Filmmaker Laura Gonçalves had the thought for an animated quick for just a few years, stemming from discussions of her uncle each time she sees her household at a reunion. The Rubbish Man (O Homen do Lixo) takes place on the dinner desk, because the household gathers to recollect Uncle Botão, a rubbish man who lived via the Colonial Struggle and emigrated from Portugal to France. Gonçalves was younger when her uncle handed away, so she solely heard tales about him across the dinner desk. For the movie, she dove deeper together with her household and bought a extra private perception into who he was.
DEADLINE: The place did the thought for The Rubbish Man come from?
LAURA GONÇALVES: It was an concept that I developed for just a few years earlier than I began making the movie. The very first thing that I wished was to file my household speaking about their recollections of my uncle, as a result of it’s one thing that we do each time the household comes collectively. So, I actually wished to signify that second that’s a part of our reunions. After which secondly, my uncle had this actually attention-grabbing path that additionally represents so many 1000’s of people who went via the identical second – from rising up through the dictatorship, going to battle, immigrating illegally from Portugal to France… 1000’s of individuals went via these similar moments within the historical past of our nation. Though it’s private, it’s additionally telling the story of lots of people. So, within the movie, I wished to speak about these moments that we don’t actually discuss on the desk that a lot, however I believed that it was actually essential to have them within the movie. Additionally, as a result of I feel that in some way it represents the person who he turns into after that. He grew to become this actually exuberant individual, dwelling life to the fullest.
DEADLINE: If you have been speaking to your loved ones members and diving deeper into a few of these issues, was there something you came upon that stunned you?
GONÇALVES: Oh, sure, there was. A part of it was additionally as a result of I used to be fairly younger when he died, and my cousins are all quite a bit older than me. There was quite a lot of historical past that I didn’t know, and particularly I didn’t ask in regards to the battle, ever. It’s one thing that we don’t actually discuss in Portugal, the battle in Angola. I believed that it was actually essential to ask within the movie, and I wasn’t actually certain what I used to be going to listen to. I knew that nobody knew something about it or nearly something. A lot of the issues that individuals discuss through the battle are often humorous tales that occurred whereas they weren’t preventing. It was a really silly battle, everybody hates it, and the factor that I bought to study was how ignorant folks right here have been of what was happening there, and the way they missed the folks there and the censorship that didn’t actually permit them to speak about it. So, it was a shock in the best way that the battle and the immigration wasn’t one thing that I actually knew that a lot about and I solely came upon after I was making the movie.
DEADLINE: The place did the thought for the guitar music come from?
GONÇALVES: The music is essential to the movie due to my cousins, the little kids of my uncle. All of them stay in numerous elements of France, they usually all meet right here in Belmont. And after they meet, they play collectively. They’ve a band, each performs an instrument. I had this reminiscence of a summer time that we have been there all collectively and being there within the storage whereas they have been enjoying. There have been children within the pool, the lads have been doing the barbecue, the ladies have been doing the cooking, and it’s this very stunning summer time reminiscence that I actually wished to place within the movie.
So, I recorded them enjoying, and the bottom of the music was given to the musician, Ricardo Santos Rocha. I knew that he was very versatile and he labored with all of those devices. He can play all the pieces, and that was essential for the movie as a result of I didn’t desire a band to be enjoying. So, the creation of the music was based mostly on my cousins enjoying, however it was Ricardo that wrote the music for all the moments. I knew that I wished the guitar as a base, as a result of the guitar is following from the start till the tip. So, you see it’s additionally in France and the rubbish, and my uncle brings it again to the current. So, quite a lot of the sound could be very guitar based mostly. Additionally, one other factor about Ricardo that’s actually attention-grabbing is that he goes to the secondhand market, and he will get devices that aren’t working anymore, and he really fixes them and he performs them. It was one thing that I all the time actually preferred about his work. It was that recycling and bringing life again to the devices that individuals throw away.
