204:, was 17 and she came across one of Elena’s old diaries at home, written when she was the same age; just 13. “I had the strange feeling that I was reading my own words, as if it was my diary”, describes Petra. She had a powerful sense of identification with her sister. At that same time, reading Hamlet and the discovery of Ophelia was also a source of inspiration, as well as seeing the film Brainstorm by LaĂs Bodansky, which amongst other themes, is about the rite of passage from adolescence to adult life, whilst being from the adolescent boys’ point of view. The project for the film remained on standby for ten years, gradually taking form in the director’s imagination. During this time, Petra was involved in a series of other projects and she directed the award winning short film Droopy Eyes, until she finally felt prepared to delve into her memories of her sister.
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total of 200 hours of footage. When she went to New York, she took with her a telephone book with her sister’s old contacts and she set about tracking down the names, one by one, looking them up on the internet and on social networks. The feature film finally began to take form and adopt its definitive structure, when the director decided to introduce herself into the scenes, as both a character and documentary-maker. She filmed her journey and drafted her script alongside her colleague
Carolina Ziskind.
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as well as Barra do Una, in the region of SĂŁo
SebastiĂŁo, on the coastal region of the SĂŁo Paulo province. The film took two and a half years to produce, and had its premiere at the 45th Festival de BrasĂlia, in September 2012, where Elena won prizes for best director, best art direction, best editing
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Elena moves to New York with the same dream her mother had: to become a movie actress. She leaves behind a childhood spent in hiding during Brazil’s military dictatorship and her teenage years amid theater plays and homemade videos. She also leaves behind Petra, her 7-year-old sister. Finding little
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Elena is a film about the persistence of memories, the irreversibility of loss, the effects of her sister’s absence on a 7-year-old girl, emotions which Petra refers to as “inconsolable memories”. “Gradually, the pain and grievance turn to water, they dissolved into memory”, says the director, both
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Petra discovered around 50 hours of home video footage filmed by her sister, of which at least 20 hours had been filmed the year that Petra was born. At 13, Elena received her first video camera. Straight away, Petra began to interview around 50 relatives and friends of Elena, gathering together a
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Elena is also a film about the adventure of growing up. It is also the story of three women, which dialogues with themes such as family and maternity, pain and separation. It is also a film about Brazil in the era of the post military dictatorship, about the generation that was born in clandestine
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She said goodbye with a modest present: a shell. “If you ever miss me, put you ear to the shell so we can talk”, Elena tells her little sister, 13 years her junior. Petra, at just 7, would listen over and over again to that shell in the weeks to come. Months, then years, then two decades passed.
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success she returns to Brazil but is accepted into university back in New York. This time her mother and Petra go to live in New York with her. Ultimately it's a film about loss, grief and memory
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Petra was already an actress and filmmaker when she returned to New York in search of Elena, where she decided to film her own loneliness and longing for her sister.
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circles and grew up between 1970 and 1980, with the very real challenges of having to struggle for their dreams in times of freedom and hope.
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and best film according to the public jury, all within the documentary category.
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http://www.elenafilme.com/EN/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ELENA_Pressbook-eng1.pdf
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Original soundtrack: Vitor AraĂşjo, Fil
Pinheiro, Maggie Clifford, Gustavo Ruiz
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As well as New York and SĂŁo Paulo, several scenes from Elena were filmed in
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The idea of making a film about her sister came about when the director,
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Art
Directors: Martha Kiss Perrone, Alonso Pafyese, Lorena Ortiz
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Photography: Janice D´avila, Will
Etchebehere, Miguel Vassy
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Additional
Editing and Direction Assistant: Virginia Primo
579:""A arte ajudou a curar minha dor" - ÉPOCA | Vida"
332:CANON Cinematography Award for best Cinematography
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338:Cine Música – Festival de Cinema de Conservatória
188:actress and biographical character in her film.
396:Executive Producers: Julia Bock, Daniela Santos
411:Executive Producer Assistant: Isadora Ferreira
399:Associated Producers: Felipe Duarte, Sara Dosa
456:Editing room assistant: Andre Gustavo RequiĂŁo
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543:"SXSW Bites: Snap Judgments on 11 Fest Pics"
453:Post-production assistant: Fabio de Borthole
432:Sound Design: Olivier Goinard, Guile Martins
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450:Post-production coordinator: Laura Futuro
667:. Tribuna de Minas (Brazilian newspaper)
634:e Caetano Gotardo fazem cinema intimista
465:Casting preparation: Martha Kiss Perrone
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459:Screenplay consultant: Daniela Capelato
305:9th ZagrebDox Documentary Film Festival
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402:Producer in New York: Caroline Onikute
405:Production coordinator: Vanessa Elias
393:Production Company: Busca Vida Filmes
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444:Soundtrack supervision: Fil Pinheiro
265:45th BrasĂlia National Film Festival
566:5 Major Influences From Petra Costa
360:Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival
462:Screenplay doctoring: Aleksei Abib
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408:Producer (release): Bernardo Bath
16:2012 film directed by Petra Costa
757:2010s Portuguese-language films
486:A arte ajudou a curar minha dor
742:Documentary films about actors
468:Editing consultant: Xavier Box
420:Film Editing: Marilia Moraes,
294:28th Guadalajara Film Festival
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541:Debruge, Peter (2013-03-22).
376:Film credits are as follows:
435:Sound Mixer: Olivier Goinard
267:: Best Documentary (Brazil)
752:Films scored by Edson Secco
737:Films shot in New York City
727:Brazilian documentary films
327:Planete + Doc Film Festival
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426:First Editing: IdĂŞ Lacreta
365:Best Documentary Feature
354:Best Documentary Feature
321:Best Documentary Feature
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568:. Tribeca Film Institute
607:"ELENA | the Film"
732:2012 documentary films
636:. O Estado de S. Paulo
107:May 10, 2013
762:2010s Brazilian films
747:Variance Films films
665:Memória Inconsolável
655:. F&M Procultura
499:(Brazilian magazine)
349:Havana Film Festival
343:Best Original Music
651:2016-03-03 at the
491:2013-05-20 at the
390:, Carolina Ziskind
285:Production Design
104: (Netherlands)
96:November 2012
43:, Carolina Ziskind
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51:Busca Vida Filmes
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386:Screenplay:
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162:directed by
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124:Running time
68:Miguel Vassy
631:Petra Costa
440:Edson Secco
388:Petra Costa
382:Petra Costa
380:Directing:
237:Petra Costa
202:Petra Costa
164:Petra Costa
48:Produced by
41:Petra Costa
31:Petra Costa
27:Directed by
722:2012 films
716:Categories
617:2013-05-22
589:2013-05-22
552:2023-11-22
527:2013-05-09
473:References
307:(Croatia)
196:Production
155:is a 2012
144:Portuguese
128:82 minutes
111:2013-05-10
37:Written by
340:(Brazil)
329:(Poland)
318:(France)
296:(Mexico)
256:Category
157:Brazilian
74:Edited by
649:Archived
489:Archived
422:Tina Baz
280:Editing
224:Source:
179:Synopsis
170:Synopsis
141:Language
82:Tina Baz
547:Variety
517:"ELENA"
372:Credits
351:(Cuba)
133:Country
109: (
100:2012-11
98: (
362:(EUA)
253:Award
243:Awards
136:Brazil
702:Elena
646:Elena
290:2013
261:2012
250:Year
233:Li An
213:Bahia
152:Elena
22:Elena
707:IMDb
220:Cast
705:at
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.