In an intertwined, metafictional interrogation of the process of narrativisation and the reclamation of queer and trans histories, writer-director Paula Tomás Marques presents her debut feature, Two Times João Liberada [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Paula Tomás Marques
scheda film]. In this sharp film-within-a-film, actress João (played by June João) plays Liberada, a gender non-conforming fictional saint, in a low-budget historical drama, but she and the crew start to develop conflicting feelings about this representation of a figure persecuted by the Portuguese Inquisition. The film world-premiered in the Berlinale’s brand-new Perspectives section for first feature films before screening in the New Directors/New Films line-up in New York City. Most recently, it has enjoyed its national premiere at IndieLisboa (running 1–11 May) where we caught up with the director to discuss the film.

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Cineuropa: How did the concept behind the film originate and evolve?
Paula Tomás Marques: We had so many questions, because this character’s story is based on Inquisitorial trials [of gender dissidents]. There wasn't any way of escaping the violent history, because those documents describe the violence that these people experienced. That was what we had initially - a synopsis of a violent life - but we didn't want to portray that. It was the questions that emerged from it that we found more interesting. We thought, “Okay, why don't we make a film about those questions? We could develop those questions in the film.” We merged it into our daily lives, our experiences from other [shoots we’d worked on], and the questions we had for June. For example, as an actress, how does she deal with [the work dynamic on various] films? I also work on shoots and on other films, so how do I relate to the way we work as a team, and the hierarchies and rules, and the idea of portrayal and representation? It was a kind of fusion between these two needs.

Liberada manifests João in the present by communicating through interjections that sometimes appear as text slang or casual phraseology, as seen in the subtitles. It’s very funny and intentionally anachronistic. Could you tell us a little about this particular choice?
We wanted it to contradict the ideas the director [of the film-within-the-film] has of this historical figure. The most obvious option for us was to use a kind of nonsense language, bearing in mind the times the character was living in. But, actually, we also wanted Liberada’s ghost to be a projection of João’s mind and for viewers to understand that this ghost is also a projection of João. We had to use the contemporary language that João herself uses, because it might be the way that she’d talk to her friends. It would also be like a friend shaking you and telling you how things are and how you should act. Firstly, we wanted to find a way of messing with the idea of time, and then to also say, “This is not Liberada; it’s a projection of the Inquisition, as well as a projection of the director, and a projection of João.” Finding that particular language and incorporating contemporary language into it all was a way of mixing those three projections.

The visible materiality of the film stock is a prominent feature of this work. What was the thought process behind this?
Firstly, we asked ourselves if we could make this film in 16 [mm]. We’d wanted to make it in 16 from the beginning but, obviously, we had a lot of financial constraints. Our priority wasn't to waste money on shooting on film and paying people [less money] because of that. In the end, the only way we could do it was with a lot of help from Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola, from Kodak, from Cinelab Romania and from a lot of other entities who were really helpful. It meant we were able to shoot on film in a far less expensive way. I'm also a bit of an economical freak when working with film, because I count every second. When it comes to my shooting plan, I always think carefully about how many seconds each shot lasts, [I mostly do things in one take], for every landscape shot, every shot that doesn’t have [a lot of] dialogue. I think it also creates a kind of freedom when shooting. You're not doing lots of takes. It’s not as intensive as it is when you're shooting a lot and people get tired. I think people should experiment more; it’s economical and good for how the team works. It’s worked for me when I’ve shot on film.