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Photos from top: A scene from Fernando Meirelles’ City of God (Cidade de Deus); Editing BAFTA winner Daniel Rezende
Set among the youth gangs in the ‘favelas’, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro, Fernando Meirelles’ City of God (Cidade de Deus) was an acknowledged Foreign Language film highlight of the year. A breathlessly-paced visual feast, it won the Editing BAFTA for Daniel Rezende, mak- ing his feature debut. He dis- cussed tricks of the trade with Ruth Grenville.
Q. How did you get involved in the film business?
A. When I was 22, I began editing commercials and video clips. For four years I edited most commer- cials directed by Fernando Meirelles. A deep affinity was established between us: that’s why I was invited to do City Of God, my first feature film. I am at the moment working on my third - Motorcycle Diaries, directed by Walter Salles.
Q. Who inspires you, aesthetically or otherwise?
A. I like films by Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Stanley Kubrick... and all the other good movies I’ve seen in my life have inspired me too.
Q. Do you believe there is a Latin American “film invasion” taking place? If so, why now?
A. I believe that Latin American culture is very rich and has always produced good movies. What is happening at the moment is a junction between an excellent crop of Mexican, Argentine and Brazilian films as well as a search by the distributors for this type of culture. Or maybe it’s because audiences are realising that the ‘Hollywood formula’ is saturated and are so creating a demand for different stories.
Q. How would you describe your working relationship with Fernando Meirelles?
A. Editing went on in parallel to filming and I spent a lot of time together with Fernando during the process. We have always got on really well and we talked a lot about the structure the film was to have. But when I began work on the scenes, he gave me all the liberty I needed to propose my own point of view on the first cut. This was very positive and allowed us to find the film’s rhythm and structure.
Q. You use a number of stylized editing techniques – it’s a real assault on the senses. To what extent is this your own style or a technique employed specifically for the narrative in City of God? A. I don’t think an editor should have a ‘style’. A good edit has to be, first of all, tailor-made to the story and the way it is being told.
I don’t really believe in the adjectives ‘modern’ or ‘classic’ to classify editing work. From the moment someone filmed two dif- ferent shots and put them togeth- er in the editing room, editing was invented. Everything else is just a variation on the same theme.
Q. Was City Of God constructed, in terms of script or camera work, to be cut and edited in this way? A. The editing was thought out and discussed thoroughly before filming. The whole concept of the film divides (like in the book) into three stories. The screenplay itself led us into making ‘three different movies’ within the same movie. This applies as well to the direc- tor’s work, photography, art direc- tion and editing. The first part had more wide-open shots, stationary cameras and a more convention- al editing. The second used a looser camera, narrower shots and freer editing. In the third phase, where cocaine reigns and the gang wars begin, the camera is hand-held and close up. There are no rules. Anything is allowed to make the audience feel suffo- cated, breathless. Weirdness is welcome. An error in cutting helps. We left no time to think about what is going on. The film’s speed is a sum of the screenplay, the way it was filmed, edited and sound recorded.
Q. Does new technology in any way dictate, help or hinder your editing choices?
A. Fernando and Cesar Charlone (Director of Photography) had already thought of digitally edit- ing and post-producing the film from the beginning, with the pos- sibility of using all the resources necessary to tell the story the way it was told. Not all the scenes were filmed to use Jump-Cuts, Split Screens, Fast Zoom. Many of them came up during the editing process. We wanted to have all possible options.
Q. What were your thoughts on being nominated for the BAFTA, and how did you feel when you won it?
A. I’m not really sure whether I was happier with the nomination itself or when I saw the other nominations. They were for films one usually uses as a reference. To be included among them means that your work can also be a reference to others. The nomination in itself was a prize, considering that this was my first feature film. I am very honoured with the recognition of the British Film Academy, principally because this is a non-English film.
Q. What does the BAFTA mean to you and to your career?
A. Personally it is very gratifying. Professionally, I think it is a little early to say. I hope to discover in the near future.
Q. If you had one piece of advice for other film editors, what would it be?
A. Although I believe in tech- nique, my advice is: follow your instincts.
a cut above
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