TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival / Tim Burton Exhibition

Quando cheguei em Toronto, em agosto, as inscrições para voluntários do TIFF, que é considerado um dos festivais de cinema mais importantes do mundo, já haviam se encerrado, porém ainda tinha esperanças e em Dezembro foram abertas inscrições para voluntários no TIFF Bell Lightbox.

O TIFF Bell Lightbox é mais do que um cinema, é um centro cultural no qual todas as atividades são voltadas ao cinema, contando com 2 galerias de exposição, 5 salas de cinema top, espaço para workshop, uma estatueta de verdade do Oscar... Para quem é fã de cinema, é maravilhoso!

Em fevereiro, me tornei voluntário do TIFF, lá desempenha as funções de lanterninha e monitor; e para minha surpresa, também virei monitor da exposição do Tim Burton. No final, como falamos, atingi dois coelhos com uma cajadada só!

Durante 3 meses, atuei 1 dia da semana no TIFF e outro dia na exposição do Tim Burton... Além de assistir filmes de graça, ter acesso livre a exposição, o que me fascinou era a forma como os nós, voluntários, éramos tratados, tínhamos os mesmo benefícios dos funcionários e o TIFF montou um sistema de administração de voluntários que não imaginava, também eles tem mais de 2.500 voluntários!

Nós tínhamos um site só para nós, com notícias, informações, pela internet fazíamos as nossas escalas! Genial! Outro ponto é que pude praticar meu inglês falando com os funcionários e com os outros voluntários sobre um assunto que adoro, cinema e televisão!

Saudades do TIFF!!!

Images Festival

De 31 de Março à 9 de Abril trabalhei como voluntário na 24° edição do Images Festival, o maior festival de arte independente e experimental da América do Norte.

No Images, atuei como lanterninha na sessão de abertura e em outras que ocorrem nos 10 dias de festival, em uma das festas trabalhei ajudando no bar, fiz pesquisas com o público, tirei fotos dentro de uma DeLorean (o carro do De Volta para o Futuro); além de ter assistido filmes e documentários bem malucos, mas muito interessantes! Sem contar, trabalhar num festival tão grande e com tantas atrações!

Me lembrei do Mobilefest, quem sabe, um dia poderá ser um Images brasileiro!

On the way to the airport

By Lorenço Menezes Vieira

Since I arrived here in Canada I went to the airport more than 10 times, I say that now I can go there by car, by TCC, on foot or even with my eyes close. And how many farewell parties did I go? To be honest, I stopped to count when I went to the 20th .

I have seen 15 people, I have taken 15 friends to the customs that leads to the gate and back to their homeland. I even saw one crossing the gate twice, can you believe it?! In certain ways, in all these experiences in the airport, farewell parties and bar hopping, I shared with them my fears, insecurities and also the lessons that I learned with them.

All of us had to start our lives here in Canada from scratch. I remember, when I landed and stepped onto Canadian soil for the first time. I was clueless. I asked myself what will be my future, how I will manage to survive where I did even not know their language well? We managed to push ourselves to make new friends, find a homestay or a share-house. We all achieved of those to find a new home, so called family (with different background, nationality and beliefs) and also we built a new life here. That`s why, I think all of the times that I went to airport or to farewell parties I saw them cry... Some of them cried in front of everybody, others went to the washroom and all of them cried inside the airplane when it took off. 

In one of the farewell parties that I attended, a Japanese lady said to my friend that was sobbing: "Now, you are leaving the people behind that loves you . You will meet again, in your country, people that also love and care for you. So cheer up! Imagine, how many lucky ones have people that care and love them in different parts of the world? So, be proud of yourself, give me a smile and be happy! "

Why some of us are so uncertain about going back? Because we know that most of the things will be the same, but deeply inside us, we know that something changed, we changed... Or maybe, we had the opportunity not only know a different country, culture, but we took the challenge to know more deeply yourselves.

Also, by the same token we had a lot of expectations about here; we have about how we are going start when we arrived in our homeland. The expectations come also with fear that we might not achieved or accomplish these expectations. 

