Interview by Emmanuel Itier with Gabriel Martins, director of MARS ONE 

Q: Where does this film come from, what was the inspiration for it?

Gabriel: Actually, I started to think about this film in 2014, just after Brazil lost to Germany in the World soccer cup. Something like 7 to 1 for Germany. It was a huge blow. But, actually, since 2012, Brazil has been in a huge turmoil, especially politically wise. It has been a big struggle for my generation and we needed to think about what was going on. And it was before the election of Bolsonaro. There has been a clash between generations going on and this is in the heart of my film. “Deivid”,  the main character is lost between the idea of the old Brazil and the Brazil everyone is hoping for. Deivid is a kid who plays soccer but who dreams to go in space, to Mars. It was just an image, at first, that came to my mind. And then I started to figure out about what this image would mean. So I just thought about this situation, a kid living in the outskirts and with no money, who is black, and whose dream is to go to Mars. Two months we shot the film, Bolsonaro was elected. And this, for sure, influenced the final vision of the film. It’s really a film about dreams, about a family trying to reach for the unreachable and to survive with dignity.

Q: Where you obsessed with space as a kid, did you want to go to Mars?

Gabriel: I didn’t want to go to Mars, but I certainly was a very creative kid. I was “in space” from time to time and I had a fascination for trying things outside of the ordinary. For sure, I always wanted to be a film director. And it’s strange because we had no movie theatres in my childhood and no way how I could make a film. It wasn’t an information, filmmaking, easy of access for me. But I always wanted to create something, surf in a higher level, and so, here we are after all these years.

Q: Tell me about your challenges to make this film.

Gabriel: It was a difficult movie to put together as this was a low budget picture. We never had enough time for the many locations we had to film. Sometimes, traveling to these locations was difficult. But, in spite of the challenges, we were lucky that we didn’t get too much rain, even so we shot in October and November when it’s quite “humid”. Also we got lucky because my main actor playing “Deivid” broke his arm, playing soccer, just the next day after we ended filming the picture. It would have been a disaster!

Q: Ultimately what is this film about for you and its messages?

Gabriel: Ultimately, it’s about figuring out what the others really want. This family is trying to come together even so they have their own interest in life. But the way it will work is by trying to understand what the other one is going through. Look at the daughter who has this love with another woman and not being accepted by her family. Or the mother who is having her own inner struggle. Each one is having a dream and a struggle. And until they understand each other there cannot be peace in this family. It’s really a movie about empathy and compassion. And this is something very important in this world today; especially in the world where everyone is so self-involved. So, it’s not only a film about personal dreams but it’s also about understanding. Understanding each other.

Q: Tell me about being in Sundance and what this means?

Gabriel: Being in Sundance is huge for us! It’s incredible the attention we are getting and how I can talk about this film with many interviews like this one. I’m so happy Sundance is taking care of us. It’s such a struggle for small movies like mine and it’s amazing to have Sundance embrace our movie and help us bring it to the audience.