Shimao Kayatte starred in the film “Vadio” about abandonment and “generational crisis”.

Director Simão Cayatte on Thursday presents his first feature film Vadio, about abandonment, which still echoes the economic crisis of the troika era in Portugal, he told Lusa agency.

“The action of this film takes place during a crisis [2011, 2012] and I saw first hand how this crisis affected my generation. I think it was extremely cruel, and it almost seems like after the pandemic, the war and the inflationary crisis, it was left behind as just one more thing. But I think it was a generational crisis,” said Simao Cayatta.

Produced by Ukbar Filmes, Vadio crosses the paths of two characters: Andre, a teenager who is at his mercy even after being abandoned by his father, and Sandra, a teacher and single mother who loses her job and custody of her. daughter.

Even while writing the script, 39-year-old Shimao Kayatte focused on the character of Sandra (actress Joana Santos), inspired by the experiences of people he knew. At the same time, I was working on another story with another character, Andre (newcomer Ruben Simoes).

“It was when I decided to connect the two characters that I realized that this heterogeneity is good for the story and that they reveal themselves in a more impressive way. They are like a lifeline for each other,” he said.

Simão Cayatte set the action in Alentejo and during the years of Pedro Passos Coelho (2011-2015), in a brief reference in the film to a speech broadcast on TV in which he invited teachers to emigrate.

“In 2012, I just returned from New York, where I received my master’s degree in directing and where I already wrote short stories in Portuguese. And when I returned, there were difficult years. The country was going through this crisis,” he recalled.

The director admits that “Vadio” is a “tough film”.

“I think we all know people who have closed their businesses, who have given up on their dreams, gone, people whose mental health has suffered a lot and a generation ago [sobre a qual] I think that only in a few years we will really understand what happened. To the cinema [aquele tempo da crise] It was a topic that was discussed a lot, but I think it’s an open wound,” he said.

The director wanted to shoot in Alentejo, having spent his childhood there, the image of desertification and severity remained in his memory.

“This beauty and the riot of light, the people to whom I am very attached, and I wanted to talk about the abandonment there, the abandonment of the people, but also the abandonment of the region, the country, which at that time was quite abandoned by its partners,” he explained.

Vadio was filmed in 2019 and edited during the pandemic, as its release in theaters was delayed: “I filmed the series [‘Vanda’, para a OPTO] it took me a whole year, we were busy with other things and were waiting for the right moment, ”he justified himself.

Vadio is the first feature film by the director, who is also a screenwriter and actor.

His debut on camera was at the age of 8 by his uncle, director and assistant director João Cayatte, in Antonio Campos’ Terra Fria (1992), in which he said just one sentence.

Later he worked with Werner Schroeter, Carlos Saboga, Stan Douglas, Ivo M. Ferreira or Christel Alves Meira, but this is the direction he took.

“I really like directing actors, I am also an actor, so maybe I understand the pain of actors, but I don’t put it above all,” said Shimao Kayate.

Although he has signed a contract with several short films, Shimao Kayatte will make his directorial debut in 2011 with the short film Viage, selected for the Cinéfondation program at the Cannes Film Festival.

SS // TDI

Portuguese/Late