If it's hard to start a new life in a new place that we don't know. It's more difficult to start a new life in a place that we have already been and known well. I listened to them and some of them told me how difficult it would be to go back to their jobs. There might people that they don`t want to meet or who might not even speak. There might be a university that he or she did not like to go back to... Some may not have wanted to go back to the life that they used to have before. 

The last time that I took a friend to the airport, I remembered telling her: " If you think that it is hard to leave, trust me, it's much harder for those who stay!". In my case, it is really difficult when I see them go because everything comes together…. I miss my family. I know that sooner or later I will also be one of them and crossing the gate. I can't imagine how my life is going to be when I go back to my country. Also, I am afraid that I will never see that friend(s) anymore. Also, the friendship that we built won't be the same and that lessons that we shared, learned together, he/she won't apply in his/her life.

However, when I see them coming to say "see you" or give me a hug or kiss, I can't avoid remembering the first time that I met them and I realized how they changed for the best. Also, I noticed that, most of them, gained some extra pounds! Besides, I wonder, if this will happen to me, if I will change and if I will apply the knowledge that I acquired here when I go back. Although, when I see them waving at me from the gate' s door the fear that I won't see or meet them again disappears and a feeling of deep happiness fills my eyes with satisfaction.

Usually (all the times) I cry when I go to the airport for all the reasons that I said above, but I didn`t weep or sob at the last one. At the moment, that I said that it was harder for those who stay… My family came to my mind. Also, I remembered that I didn't cry when they brought me to the airport to take the flight to come to Canada. Why? Because I knew and I know in my heart that there are some things that will never change! And I know that what I lived and what I felt with my Brazilians, Japanese, Koreans, Latinos, Filipinos, Canadian Family will never change, too!

So, instead of dealing with this situation with such a negative approach, let us listen to the Japanese lady and let us face this new chapter of our lives as an opportunity to restart a new life with people that we love so much!

Let us enjoy this new trip of our lives and same way that we can learn about ourselves in a new culture, new country and embrace them. We can do it in any place, the only thing that we need is trust ourselves, be willing to do it and follow our instinct to take this journey.

To change the life around us, first of all, the revolution, as we can say, must first happen inside us... And it doesn`t happen so fast! So, trust yourself, be determined and take your time. In this way, everything will be new again, even the old things! The only things that remain the same are the people that really love us, the people that we love and the true friends!

Ps.: Thanks Jaime for editing this post… My other editor went back to his country.

And then, the snow came...

By Lorenço Menezes Vieira

There is a snow storm outside, I am in my bedroom and I can´t stop staring at the window and sometimes I think I am hypnotised by the snow!

When I arrived here in Canada, a lot of people told me that the real winter, with snow until our knees and temperatures of minus 5, 10, 30 degrees would be a little depressing. In the beginning of the winter I decided that I wouldn`t read sad novels, because they could let me down.

But, suddenly, while I was looking outside and I saw everything white, this atmosphere reminded me one of my favourite novels, Blindness. For those who don`t know, Blindness is a novel written by José Saramago and the book tells the story of a country that faces a “white blindness” epidemic.

This “white blindness” has a lot of meanings and by the time you are getting deeper in the story and in the lives of each character, you are figuring out each meaning and side effects that this weird blindness has on them.

One of them is that with “everything white” around us, we start to look to ourselves and when this happens everything comes to the surface, good and bad things, love and hate, strengths and weakness, good memories and some nightmares, hopes and frustrations, dreams and disappointments, past and future.

So, how can Canada be such a peaceful country?

With the white, different from the book, comes the cold... And, with a winter that has an average temperate of minus 6 during almost 4 months, a biological process not only happens with the bears; but, in some way, somehow, we, human beings hibernate too.

In a weather like this, we sleep a lot or we wish we could sleep more; we eat more, especially, chocolates; we spend more time indoors; we wear more clothes... Sometimes, we look like a bear wearing our big and fluffy coats.

Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate... That`s why Canada doesn`t become the country that Saramago portrayed in his book. With the snow, we become more introspective; it`s awkward, but we think more, we contemplate more the things around us, we calm down.

Chemistry tells us that “when heat leaves all substances, the molecules vibrate slower. The atoms can get closer which results in the matter contracting”. In other words, in a philosophical approach, we think more about ourselves. Each of us is a puzzle and it looks like that the pieces of the puzzle get closer with the cold.

Maybe, that`s why we become more sensitive and during the winter: we see more people crying, but also we see more “real” smiles; some people they become very serious and “poker face”*, in the other hand, we meet people that they are willing to listen to us; we don`t talk TO a lot of people, however, we talk WITH more people; people don`t get so excited or agitated, although, they take their time; we see more crazy people on the streets and in the TCC (bus/subway), otherwise, we notice more people watching their steps, and it`s not only because the sidewalks are slippery.

So, facing the snow and living in temperatures below zero, is it wonderful? It`s good, but we get fed up too. More than prepare ourselves to the cold by buying and wearing scarf, gloves, sweaters, coats, socks, boots, we have to get ready to deal with ourselves! And it`s difficult and, sometimes, boring facing and thinking about ourselves!

So, we don`t only need to arrange ourselves, but we need to be brave and also enjoy this moment; or otherwise, maybe until the end of the winter, you can be one of those crazy people in the TTC.

Chemists say that “when heat is added to a substance, the molecules and atoms vibrate faster. As atoms vibrate faster, the space between atoms increases (...) The end result of increased molecular motion is that the object expands and takes up more space”. Maybe, that`s why when summer comes people go wild!

Kinetic theory of matter tells that “all matter is made up of atoms and molecules that are constantly moving (...) However, the mass of the object remains the same, it doesn`t change”. Fortunately, we are not only objects; we are much more than that!


* poker face = a face without any interpretable expression

Visita - CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

A CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, é a BBC canadense. Em Toronto, eles possuem um prédio que toma todo o quarteirão atrás da CNTower. Dos programas que eu assistia diariamente, me tornei fã do reality show Village on a Diet, Dragons’ Den, do seriado Being Erica (que tem como locações Toronto) e gostava de assistir o jornal das 18h.

Também, todo final de noite, por volta das 23h30, eles tem um talkshow chamado “George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight”. Acho que nem mesmo os canadenses conseguem falar direito o sobrenome do apresentador, o programa é bem animado e pega pesado com os políticos, sem contar, que diferente do Brasil e dos EUA, o George não é um senhor de cabelo grisalho, ele é novo, acredito que ele tem uns 35 anos e é um dos porta-vozes do canal e também é um dos embaixadores contra a fome da ONU.

No dia 02 de Fevereiro fui com alguns amigos assistir as gravações do talkshow e depois fizemos um tour pelo canal.

Clique aqui e confira uma critíca que escrevi sobre a 3°temporada de "Being Erica".

9° Female Eye Film Festival

O 9° Female Eye Film Festival é um festival que conta somente com filmes dirigidos por mulheres. Neste festival, atuei como assistente de produção e mídia.

No primeiro dia do festival trabalhei ajudando na sala de impressa e também no bar do coquetel de abertura.

Nos outros dias, fui assistente nos workshops, o mais bacana, em minha opinião, foi com a diretora Mary Harron, que entre seus trabalhos estão: o filme “American Psyco” (Um psicopata americano), direção de episódios da série “A 7 Palmos” e o longa que será lançado este ano “The Moth Diaries” (adaptação do livro de mesmo nome, é um filme de vampiros muito mais dark).



Trailer de “American Psyco”

9º Winterfolk

O Winterfolk é um festival alternativo de música country canadense, lá atuei como assistente de palco. Foi uma experiência bem interessante, parecia que estava em um episódio da família Busca-Pé! Não tirei fotos, esqueci minha câmera : ( Mas, uma voluntária tirou duas fotos pra mim!

O Winterfolk valeu pelo momento cinematográfico e surreal lá! Nunca pensei que alguém poderia tocar uma música e ficar bacana usando colheres como instrumento!