O Ensaio
The RehearsalThe novel delivers a mordant critique of Brazilian society in the guise of a satirical autobiography narrated by a dead protagonist. In 1880 its author foresaw the abolition of slavery that would happen in Brazil eight years later, but predicted that it would be a mere formal measure, informally everything would remain the same.
The film was shot at the Ibirapuera pavilion designed by Oscar Niemeyer and its cast is made up of professional and non-professional actors, several of whom worked or currently work for the São Paulo Biennial Foundation. Featuring actors recast from another project Guimarães had worked on eight years earlier, O Ensaio is a film about the passage of time, about short lived revolutionary actions, about institutional memory, racism, and sexism in Brazil.
With
- Isabél Zuaa
- Germano Melo
- Camila Mota
- Julia Ianina
- Kelner Macêdo
- Silvio Restiffe
- Suely Rolnik
- Ivo Mesquita
- Pablo Lafuente
- Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro
Crew
Director | Tamar Guimarães |
Screenplay | Tamar Guimarães, Melissa de Raaf, Lillah Hallah |
Cinematography | Bárbara Alvarez |
Editing | Tamar Guimarães, Beatriz Pomar |
Music | Arto Lindsay |
Sound Design | Rubén Valdes, Filip Caranica |
Sound | Rubén Valdes |
Production Design | Luís Knihs, Maria Chiaretti |
Costumes | Dayse Barreto |
Make-Up | Guilherme Funari |
Casting | Tamar Guimarães, Lillah Hallah, Maria Chiaretti |
Assistant Directors | Lillah Hallah, Patrícia Monegatto |
Production Manager | Luís Knihs |
Producers | Luís Knihs, Maria Chiaretti, Tamar Guimarães |
World sales
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel
Produced by
Tamar Guimarães
Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Danish Arts Foundation
Tamar Guimarães
Tamar Guimarães, born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1967, is a visual artist working with film and other forms of time based media. She studied Fine Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London and at the Konsthögskolan i Malmö and Art Theory at Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, København. Guimarães’s work has been exhibited at biennials and in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. She lives and works in Copenhagen.
Filmography (selection)
2010 Canoas; 14 min. 2011 The Work of the Spirit (Parade); 12 min. 2014 A Família do Capitão Gervásio 2013 - 2014 (Captain Gervasio's Family); with Kasper Akhøj, 16 min. 2015 The Parrot’s Tail; with Kasper Akhøj, video installation, 17 min. 2016 La Incorrupta (The Uncorrupted); 36 min. 2017 Studies for A Minor History of Trembling Matter; with Kasper Akhøj, 32 min. 2019 O Ensaio (The Rehearsal)
Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019