Fado Menor

The inspiration for “Fado Menor” came to me two weeks after I had moved to Lisbon, I was at a Fado House in Bairro Alto when two men sat next to me. I could tell that they just had a great day exploring the city, there was electricity in the way they looked at each other; minutes later, someone asked them if they were a couple. The questions took them by surprise, and after one denied it, the other one left the bar visibly upset. As a gay man myself, I connected immediately with the scene, it reminded me of the countless times I have felt like it is safer to keep a date a secret. It also made me think of how being out of the closet becomes a collaborative effort once you are in a relationship and the mismatches that can occur because of it. That is why we set out to make this film to, in a sense, be a fly on the wall of what happened later that night with the couple I saw at the Fado House; and at the same time to remind myself that love should not be kept in the shadows.