A midlife crisis provoked ideas that would later inspire 64-year-old São Paulo filmmaker Susana Rossberg to create her film “Brasileiros Como Eu,” or “Brazilians Like Myself,” she told students Tuesday.
Rossberg, a participant in the international film community, has worked on films since the 1970s. The Department of Romance Studies and the new Portuguese Program at BU invited her to speak to give BU students and faculty a taste of Brazilian culture and immigration.
About 25 Boston University students and faculty members gathered at the Geddes Language Center in the College of Arts and Sciences for the screening.
Rossberg finished college in her late 40s, and began working to produce a film about Brazilian immigrants in the U.S.
“I discovered there was this huge Brazilian community [in the U.S.]. I was wondering why these people were here, because Brazil is normally where people immigrate to, instead of being a country which you run away from,” she said. “But all these Brazilians were trying to get out, coming across the Mexican border.”
However, plans to produce a film in the U.S. failed due to limited financing, so she traveled to Belgium where she spent most of her working years writing a screenplay, conducting research and applying for government grants given to projects and making films.
“I made the film with a grant from the Belgium government,” Rossberg said.
Rossberg’s intent in creating the film was to help the integration of foreigners and to produce footage of people she liked, she said.
The movie showcases Brazilian immigrants from all walks of life. It features a historian, psychologist and an artist.
“I also had this plan to convince the Belgium population that these Brazilians were good people,” she said. “I’m trying to convince the hosting countries that the immigrants are people like themselves and interesting people. I started out, I did something a little bit tricky, a little bit dishonest on purpose. I started out showing people who liked Belgium.”
The movie helps to depict some of the reasons why many immigrants fled Belgium.
“I’m trying to sell these people,” Rossberg said. “I’m going to give you a bit of the history and their motivations, why do people go out. They go for political reasons or for economic reasons.”
The movie also informally explains the Gini Coefficient, a major push factor pushing Brazilians out of Brazil. The Gini Coefficient is the numerical value between the haves and have-nots.
In Brazil, according to those interviewed in the documentary, you are either poor or rich, there exists no in-between.
Attendees said they enjoyed the screening.
CAS sophomore Rafaela Cardoso said she came to the screening to learn more about her cultural and national heritage.
“I’m Brazilian and it was about immigration . . . it kind of touched me personally,” she said. “I wanted to see how it was for this other person who has kind of the same experience.Seeing the similarities between others, myself and also my family and seeing that it’s not just me it’s actually other immigrants.”
CAS senior Sarah Becker said she did not know what to expect coming into the screening.
“It definitely was very interesting to see because I’m taking a Portuguese class and learning about Brazilian culture. It opens my eyes to more stuff,” she said.
Assistant professor of Spanish Dylon Robbins said one aspect of the film he enjoyed was that it followed a historical timeline of oppression.
“It kind of documented three different events and three different things,” he said.
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