When photographing an event reminds me of who I am
* Post related to this photo shoot.
Even though I am not a nationalist person at all and I always do my best in trying to break and mix borders as much as I can, sometimes I am very proud to be born and raised in Brasil. It is incredible how a land that suffered (and still suffers) so much can produce such great Art. Maybe it is struggle itself that makes Brasilians be so good at transforming pain into a gorgeous touching narrative.
Since I’ve watched “Espero Tua (Re)volta” by director Eliza Capai, I became a fan. The very serious and yet still playful way she constructs stories is overwhelmingly adictive in the best way possible. Watching her documentaries is like being able to grasp the last drop of hope in a drying sea of despair, and wanting to make something useful out of it.
When a very good friend of mine, Lillah Halla (another great film director, by the way), recommended me to photograph the backstage of Eliza Capai’s new documentary at Berlinale 2026, “A Fabulosa Máquina do Tempo”, I didn’t hesitate one second: ‘I’m in!!’ I said.
The job was to photograph the girls from the cast, Eliza Capai herself and the team at the hotel, on the red carpet and during and after the premiere of the documentary at Berlinale. In any other situation, it would’ve been a regular working day, arriving, shooting, leaving and delivering the photos in the next day. But not this job.
As soon as I arrived at the hotel, the girls, Eliza and her team received me so well, singing, dancing and running around, screaming through the Berliner hotel corridors. It was like a breath of fresh air in the midst of cold February. To be able to accompany and photograph their joy on Berlinale’s red carpet and talking to a huge public after the screening was already delightful, but seeing the girls’ first time touching snow was definitely the highlight of my day.
To witness how Brasilians navigate the world, unapologetically spreading joy and celebrating being alive (even when the subject is terror), to see them doing cartwheels and splits in the middle of Berlinale’s foieur reminds me everytime where I came from, in which land my feet grew up touching and what makes my heart beat, despite having to constantly blend in, where I live. And for this, I am forever grateful.
If you get the opportunity, go watch “The Fabulous Time Machine” by Eliza Capai, featuring Manuelinha, Manu and Sofia. You will laugh, cry and learn a lot about a Brasil that you don’t usually see depicted on the screens.
