Interview with Ana Cavazzana filmmaker, director, and visual artist.
Filmmaker Biography:
Ana Cavazzana is an accomplished filmmaker, director, and visual artist whose work explores female perspectives, identity, and personal relationships. With a distinct background in independent narrative cinema and compelling character-driven storytelling, her nominated short film Duas demonstrates her sensitive directorial approach and dedication to showcasing authentic emotional journeys on screen.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11327519/
1. What personal or artistic story inspired the central relationship in Duas?
Duas is based on a true story and was born out of a very painful loss. I lost a friend who met and fell in love with her partner during the daily journey she took to work at a factory.
There is a cruel irony at the heart of this story. My friend worked in the factory's purchasing department and had purchased a part that was damaged and needed to be replaced in order to repair one of the factory's machines. The replacement part was being transported along the same road she travelled every day to work. During transportation, the part became detached from the vehicle and struck her, killing her instantly.
I wanted to transform this tragedy into a tribute to her. But I didn't want to make a film that was simply about death. I wanted to talk about the life that existed before it: the encounter, the love, the desire, the intimacy, and the building of a relationship between two women.
I also wanted to show that we are all vulnerable to the unpredictability of life, regardless of who we are or how we live. At the same time, there was a social question that was very important to me: how women, and especially women who live outside traditional social norms, are constantly expected to adapt to the system and to society in order to survive and exist within it.
For me, Duas is therefore both a tribute and a reflection on love, life, human fragility, and the ways in which we learn to adapt to the world around us.
2. The title suggests duality and connection — how do the two main characters complement or contrast with each other?
In Duas, duality exists not only between the two characters, but also within the forces that shape their lives: intimacy and society, freedom and adaptation, desire and fear, life and mortality.
The two women are different, but there is a profound connection between them. I did not want to build their relationship around the idea that one woman “completes” the other. They are whole individuals, with their own histories, desires and contradictions, who meet and build an intimate relationship together.
It was important to me to portray a relationship between two women in a delicate and everyday way. I did not want them to be defined solely by their sexuality. I wanted the audience to see two people falling in love.
3. What was your process in building chemistry between the leads during rehearsals?
The relationship between the protagonists needed to feel genuine because the story that inspired the film was also genuine.
During rehearsals, we worked extensively on listening, silence, small gestures and intimacy. More than simply memorising lines, it was important for the actresses to understand who these women were and what existed between them.
I believe chemistry cannot simply be created through direction. It emerges when there is trust between the actors and the freedom to build the relationship together. So I tried to create an environment in which they could experiment, observe one another and discover the particular tenderness of their relationship.
4. How did you approach the cinematography to reflect the inner emotional states of your protagonists?
The cinematography was designed to remain very close to the characters. I wanted the camera to follow their emotions, and especially the things they were unable to say.
Because the story is about a relationship developing within a society that often demands adaptation, I was also interested in exploring the relationship between bodies and spaces. At times, the women are physically close, while an entire world around them imposes rules, limitations and expectations.
The camera therefore needed to be intimate without becoming invasive. I wanted the audience to feel as though they were entering this universe gently, as if they were witnessing a real relationship.
The film is also full of symbolism. I use details and visual metaphors to communicate what lies beneath the surface. The sex scene, for example, focuses on the women's legs. It is sensual without sexualising their relationship. For me, this distinction was very important.
The factory itself also becomes part of the visual language. Her boss is often positioned physically above her, reinforcing the hierarchy and power structures within that environment. I also used the factory handrail as a visual division between two “worlds”: one representing submission and the social positions that many lesbian women are forced to adopt in certain situations, sometimes even when those positions contradict who they really are, because adapting can feel like a way of protecting themselves and ensuring the safety of same-sex couples.
5. What were the most rewarding and challenging aspects of directing Duas as an independent short?
The most rewarding part was transforming an experience of loss into a timeless work.
The greatest challenge was dealing with a story that was so emotionally close to me while finding a cinematic language that would not turn the tragedy into spectacle.
Making the film independently, with limited resources, was also challenging. But the experience taught me that cinema does not depend solely on money. It depends on a story that needs to be told, people who are deeply committed to telling it, and a clear vision of what we want to communicate.
6. In what ways does Duas challenge or expand traditional representations of women in contemporary Brazilian cinema?
I wanted to challenge the traditional representation of lesbian women in cinema, particularly the idea that their stories must necessarily revolve around suffering, violence, rejection or conflict with their own sexuality.
Those stories are important, but we also need to see lesbian women living, loving, desiring, working, building relationships and simply existing.
I also made a conscious decision to bring many lesbian women into the project, both in the artistic and technical departments. Representation, for me, should not exist only in front of the camera; it should also exist behind it.
In Duas, I wanted to portray a relationship between two women in a delicate and human way. At the same time, there is an important social layer to the film: the need to adapt to the rules of the system and to society's expectations.
For me, talking about women also means talking about the structures that determine the space we are allowed to occupy.
7. How did the nomination at the Dedallus Play Film Festival impact your perspective as a filmmaker?
The recognition was especially meaningful because Duas has won awards at more than 30 festivals around the world. But being recognised in Brazil, particularly in the Northeast, and seeing these stories being welcomed there, fills me with an enormous sense of pride.
It showed me that a deeply personal story can resonate with people who have never experienced that exact reality themselves.
It also reinforced my belief that cinema can transform an individual experience into a collective memory.
8. Where do you see your creative journey taking you next, and what themes are you eager to explore?
I want to continue creating stories led by women and LGBTQIAPN+ characters, but I increasingly want to move away from representations based solely on pain.
I am interested in exploring love, desire, ageing, ageism, motherhood, violence against women, identity, power dynamics, and the different ways people try to find freedom within social structures that often limit them.
I also want to expand my international career and develop projects across different countries and cultures.
I want to create co-productions with women from all over the world, always including same-sex relationships as a natural part of the stories — not as the problem or the central conflict, but simply as part of the characters' lives.
I want to help normalise these relationships through storytelling: to show LGBTQIAPN+ couples as people who love, work, dream, struggle, laugh, make mistakes and build lives, just like anyone else.
For me, this is also a form of resistance: creating queer characters who are not defined by their suffering, but by the fullness of their lives.
https://www.instagram.com/anacavazzana/?hl=pt-br
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyh0fc7BJ561fWiOilVJYg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQH2iYyn4Ws
https://www.instagram.com/cavazzfilmes/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyh0fc7BJ561fWiOilVJYg
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