Twelve years after co-directing Berlinale entry “The Man of the Crowd,” renowned director Marcelo Gomes (“Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures”) is once again joining forces with filmmaker and visual artist Cao Guimarães (“From the Window of My Room”) for a new film, titled “Cape of Pleasures.” The dystopian thriller is one of the projects selected at this year’s CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the festival, Gomes says the idea for the film came out of reflecting alongside Guimarães on what currently afflicted them. “With ‘The Man of the Crowd,’ we made a film about our affliction about loneliness in big cities. ‘Cape of Pleasures’ came out of our fear of aging in a country with a latent desire for eternal youth. Being old is almost a crime in Brazil.”
“Cape of Pleasures” takes place in a near future in Brazil where a totalitarian regime forces the elderly into residences where they extract memories from their brains to train an AI system. Horrified by this new reality, a man escapes one of the residences and joins a guerrilla cell led by fellow dissidents over 75.
“We are seeing this explosion of far-right groups all over the world, including Brazil, and began wondering how these groups will handle aging because aging is unproductive,” says Gomes. “In ‘Cape of Pleasures,’ the elderly have the rebel spirit while the young are the conservatives who support the oppressive system. We wanted to flip the paradigm because films tend to portray the elderly as graying children. This is a reflection we want to bring to the table because even if the film is set in the future this is something that unfortunately could happen within the next five years.”
Gomes is heading to Rotterdam to look for the final piece of funding, having already secured 80% of the budget. The director is producing the film alongside partner Ernesto Soto via their banner Misti Films in co-production with Uruguay after being granted Ibermedia funding. They are now looking for a third co-producing country, preferably in Europe, to “help with the film’s international reach” and expand post-production opportunities as well as a sales agent.
The Uruguayan co-production element led Gomes and Guimarães to expand their casting net, with the director confirming to Variety that lauded Chilean actor and frequent Pablo Larraín contributor Alfredo Castro (“Vermiglio,” “El Conde”) will take on the main role of Nelson.
Alfredo Castro – Courtesy of Jorge Fuembuena Loscertales
“I always wanted to work with him — he is such an incredible actor,” gushes Gomes. “I feel very lucky to have him onboard. The remainder of the cast will be Brazilian. We are thinking of fantastic actors who have reached an age where they are struggling to get roles. We unfortunately have many such cases.”
Asked about how he feels about the major international success of his compatriot Walter Salles with “I’m Still Here” — which recently became the first-ever Brazilian film to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards — Gomes recalls how, when he first began gathering funding for his first feature, “Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures,” Salles was campaigning with “Central Station.” The 1998 film was nominated for best foreign language film at the Oscars as well as earning Brazil its first-ever acting nomination for Fernanda Montenegro.
“I would go to festival markets and people would immediately bring the film up when I mentioned I was from Brazil,” Gomes adds. “Walter has opened so many doors for us, he has created an international curiosity about our cinema. We got so much more attention internationally because of the film and it won’t be different with ‘I’m Still Here.’ It’s a great moment for Brazil and I am thrilled for Walter and the film.”
“Cape of Pleasures” is produced by Brazil’s Cinco em Ponto and Misti Films in co-production with Martín Almada from Uruguay’s Criatura Cine.
