My Fortress

Our aim with this film has always been to speak the language of the periferias it addresses. It has been about making the characters from the community feel represented in the setting they actually reside in and live their lives. The camera captures the characters facing their own real life issues and biographies such as the absence of a father figure and therefore the idealization of their mothers. This naturally leads them to reflect about their experiences in real time. Today, with all that has been said and presented about “ lugar de fala”[place of speech] ”, I wonder if there was something in this framework that was somewhat naive or even unreasonable. The language of the periferia is not my language as I was raised a middle-class girl in a private school. However, we have a fundamental thing in common: I was also raised without a father. I also experienced this “overload” of my mother's image. She was made into a unique reference of affection, morals and support, in a family with no father and no financial or psychological or emotional to deal with it.

The lack of a father in the home is a common condition for all classes in Brazil, originated by violent relationships between men and women, between Europeans and Indians and slaves and black slaves, leading to the birth of bastard children. Added to this is one of the concepts that patriarchal dynamics favor - that children are primarily the mother's responsibility – and the outcome are homes where women take care of their children, sacrificing themselves as expected and needed.

The number of families headed by women has been growing exponentially in Brazil. On the outskirts of large urban centers, these numbers are even higher, either because men reject paternity, or because they are imprisoned or dead.

The film centers on a quadrangle of blocks, Vila Flávia, one of the countless poor and violent, zealous and creative periferias. We follow the lives of three families and we are privy to the relationship between mother and child raised without father - at a time when these children have become parents themselves. These young parents try to avoid repeating the mistakes their own fathers made. However, the strength of cultural conditioning is great, as is criminality. One family is deprived of their father for 8 long years due to his imprisonment.

The sons worship their mothers and consider them to be warriors, heroines and saints. This is the most delicate field this film has attempted to depict: the idealization of the mother. This reverence probably made it difficult for these women to remarry - none of the three mothers were able to, even if they wanted to, because their children took on the role as men of the house. When these women are alone, they reveal themselves in a very unique way. What we see is an aspect that their families probably have never seen. They seem to be trapped on pedestals they have no interest in and that closely resemble the painful damater figure.

Our aim with this film has always been to speak the language of the periferias it addresses. It has been about making the characters from the community feel represented in the setting they actually reside in and live their lives. The camera captures the characters facing their own real life issues and biographies such as the absence of a father figure and therefore the idealization of their mothers. This naturally leads them to reflect about their experiences in real time. Today, with all that has been said and presented about “ lugar de fala”[place of speech] ”, I wonder if there was something in this framework that was somewhat naive or even unreasonable. The language of the periferia is not my language as I was raised a middle-class girl in a private school. However, we have a fundamental thing in common: I was also raised without a father. I also experienced this “overload” of my mother's image. She was made into a unique reference of affection, morals and support, in a family with no father and no financial or psychological or emotional to deal with it.

The lack of a father in the home is a common condition for all classes in Brazil, originated by violent relationships between men and women, between Europeans and Indians and slaves and black slaves, leading to the birth of bastard children. Added to this is one of the concepts that patriarchal dynamics favor - that children are primarily the mother's responsibility – and the outcome are homes where women take care of their children, sacrificing themselves as expected and needed.

The number of families headed by women has been growing exponentially in Brazil. On the outskirts of large urban centers, these numbers are even higher, either because men reject paternity, or because they are imprisoned or dead.

The film centers on a quadrangle of blocks, Vila Flávia, one of the countless poor and violent, zealous and creative periferias. We follow the lives of three families and we are privy to the relationship between mother and child raised without father - at a time when these children have become parents themselves. These young parents try to avoid repeating the mistakes their own fathers made. However, the strength of cultural conditioning is great, as is criminality. One family is deprived of their father for 8 long years due to his imprisonment.

The sons worship their mothers and consider them to be warriors, heroines and saints. This is the most delicate field this film has attempted to depict: the idealization of the mother. This reverence probably made it difficult for these women to remarry - none of the three mothers were able to, even if they wanted to, because their children took on the role as men of the house. When these women are alone, they reveal themselves in a very unique way. What we see is an aspect that their families probably have never seen. They seem to be trapped on pedestals they have no interest in and that closely resemble the painful damater figure.
Our aim with this film has always been to speak the language of the periferias it addresses. It has been about making the characters from the community feel represented in the setting they actually reside in and live their lives. The camera captures the characters facing their own real life issues and biographies such as the absence of a father figure and therefore the idealization of their mothers. This naturally leads them to reflect about their experiences in real time. Today, with all that has been said and presented about “ lugar de fala”[place of speech] ”, I wonder if there was something in this framework that was somewhat naive or even unreasonable. The language of the periferia is not my language as I was raised a middle-class girl in a private school. However, we have a fundamental thing in common: I was also raised without a father. I also experienced this “overload” of my mother's image. She was made into a unique reference of affection, morals and support, in a family with no father and no financial or psychological or emotional to deal with it.

The lack of a father in the home is a common condition for all classes in Brazil, originated by violent relationships between men and women, between Europeans and Indians and slaves and black slaves, leading to the birth of bastard children. Added to this is one of the concepts that patriarchal dynamics favor - that children are primarily the mother's responsibility – and the outcome are homes where women take care of their children, sacrificing themselves as expected and needed.

The number of families headed by women has been growing exponentially in Brazil. On the outskirts of large urban centers, these numbers are even higher, either because men reject paternity, or because they are imprisoned or dead.

The film centers on a quadrangle of blocks, Vila Flávia, one of the countless poor and violent, zealous and creative periferias. We follow the lives of three families and we are privy to the relationship between mother and child raised without father - at a time when these children have become parents themselves. These young parents try to avoid repeating the mistakes their own fathers made. However, the strength of cultural conditioning is great, as is criminality. One family is deprived of their father for 8 long years due to his imprisonment.

The sons worship their mothers and consider them to be warriors, heroines and saints. This is the most delicate field this film has attempted to depict: the idealization of the mother. This reverence probably made it difficult for these women to remarry - none of the three mothers were able to, even if they wanted to, because their children took on the role as men of the house. When these women are alone, they reveal themselves in a very unique way. What we see is an aspect that their families probably have never seen. They seem to be trapped on pedestals they have no interest in and that closely resemble the painful damater figure.