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Frames of art

Photo: S. Mahinsha

The Portuguese connection Art director Maria Jose Braco

Veteran Portuguese art director Maria Jose Branco happened to see Shaji N. Karun’s ‘Vanaprastham’ in a friend’s house in Paris. And that was enough to bring her all the way to Kerala to observe Shaji at work on his latest film , ‘Kutty Srank.’

“I was bowled over by his ideas; it is completely different from what most directors in Europe are doing. His cinematic world is like a fairy tale and there are layers of storytelling in the film. It is personal cinema from the heart,” gushes Maria.

Her kohl-lined expressive eyes capture her sense of wonderment and happiness as she talks about her discovery of a new direction.

“I wrote to Shaji and told him that I would like to be on his sets as he worked. And that is why I am here, on my third trip to India. It was a coincidence that I was able to help him with some research on ‘Chavittunatakam,’ a form of theatre that is believed to have been brought to Kerala by Portuguese missionaries. They created a kind of dance drama that recounts the heroic exploits of legendary Christian warriors,” she explains.

According to her, the roots of ‘Chavittunatakam’ can be found in ‘Auto De Floripes,’ a kind of theatre, that narrates the story of princess Floripes and the battles between Charlemagne and admiral Balao.

The first schedule of the film, shot in and around Alappuzha and Kochi, has Mammootty playing an actor in a Chavittunatakam troupe.

Maria is all praise for the director, technical assistants and crew on the sets as she comes up with interesting but candid observations of the team.

“There was a lot of noise and there were so many people on the location. There were at least 120 people working on the film. In Europe, usually, a film of this kind would have about 35 people,” she points out.

But she adds that unlike an art director in Kerala, who usually takes care of the sets, an art director in Europe has to look into the aesthetics of each frame – make-up, costumes, hair style, sets … “I make suggestions but my job is to understand the director’s vision and help him achieve that,” explains Maria.

And she should know after having worked with leading Portuguese director Manoel De Oliveira in many of his films.

“He is an institution by himself. The oldest film director in the world, Oliveira will turn 100 on December 11. He has seen cinema evolve from the days of the silent movie and he is still making films,” she says.

Although she was all set to play an interior designer in real life, cinema beckoned and then there has been no looking back since then.

“My family was and is hooked on to cinema. My brother is a well known producer and director in Portugal and I followed him to tinsel town. My debut film was Oliveira’s film ‘Francisca’ in 1979. Since then I have worked in several of his films. Wim Wenders’ ‘The State of Things,’ one of the films that I worked in, won the Golden Lion in the Venice film festival of 1982.”

In fact, Maria was one of the many filmmakers who became part of ‘Cinema novo,’ a movement equivalent to New Wave cinema. But Maria feels that European cinema has become too “political for her tastes.”

According to her, politics and political issues could certainly be subjects for films but it should not become the only premise for filmmaking. But her next film with director Eugéne Green is one that ought to enthuse her. Based on a book, the film called ‘The Letters of a Portuguese Nun,’ is on a forbidden romance.

Maria plans to return to Kerala again for the next schedule of ‘Kutty Srank in November.

“Till then I must earn enough money for my trip to India,” she says with a broad smile.

SARASWATHY NAGARAJAN

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