Greek-Portuguese writer and director Paulo Marinou-Blanco (empty handed, Good night Erin) filter dream about lionhis absurdist black comedy film about assisted suicide and euthanasia, screens at the 4th Red Sea International Film Festival on Friday night at 10:30 p.m. However, the cinema at Jeddah’s Cultural Plaza, Saudi Arabia’s “new home for cinema”, was packed with seats, and the audience responded with warm applause after experiencing the tragicomic roller coaster experience of the film.
Denise Fraga of Brazilother end) stars in the film, which premiered at the recent Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, alongside 2022 European Film Promotion star João Nunes Monteiro from Portugal. Asun Planas, Dinarte Freitas, António Durães, Alexander Tuji, Victoria Guerra, Sandra Faleiro, Joana Ribeiro (The man who fell to earth), Roberto Bomtempo rounds out the cast.
dream about lion This is the story of Gilda (Fraga), a terminally ill woman whose dying wish is to end her painful life as quickly and peacefully as possible. When her attempts to take her own life failed, she sought professional help and discovered a company called Joy Transition International, where she met Amadou, who decided to do so after her parents died in a “selfie-related accident.” Become a mortician. When they have to engage in all sorts of ridiculous activities and she discovers that the organization may not be what it seems, they must consider taking matters into their own hands.
“It comes from personal experience, some of which has to do with my family,” Marino Blanco told THR. “My father was ill for a long time and was hospitalized, but had no right to die. So he had to live on. He was a typical Southern European lover of life and just didn’t want to delay things. He just wanted to go. He just wanted to be able to die peacefully, But he didn’t have this chance.
At that time, the director’s father was speechless. “All he could do was sing,” Marino Blanco recalled. “There’s a song in the movie that he actually sings to us. It’s called “Maracangala.” It’s very famous in Brazil.
This is about a place in Bahia, Brazil. The filmmakers knew this, but had long believed it was a fictional place. “It’s not just a personal connection to my dad. It also feels symbolic, which is great because it’s kind of like, ‘I’m going to Marakangala,’ like this is a place we didn’t know it was Something like a place after death,” the director shared. But when he finished the film, a Brazilian producer friend from Bahia told him this was a place he had actually been to before. “Then he showed me on Google Maps and there it was,” Marino Blanco said with a laugh. “It’s a real little one-way town.”
His personal experiences also influenced the conception of the film and the character of Amadou. “My personal experience is also tragicomic. Like everyone, I went through a somewhat depressed period,” Marino Blanco explained. “I also have insomnia, just like Amadou.” One day, he found “coincidentally a book about euthanasia techniques, such as self-termination techniques,” and downloaded it to his Kindle, he shared. “Then one night I lay in bed and started reading, you know, ‘Put 10 milliliters of solution in water,’ and I slept like a baby and never had insomnia again.”
This is a critical moment. “In a way, for me, that was the first point that gave me the idea for the film, because I realized that no matter how bad things are, you choose to live. It’s not an obligation,” Marinou- Blanco said. “You’re not condemned for it. No matter how bad things get, it’s a choice. You actually get to choose whether to face them or not, and all of a sudden it just gives you more courage in some way— The fact is you’re free. It’s not a prison, it’s not a life sentence. So that was the first stepping stone, and my father’s experience.
Financing this project is easier than you think. “The first time I applied for screenplay funding, we got it in Portugal,” says the writer-director THR. “Most people really liked the script. Obviously, there were some rejections along the way, but it wasn’t difficult.
The film’s title is a reference to the work of Ernest Hemingway old man and seain which the Santiago character dreams of a lion as a symbol of lost youth. “Titles are difficult,” Marino Blanco said. “I tied together this image of peace, tranquility, happiness, thinking that’s what Gilda wanted, right? It’s something that Gilda never had, or doesn’t have now but longs for.
The filmmaker revealed during the festival that his mother had been bedridden for years. So what was her reaction? dream about lion? “For a long time, she didn’t want to read the script. But then she saw the finished movie and she burst into tears and she just hugged me,” Marino Blanco recalled. “That’s it. Thank you,” she said. “Because Gilda’s personality is also based a little bit on her, especially her strength and zest for life.
