Born in Sao Paulo, Eliane Caffé is one of the highest renowned Brazilian directors of her generation. After studying psychology and film in Brazil, Cuba and Spain, Caffé released her first screen production, the short film The Nose in 1987, and 1998 saw the release of her first feature-length film, Kenoma, about an artisan in Minas Gerais who attempts to build a perpetual motion machine.

Her entire film career is marked by a fervent interest in the cultural exuberance, arid landscapes and social issues of some of the least-represented regions of her country, particularly in the north and northeast. Exemplary manifestations of this tendency are the prolifically awarded The Storytellers (2003) as well as The Midday Sun (2009), which tells the story of a love triangle that unfolds in the state of Pará.

With the recent release of The Cambridge Squatter (2015), the director shifts her focus from rural environments to the great metropolis by presenting the precarious situation of homeless people who seek refuge in an abandoned building in Sao Paulo. Without a doubt, space and place have always played a central role in Caffé’s work: “If we are going to relocate to such a distant region, it doesn’t make sense not to incorporate the area’s landscape. The films’ artistic direction always maintains this idea of making the least possible intervention in the locations where we film. I believe that this aesthetic prevails as a function of what these landscapes have to offer” (Último segundo; my translation).

Vera R. Coleman

Arizona State University