My saints salute your saints

“My saints salute your saints, my child, you are de pena e maraca and you have a mission”. These were the first words told by Pajé Roxita to me [Rodrigo Antonio], when I visited her home. My contact with Roxita happened by chance, in 2018, when I returned to the city where my grandparents had lived and where I spent most of my childhood in there.

Upon receiving a spiritual protection pass from Roxita, the pajé greet me touching me with maracá and let me know that I was gifted with pajelança, left as my grandmother's spiritual heritage. According to her, three generations of my family are waiting for the acceptance of this mission, on the riverbank.

My grandma passed away in 2013. I was passing through Belém, when we last saw each other, my relatives said “she's just waiting for you”.

With my grandmother Luiza's departure, I published a farewell letter on a social network and a number of relatives, family friends and my grandmother's neighbors wrote me sharing their memories about her and her home, a place for family meeting and celebrations in Marajó island.

I returned to Belém years later and looked for this past that I did not see, which is not in home videos, in images of everyday family life. I thought that telling the story of this family would not be possible; there was no material that would allow me to create about the prerogatives of intimate cinema, very known by a redefinition of the family archives. On the other hand, there is the house, my memories and many memories that came to me with my grandmother Luiza's passing. The film is based on what we were and are, as living material.

After taking notice of my spiritual heritage, I left on the quest of this family history, which came from a quilombo in Mangueiras, a community on the island and I open myself to pajelança being spiritually guided by Roxita. In this process, I record the relationship with the pajé and the experience in the community, in order to connect my ancestor’s memories, crossing experiences, discoveries and intimate concerns on what this returning meant as new paths.

My saints salute your saints is my first project as a director. Acting as a producer I always supported people to tell their stories. I believe the time has come to tell my story, not just any story, but one that speaks of those who came before me.

My interest in cinema was due to the absence of images of people like me and my territory. In this sense, cinema became, for me, a tool for transformation. I am a filmmaker because I want future generations to have access to a cinema in which they see themselves, identify themselves, I want the next generation of gay, Latino, Brazilian, Amazonian filmmakers to make cinema with the understanding that they can do it and not because they do not see themselves in the images they consume.

Here I am, near the river, holding a camera and eager to share this story in the world. With the short My saints salute your saints, an important step for historical reparation was taken, I want to continue building these images that I have not seen, but that I have dreamed of.

Rodrigo Antonio