Two Brazilian filmmakers decide as an audiovisual challenge to eschew messaging and social media for a period and instead create a manifesto to send video-letters to each other – one remains in Sao Paulo while the other has moved to Los Angeles – and record their lives, feelings, worries and moments of happiness.
Against the back drop of political turmoil in both countries, the resulting film, Swing and Sway (Vai e Vem), is an engaging delve into the lives of two intelligent and creative women as they reflect on art, politics, emotions and friendship.
Brazilian-Mexican filmmaker Chica Barbosa and Brazilian filmmaker and artist Fernanda Pessoa were friends in Brazil and members of the Collective Board of Directors of the Brazilian Documentarists Association in Sao Paulo, but when Barbosa moved to Los Angeles just as Covid hit they decided to craft a collaborative film dialogue.
The film opens with grainy black-and-white footage of Sao Paulo in April 2020, peppered with audio of anti-Bolsonaro protests, and a line that reads: “I miss our conversations about cinema and politics…keep me posted my friend, love Fernanda.”
The pair’s film manifesto consists of three rules:
- Until the end of the year, we’ll communicate only through video-letters as an antidote to the texting and calling apps
- Each letter will be formally and/or thematically inspired by a female experimental filmmaker
- Deadline to reply: 3 weeks
The fact that each video-message must be inspired by a different female experimental filmmaker means that the film’s momentum and style varies, which keeps the montages intriguing and challenging.
The inspirational filmmakers are: Marie Menken, Joyce Wieland, Gunvor Nelson, Yvonne Rainer, Carolee Schneemann, Narcisa Hirsch, Chick Strand, Barbara Hammer, Leslie Thornton, Marjorie Keller, Peggy Ahwesh, Abigail Child, Cheryl Dunye, Zeinabu Irene Davis, Ximena Cuevas and Paula Gaitan.
As the year progresses, they address the elections in both countries; their personal fears, the experience of migration and the idea of motherhood. The inherent violence of the Trump and Bolsonaro administrations is felt through the video-letters, but the presence and inspiration of the women who surround and inspire them is also felt through the different styles of the messages.
Chica Barbosa admits to feeling out of place in her new home. “I left Brazil under Bolsonaro to come to Trump’s United States…I feel estranged…a foreigner from myself,” she says as she records this bustling city with its garish advertising billboards and busy roads, and also heads out onto the streets to record the Black Lives Matter protests. Themes shared by the two include the plight of women in a media dominated by men; death (from attacks and Covid) and violence in the cities; elections and fake news; Trump and Bolsonaro; hopes for Brazilians and the reality of the American Dream.
Sometimes the filming style is linear and accessible, while at other times it may be trippy and avant garde, but always the filmmakers stick to their manifesto. The film reflects their lives as women, as Latin American filmmakers and as friends, and while dense and challenging at times it is a fascinating and engaging film experiment that pays appropriate tribute to the female filmmakers who have gone before them.
Brazil, 2022, 82mins
Dirs: Fernanda Pessoa, Chica Barbosa
Production: Spcine, Vulcana Cinema, Pessoa Producoes
International sales: Utopia Docs
Producers: Paola Wink, Jessica Luz
Cinematography/Editors: Chica Barbosa, Fernanda Pessoa
Editors: Tiago Bello, Chica Barbosa, Fernanda Pessoa
Music: Aline Arujo, Julia Teles, Thiago Zanto
