Interview with Fernanda Vilela – Screenwriter, Executive Producer and Lead Actress for “Amentalio”

Fernanda Vilela, welcome to this interview. Congrats on your win as “Best Producer”. Does one become a producer or is it a role you just take on and, in your stride, because it’s needed?

I believe both options can be true; there are many ways one can learn how to produce a film; you can go to school and take classes on film production; you can work on sets being, for example, PA, 1AD, 2AD and get experience from there (being on set, no matter what role you have, can teach you a lot); or you can dive in and learn as you go (if you choose this one, please, do your research haha). My case combined all the above; I took some classes and learned a little. Then, I was PA on my friend’s set, learned a little bit there, too, and then I jumped right into my production.

Please tell us more about you, and about producing a film you are also a lead actress in. Does it add to the pressure, or does it just make sense?

I have been acting for a while now; it is what I came to LA to do. I have been taking classes and workshops, and I feel like I’ve gathered a good amount of knowledge from all my teachers (people for whom I’m very grateful). However, as I found out, there is a huge part of “acting” that you cannot control. It is, and it should always be a surprise. You never know what emotion will kick in or how your response to a line will sound; you live in the unknown and need to trust that you have done your character work. This, the part of letting go of control, was challenging for me when I combined acting and producing.

When I’m just acting, I can stay with my character pretty much 100% of the time: I play with them every day, I experiment with them every day, and they are always fresh and ready to go…  But I couldn’t do that for this project because I was also the one producing it. Trusting my work and that I knew Emilia well enough to let her go while doing my “producer’s” obligations, to only bring her back when it was “action” time felt like jumping into cold water.

This was my first time producing a movie; I had only produced and directed a few scenes before, so I learned A LOT. I took some “film production classes” and understood how many things worked on theory, but when it was time to step up and do everything, I’m not going to lie: it was tough, hahaha.

There is a huge difference between what it is like on paper and what it is like in reality. In reality, no matter what you do, you can never be prepared enough; there will always be something that you can’t control that will, most likely, happen at the last minute (rain/thunderstorm, someone from the crew gets sick, ambulance sounds, issues with equipment, etc.). It is part of the job to stay calm and come up with creative alternatives. Thankfully, I’m Brazilian, so I’m used to “o jeitinho brasileiro/the Brazilian way, ” which means finding unusual methods to achieve the desired results. I love those type of creative challenges.

I was very glad and cannot thank my two co-producers and friends, Jeanette Shock and Johanna Thur, enough for all the work and support they have done. Without them, this movie wouldn’t be what it is. They helped me a lot during pre-production, and on the day of the shoot, they did everything possible so I could focus just on bringing Emilia to life, which was, I would say, THE KEY for the success of this film.

We’d love to find out about the meaning behind your title. Do tell!

Amentalio means:

“(n) the sadness of realizing that you’re already forgetting sense memories of the departed—already struggling to hear their voice, picture the exact shade of their eyes, or call to mind the quirky little gestures you once knew by heart.”
I chose this title because it represents parts of what the character Emilia is feeling; and because I feel like it encapsulates the mood and story of the film well.

We see a couple and would-be parents pondering on first name choices. That is a phase couples go through for real. In many ways, this marks the first of many parenting decisions that will have a bearing on their child’s future. Can this be the first potentially divisive step do you think?

I think as soon as you find out you are expecting a child, a lot of important decisions happen almost immediately and almost every day. You research and read a lot because you want the best for your baby, and you make decisions like “Which doctor should I choose?”, “What should I or should not eat?” and “What is the best side to sleep on for the baby?” – for the mother, those are huge micro-decisions.

In my opinion, choosing the baby’s name should be something fun and light;  of course, there will be disagreements, but they are good types of disagreements, hahaha. I chose to show this part on the film for a lot of different reasons:

1) In this scene, you see a lot of their relationship and personalities.

2) It was a perfect way to show time lapsing.

3) Because it is a build-up to the scene when they finally decide to name the baby Emma, which was something very important to me. If you pay enough attention, you will notice that every name in this film was chosen for a reason.

Emma means Universe, and as soon as she starts to exist, that’s what she becomes to Emilia; the name also conveys a sense of completeness and strength, which she also gives to her mom.
Liam means resolute protector, and throughout the movie, you see how much he cares about Emilia and her feelings and how much he wants to protect her from the pain of the world.
The name Emilia was chosen because it englobes the two other names as if she were THE FAMILY; she is Emma; she is Liam. She is this power that only a mother has. It also means ambition and competitiveness, personality traits that I tried to bring to her with my performance.

4) And, of course, because of what you said. It is, indeed, such an important moment for the parents; there is so much love, worry, and attention involved.

For first-time parent, it is quite common to throw themselves into baby clothes and baby showers. Is this reasonable considering the many risks of not carrying the pregnancy to the end for the mother? Then if a miscarriage happens, everything falls apart and the consequences can be very harsh and long lasting. Care to comment?

I believe every parent has their own approach towards this subject you are raising. They know what’s best for their situation.

On one hand, the excitement is massive and intense; for many (in Emilia’s case, for example), it is a dream coming true. Many women dream of the day when they can finally buy baby clothes, accessories, etc, for their child. And many parents don’t like to think about all the negative things that could happen; no one wants to start a pregnancy thinking it will not be successful.

But on the other hand, one in every four pregnancies does end up in miscarriage; it is a scientific fact, and it’s a pretty high percentage – high enough to the point some might choose not to ignore it. It makes sense to be afraid to jump all in right away, especially those who, unfortunately, have lost a baby before.

I’m a firmer believer, especially after this project, that the pain of the miscarriage is long-lasting regardless. It doesn’t matter much if you have already bought the clothes or not; the pain is and will be there.

Now, as a curiosity, Amentalio has scenes that didn’t make the final cut, and one of them shows Liam wanting to tell his mother about the pregnancy right after he gets the news, and Emilia is a little bit more reluctant about that, knowing about the statistics above.

Emilia is pregnant again. But this is the easiest part, right?

Emilia’s pregnancy at the end represents the reality of many women who have had miscarriages and get another positive result later on. The feeling of happiness mixes with the fear of going through that traumatic experience again. That’s why I decided to make the film’s first shot extremely similar to the last one: to show exactly this fear of things repeating itself. The movie is almost a looping. Almost.
I wanted it to end on a positive, hopeful note.

What is your vision of post-Covid cinema?

The increase in social media use during the pandemic has made it more accessible to everyone to make new movies and have them available to many people.
This giant “boom” that happened on and because of platforms such as TikTok and Instagram has created the possibility of a new and more intensified presence of the vertical format in the cinematographic universe.
Since COVID, I have seen an increasing number of high-quality videos, films, and commercials in this format, having been inside sets of productions focused solely on cellphone content. I believe this scenario will only grow from now on, creating a new way of storytelling that I’m curious to see how it develops.

Thank you so much for all this thoughtful questions. It was a pleasure and much fun answering them!

©2024 Isabelle Rouault-Röhlich