Cinemaritas presents singer ‘as she was: sincere and transparent’, reveals director

Ritendocumentary directed by Oswaldo Santana and codirighed by Karen Harleyhits theaters from next Thursday, May 22, in Rita Lee’s Day. The film brings the last and unpublished interview of Rita Leemoments of her daily life narrated and recorded by the singer herself, as well as a vast collection material.

In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Brazilthe director Oswaldo Santana He spoke about the documentary’s research, recording and assembly process, as well as listing the main challenges in condensing the artist’s more than 60 years of career in a documentary less than two hours long. Check it out:

The birth of the project

Riten was born with the purchase of the rights of the autobiography of Rita Lee by the producer Bionica Filmes. Second Oswaldoit was from this point that it all started to take shape. “The first interview, made by Karenand the first round of collection research took place in parallel”, He explains. He recalls that the team also received a lot of personal material from the artist, such as homemade videos and mobile contents, who enriched the narrative.

Oswaldo He says that, over time, a new layer added to the movie: the photographic research. “We arrived at a very strong moment, with photo collections, which brought a new language to the documentary”He explains. Next to the art director Ricardo Fernandesthe team started to think of visual ways to reinforce the elements they wanted to highlight in the movie.

Rita Lee as the Driver of the Narrative

The decision to have Rita Lee As an active voice of the documentary came organically, especially because the starting point is the autobiography of the singer. “FHi natural follow this path“, it says Oswaldo. According to him, the way Rite Deals with the moments, with humor, irony and lightness, even when dealing with serious subjects, it made it clear that “her own voice was the one that had the most power”.

A “family“

To Oswaldothe family of Rite – whom he affectionately calls “family” – It was essential and close.”I play that I treat them as family members. They are very participative, but also very open”, He says. According to him, there was no censorship or limitation by the family:“These words do not exist there”.

The director says that, during the process, especially between 2018 and the beginning of the pandemic, the exchange with the family was constant, with decisions being shared and feedback being received in key moments. “They were participatory until the end.”

Balance between the Rites and the director’s view

Despite Rita Lee Conduct the narrative, there is a direction behind the project. Oswaldo believes that this balance came with the discovery of the concept of multiple Riten. “When the insight of Ritenwe understood that the strength was to show its various facets ”explains.

Instead of deepening only one aspect of the artist, the team chose to approach everyone, turning the documentary into a multifaceted trip. “This look gave another meaning to the research. For example, her material on MTV with the band The mutants started to have a new value.”

The challenge of dealing with so many rites

Oswaldo confesses that having a career as an assembler – he signs the editing of projects as Bruna Surfistinha (2011), Saintly (2023) and Monica’s Class – The Series (2022), among others – helped him deal with so many Riten. “How is my first film as a director, having this experience was fundamental to build an arc”He reports. He explains that it was necessary to adjust the weights of the different stories to prevent anyone from standing too much.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC

Music also played an important role in Riten: “It helps to drive, make turns, to create dynamics. The musical documentary allows this“. The musical direction was a collective work, but with leadership of Oswaldo. “Divided with the writers, the Karen Harley -which is also co-director-and the FERNANDO FRAIHA“, it says.

For him, choosing the repertoire of songs involved thinking of two axes: the emotion contained in the songs and the affective memory they arouse in the public. “THE Rite He spoke of everything: dictatorship, love … So the challenge was like traveling for all this with coherence and emotion.”

Homemade recordings

Certain scenes of Riten are composed of home recordings that the Rita Lee did it on your cell phone. These images began to be sent by Rite even before the pandemic. “We asked: ‘Ritesend some videos there ‘, and began to arrive amazing material“, account Oswaldo.

Since she and the family were already in the habit of filming, there was a lot of informal, intimate and true content. “It was hard to choose what would come in. It was all very good. This material shows how her daily life was rich, nice to watch, real.”

Despite the large amount of material recorded and provided by the family of Rita Lee and collected from research, Oswaldo He says the long development process has given safety in the choices.

“Of course there are things that were left out, but it was natural. In file -based documentaries, licensing is also a determining factor. It is not enough to want to put something, it is necessary to enable legally.”

A vulnerable Rita Lee … or true?

Show a Rita Lee more vulnerable required sensitivity, but was consistent with whom Rite always has been. “She has always been sincere, transparent, true – on stage, garden, in front of cameras or away from them”, Reflects Oswaldo.

He points out that, over time, especially with the latest videos, came the desire to show Rite of white hair, living a more reserved phase. “I would trade ‘vulnerable’ for ‘true’. This is the Rite: An artist who lived truthfully every moment.”

Also read: Why the mutants were excluded from Rita Lee’s documentary, according to director

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