Origin: Sao Paulo, Brazil
DOB: 1932
Interests: Films, documentaries, television
At the age of 37 and a mother of eight, Suzana Amaral began studying film at the University of Sao Paulo and later received her masters from New York University. During her time in the United States, the director began to see her country of origin with different eyes: “When you are out of your own country, you learn about your own country. … The perspective is different when you are away - when you are here you are too close to see clearly. And when I was out of Brazil I discovered Brazil” (NY Times). This double perspective, positioned simultaneously from within and from without, would prove an indispensable dimension of her films.
After releasing with considerable success a series of short films and documentaries in the 70s, the director made her resounding feature film debut with Hour of the Star (1985), the beautiful adaptation of the novel of the same name by Clarice Lispector, who had recently passed away. Even though it was filmed in just four weeks with a budget of only 150,000 USD, the film won awards at film festivals in Brazil, Cuba and France and soon earned its place as one of the greatest accomplishments of Brazilian cinema of the 1980s.
Hour of the Star was followed by two other feature films, also adaptations of literary works: A Hidden Life (2001), a minimalist film about a young woman who struggles to adapt to urban life in the 21st century, and Hotel Atlântico (2009), which breaks conventions with its highly fragmented structure. For Amaral, the process of creating films based on literary works actually necessitates the creation of a new work in itself: “I wouldn’t say that I adapt, but that I transform. It is a transmutation. I dive into the book, read it attentively, try to enter into its world and capture its spirit, its central theme—from my point of view. From there, I make my own version. I do not feel committed to what is written in the book. I can kill characters and create new ones. But I can’t help but be faithful to the work’s spirit, the essence that I try to capture and that guides me along the journey” (SaraivaConteúdo; my translation).
Vera R. Coleman
Arizona State University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cortez, Beatriz. “Negociando la construcción de la identidad: la producción de tres directoras de cine latinoamericano.” Romance Languages Annual 10.2 (1998): 512-18.
Martin, Michael T. “Suzana Amaral on Filmmaking, the State, and Social Relations in Brazil.” New Latin American Cinema. Ed, Michael T. Martin. Vol. 2. Detroit, MI: Wayne State UP, 1997. 323-34.
Name: Suzana Amaral
“[I]n Brazil too many people who are between 40 and 50 think they should sit around waiting for death - they don't think they can start something new in their lives. I think that's wrong. That's when it really starts. I'm full of energy. I'm still a mother, but to be a mother is not a profession. It's a condition of life. Women should not take motherhood as a profession - a profession is other things.”