lisbon.
For the director, who has previously made documentaries on flamenco and the tango, "coming from Spain to Portugal to film the fado was a daring thing to do". Assuming that he is no expert when it comes to fado, Saura was, however, captivated by some of the genre’s most prominent voices, who will take part in the project as singers and actors.
Camané, Mísia and Carlos Carmo, along with Brazilian traditional music icons Caetano Veloso (Talk To Her [trailer]) and Chico Buarque, will perform new versions of popular fados, while Oscar-nominated DoP Eduardo Serra (The Girl With the Pearl Earring [trailer]) was called to capture the atmosphere of some of Lisbon's most popular neighbourhoods.
Co-produced by Lisbon-based outfit Fado Filmes (80℅) and by Madrid's Zebra Producciones (20℅), with €375,000 in support from Eurimages, Fados was also backed by the city of Lisbon, which sees the film as a vessel through which present this musical genre as a candidate for UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage initiative.
Shooting is intended to last six weeks and no release date has yet been announced. In the meantime, Saura is also involved in another project, the Spanish/Italian/Austrian/German film Don Giovani (see news).
