This week, filmmaker Ugo Giorgetti's program as a guest at the Resident Artist’s “Hilda Hilst” Program, from the Institute of Advanced Studies (IdEA) at Unicamp. Between August and November, the director, producer and screenwriter from São Paulo developed activities on two fronts: “São Paulo according to Ugo Giorgetti”, shows bringing together his entire filmography at Casa do Lago, and “Cinema and the Creation of Ugo Giorgetti”, a free course covering topics in cinematographic practice.
Listen also on Rádio Web Unicamp: Cinema and the creation of Ugo Giorgetti
Over the 13 weeks, 19 feature-length, medium-length and short films, documentaries and television films were shown, always followed by debates in which the public could ask questions and interact with the director, dissecting the behind-the-scenes and Giorgetti's way of thinking about cinema. Structured to cover the history of the city of São Paulo in chronological order, the programming it was from the end of the 2010th century until the XNUMXs.
O course was put together with a series of 13 lectures based on Giorgetti's experience of more than four decades of directing, writing and producing cinema. Among the topics covered were the work of the director, the film crew, the role of the State in promoting Brazilian cinema, the cold humor present in his films and how to construct a script. Professors, students and staff from universities, professionals from the film community and amateurs from different backgrounds made up the class of 40 students who completed the course, held on Wednesday mornings.
Giorgetti said he was surprised by the interest and frequent participation of students, praising the organization and the proposed interaction at the university. Despite never having taught, the filmmaker felt very comfortable during classes, captivating the audience with his ease and humor. “I found a very open and supportive environment here. I myself was a university student, but my mind is not that of an academic. I'm a professional, almost a scriptwriting and directing technician, something like that. But I think it’s essential that there is academics.” After studying Philosophy at USP in the 1960s, Giorgetti established himself professionally in advertising, debuting in documentary film with “Campos Elíseos”, from 1973, and in fiction with “Jogo Duro”, from 1985.
“São Paulo according to Ugo Giorgetti” was the first exhibition to bring together all of Giorgetti’s cinematography. Reviewing his films, says the filmmaker, was a dubious experience. According to him, although the exhibition allowed him to see that his works, in general, resisted the passage of time, it also meant revisiting mistakes or choices that he today considers to be mistaken in their argument and direction. “Cinema is not a book, in which a revised and expanded second edition is published.”
This critical look at his own work and the opportunity to watch rare films outside the commercial circuit were some of the attractions for the public at the Tuesday night sessions at Casa do Lago. Student Bruna Dias, a master's student in economic history at Unicamp, watched several of the films. “The opportunity to listen and participate in the discussions at the exhibition, learning behind-the-scenes details, was incredible. Sometimes, we think that there are great things behind the production, but we realized that they are often more practical things, so it was really cool.”
Practical exercise
To discuss the importance of the argument and its consequences for the production of a film, Giorgetti opened to the students an unpublished script that he is writing for his next fiction feature film, entitled “Dora and Gabriel”. In the story, a couple of strangers are trapped by criminals in the trunk of a car, the scene of most of the action. The chance to collectively contribute to the text motivated the students during the three months, with the guarantee that the best ideas could be used.
José Augusto Mannis, professor of Music and Medialogy courses at the Institute of Arts (IA) at Unicamp, proposed to contribute, in addition to the script, with the construction of this trunk environment, as he carries out research with sound immersion. Mannis' idea is to use the multichannel system, with surround technology, so that the audience feels enclosed with the protagonists. “It’s a big challenge to build a sound narrative that accompanies the entire film within this closed environment of a trunk,” explained Mannis. During the last few weeks, the IA professor simulated situations inside a car and recorded the audio to serve as a pilot for “Dora and Gabriel”.
Noticing the director's evolution over the years in the conception of his films caught the attention of students Kevin Damásio, a postgraduate student in History, and Simone Boró, who is studying a degree in Social Sciences at Unicamp. Following almost all the sessions at Casa do Lago, they praised the opportunity offered by IdEA. “It was a great privilege to be able to participate, because we never had this opportunity to interact with a director like him. It was the first time we were able to do a complete course like this, and the possibility of dialogue was very good”, declared Damásio.
For linguist and poet Carlos Vogt, president of the IdEA Scientific and Cultural Council, Giorgetti's presence was a great resumption of the Resident Artist Program, now linked to IdEA and paying homage to the poet Hilda Hilst, the first guest for an artistic residency at Unicamp in mid-1980s. “Having reopened the program with an artist of Ugo's quality was very good due to all the attributes he brings together, such as intelligence and spontaneity, in addition to the fact that he is a complete creator, screenwriter, producer, director and football columnist of the stature of Nelson Rodrigues.”
Professor and literary critic Alcir Pécora, coordinator of IdEA, highlighted the filmmaker's friendliness, patience and availability in all debates. “I think the residency was very successful in terms of the two basic objectives we expected: first, the quality of the artistic intervention, with the unprecedented showing of 19 films, which allowed us a new perception of his entire production; second, the critical discussion carried out around technical aspects of Brazilian and international film production in classes that brought together students, staff and teachers from various areas.”
The course “Cinema and the Creation of Ugo Giorgetti” was filmed by TV Unicamp and will soon be available on the Institute of Advanced Studies’ social networks and communication channels. Furthermore, Giorgetti's films are being shown on TV Unicamp programming on channel 10 of NET Campinas.
