"Heliópolis" - 12min

www.andreferezini.com

Heliópolis is the most populous slum of Sao Paulo and one of the world's largest "favelas" - over 120 thousand people live there.

Formed in the early 1970s, Heliópolis has gone through different phases and changes. First, it grew standing against the so called "grileiros" (false land owners) and government eviction maneuvers. Then, Heliópolis faced increasing violence, war between drug dealers and high homicide rates. Later, due to its urban developments, Heliópolis acquired the status of "neighborhood" and, today, education efforts are gradually changing the reality of its inhabitants.

In 2008 I was commissioned by TV Cultura, the largest public TV station in Brazil, to direct a documentary that would tell this story.

Since all developments in Heliópolis were made inside-out - that is, it wasn't government welfare or private sector initiatives the ones responsible for the developments of the "favela", but rather the power of the organized community -, I decided to work in the production of the documentary the same way. I pratically lived in Heliópolis for over a month to find the ones responsible for this process and to be able to tell the story from their perspective and point of view.

"Heliópolis" is a 52-minute documentary, and it was produced in 2 months, from briefing to delivery. I remember working many overnights to finish editing the way I wanted...

It all paid off when the program was aired and on the next few days I received many greetings from community members saying that they really felt truly "represented" in the documentary - which to me was the most important thing to achieve in this project.

The video you can see above is the first 12-minutes of the documentary.

Please contact me if you want a copy of the full film - andre@daredevil.com.br


Credits
Director: Andre Ferezini
Executive Producer: Dudu Venturi
Research: Sergio Túlio Caldas
Cinematography: Chris Melo
Editing: Matthieu Rougé
Post-Production Coordinator: Érika Marques
Assistant Director: Aza Pinho
Producer: Simone Drehmer
Sound Recorder: Rodrigo Macedo
Credits Design: Vitor Zanini + Rodrigo Luchini + Vinicius Lousa
Post-Production Assistant: André Antunes
Scores: Marcos Romera + Márcio Arantes
Audio Post-Production: Estúdio Angels
Telecine + Scratch: Cinema Produções DIgitais
Color Grading Supervisor: Márcio Pasqualino
Color Grading: Fernando Lui Latorre
Production Company: Maria Bonita Filmes

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• heliópolis
• documentário
• tv
• cultura
• andre
• ferezini
• direção
• unas
• favela
• comunidade
• bairro
• instituto
• bacarelli
• pólo
• educacional