Lillah Halla: “I like the idea that Levante can raise awareness”

The Brazilian director denounces the criminalization of abortion in her country, through a first queer and colorful feature about the sorority queen, awarded at Cannes Critics’ Week.

How is born Levante which depicts the obstacle course of a young Brazilian volleyball player aged 17 to have an abortion in a country where abortion is illegal?

Lillah Halla: It is really the result of many things and has no single starting point. I will start by mentioning the EICTV school in Cuba where I learned cinema but also the art of teamwork. This is how I wanted to develop a project led by a collective, a queer collective where, from technicians to actors, everyone would have their say and by taking over the world around us to denounce abuses. My first production was a short, Manarca (selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2020), the story of two teenage girls confronted… with a female piranha – the cultural representation in Brazil of the monstrous feminine – which I imagined as a rereading and deconstruction of myths and fantasies masculine. Levante is much more realistic but because in the meantime Bolsonaro had come to power in Brazil and only greatly aggravated already critical pre-existing situations, including the criminalization of abortion. Living close to the border with Uruguay, I witnessed Brazilian women who took risks for their health and even their lives by having clandestine abortions or who went to have an abortion in Uruguay. The desire to tackle this theme existed before Bolsonaro came to power, but this news impacted the script that we wrote with Maria Elena Moran.

The long duration of cinema means that, as soon as a film tackles a current subject, it is often late when it hits the screens. This is not the case with yours…

I could say unfortunately because it underlines that despite the departure of Bolsonaro and the return of Lula, nothing has evolved from this point of view. But I like the idea that Levante can raise awareness and help change things. I am firmly convinced that we, filmmakers, have an influence on people’s dreams! In any case, I launched into this project in a visceral way. Between Bolsonaro and COVID, I had the feeling that Brazil had become the worst place on this planet. So I needed to exorcise all of that in a film that would be peppered with comedic moments and above all very colorful. But all this mainly took shape as my casting was put together. It embraces the colorful personalities of those filmed. This explosive energy, this taste for chaos that I share. I always say that they chose me as much as I chose them!

You were talking about the colorful atmosphere of your film. Have you discussed references with your cinematographer, Wilssa Esser?

I’m a big movie buff but we didn’t discuss movies at all. Levante was first and foremost born from my observation of the world around me and extensive research. My source of inspiration was reality, not fiction.

How was the film received in Brazil?

The selection at Cannes Critics’ Week, the reception we received there and the prize we won gave me legitimacy as a filmmaker. I will be forever grateful to Ava Cahen and her team for allowing us to experience this as a team. But, despite everything, I was stressed before presenting Levante in Brazil because the subject is sensitive and, as from the start, I also have a responsibility towards my entire team, so that no one is threatened or victim of reprisals. The Brazilian premiere, in a festival, took place on… Friday the 13th! (laughs) I saw it as a positive sign and I was right. The reception was incredible and led to a demonstration the next day in front of the cinema to demand the legalization of abortion. But the room was full of activists committed to the cause. The second screening, in a room of 800 seats, had a more mixed audience. So, I wanted to try an experiment at the end of the screening. I asked that we leave the room in the dark, so as not to expose anyone to everyone’s view. Then the young women who had experienced what my heroine is going through or who know someone close to them to whom it happened brandish their cell phones with the lights on. And then, all hands went up! Watching this from the stage was a shock. But also gave me living proof of the need for such a film. As if its power had ultimately surpassed us all.

LEVANTE
By Lillah Halla. With Ayomi Domenica, Loro Bardot, Grace Passô… Duration: 1h32. Released December 6, 2023