Índice:
1. Entrevista a Ana Almeida (A Noiva) para o festival escocês Jennifer's Bodies
Fevereiro 2011 (em inglês)
2. Entrevista para o canal LxJovem a propósito da exibição no Motelx. Setembro 2007 (video).
Entrevista a Ana Almeida para o blogue oficial do festival "Jennifer's Bodies" da Escócia (parte do evento mundial Women in Horror Celebration Month) a propósito da exibição de 'A Noiva'. O nosso filme passou no festival a 12 de Fevereiro de 2011, em estreia na Escócia.
Entrevista por Jennifer Cooper.
An Interview with Ana Isabel Almeida - Director of Short Feature - THE BRIDE
One of the short films that I am pleased to be showing at Jennifer's Bodies is Portuguese short A Noiva, or The Bride. Directed by Ana Isabel Almeida, this is an eeerie spooktacular wee short and I have to say that I'm super geeked at what brought Ana and writer José Pedro Lopes together as friends. Keep on reading to find out what... ;)
Can you remember the moment that you first decided you wanted to make movies and was it even horror related?
I can't really pin-point a moment in time, but maybe it was when I about 8 years old, and ran home from school to transform my sofa into a mining cart, while I watched "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" on the VCR.
Not really horror, but still very scary for an 8 year old!
A Noiva was written by José Pedro Lopes, how did you to meet and what gave him the idea for your short A Noiva (The Bride)?
I met José in high school, and we immediately started talking about movies, directors, the X-files... Actually, he was the first film geek I'd ever met (besides me, obviously!), so that was pretty exciting.
We've been working together ever since. We started with no-budget shorts, and "The Bride" was the first short we made with some budget.
For the Bride, the idea was to create an ominous evil presence, based a bit on typical horror slashers like "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th", but have the killer be more unearthly.
Also we wanted to prove to ourselves we could make a real horror film.
A Noiva left me wanting for more. I felt that there was so much more story to be told and that The Bride was just getting started. If given the opportunity, would you like to turn this into a feature film?
José developed the script for a feature, but then we decided to first shoot the pre-credit slaughter, and then use it as a "sample", so we could look for production funding. That's actually what "The Bride" is. A "pre-credit slaughter". We've been post-ponning the development of the feature since 2007, because we both have very demanding "real full-time jobs".
But this year, José wrote a new short story about the same myth, which we're very excited about! We'll see how things develop ;)
I love how on IMDb it says that ‘if you liked this title then our database recommends’, and it has Carnival of Souls and James Wan’s stupidly underrated follow up to Saw, Dead Silence. What are your thoughts on this?
I think it's an automatic process, that works with taglines or something, no? eheh
Still, I get pretty excited to see the films that pop up there. I haven't seen "Carnival of Souls" but I think "Dead Silence" was great. A very moody, dark, eery film. I quite enjoyed it.
My friend Adam Barnick is making a documentary called ‘What is Scary?’ What truly scares you?
Honestly? Zombies! The whole concept of people hurting other people hurting other people hurting other people terrifies me! It's a bit of a metaphor on the real world (I don't only mean in health issues, but also political and social). It gives the chills!
What is your take on the constant flow of American remakes of foreign cinema? For example, Martyrs…it actually makes me feel sick that an attempt to remake that film is even in the works! Are there any that you have actually enjoyed and felt worked? And then the flip side, are there any that you have just downright loathed? And you can be honest, haha.
I can give you one example, that will answer both your questions: "Let Me In". I really enjoyed the original swedish "Let The Right One In". The film was perfect, flawless, original and very very scary.
The remake was also perfect, very well put together, the actors were amazing, and the directing had some very original moments, which I really enjoyed.
But, in the end, it was like watching the same film twice. For me, there was no artistic point in remaking "Let The Right One In", the problem with the film, was it's language: swedish! It makes no sense to me.
It was a big shame, because the team that worked on the remake was really good, but was limited, for the most part, to copying the original, which everyone already loved. It all seemed a big waste.
"REC" and "Quarantine" are also good examples. In this case the only change was really the language, even the production team was the same. Same movie. Really liked Jennifer Carpenter, though!
What filmmakers inspire you the most and is it wrong to think that David Lynch might be one of them? :D
I'm like a sponge, everything I see and everything read inspires me a little!
David Lynch is one of my inspirations (there's a shot on "The Bride" that's an homage to "Twin Peaks").
I also love the modern David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuarón...I think Darren Aronofsky and Sofia Coppola are absolutely brilliant. The Coen Brothers, oh my god! I'm also very keen on Jason Reitman...
I particularly like directors that let their characters breathe and give them space to actually "live".
In an ideal dream world, who would you LOVE to work with in the future!?!?!
Edgar Wright! I have so much to learn!
What are your favourite films of all time?
This is one of the most difficult questions for me to answer. I can tell what films make me feel better when I'm sick, and that I've watched over and over again. Like for instance Edward Scissorhands, Star Wars (IV and V), Monsters Inc., Before Sunrise, Birds, Children of Men and many more I can remember right now.
Really, impossible question to answer! I'm so sorry.
And last but by far least, who are your favourite Women in Horror?
I don't know many, unfortunately, but I'd have to say Floria Sigismondi, for some of her work in photography, Mary Shelley, for being a great pioneer, and (although she isn't really a woman in horror, but for the looks of she would be great) Karen-O (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
Entrevista a Ana Almeida e José Pedro Lopes (A Noiva) para o canal LxJovem a propósito do Festival Motelx
Setembro 2007
