By far one of the greatest films at the PSIFF 2010 festival for me was the independent documentary film, the DZI Croquettes (2009) by first time directors Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez. Best friends for twenty-five years, Raphael and Tatiana made this film about her childhood adopted family, a famous transvestite dance crew of thirteen who were instrumental confronting the Brazilian dictatorship of the 1970s through their avant-garde and revolutionary dance innovations. Tatiana’s father was the dance crew’s manager so she grew up with these men and they were as much a part of her family as her own mother and father. Tatiana maintained a personal relationship with all thirteen dancers through the years; sadly, out of the thirteen eight have died.

During a Q and A in Palm Springs, Tatiana said: “I love accepting everyone and that is what this film is about…and no one in Brazil knew about DZI Croquettes. And I got to do it!” The film was built through the interviews and all footage of the Dzi Croquettes dancing they found in Germany as the Germans had kept the footage for thirty-five years. Interviews took ten days with Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil and Liza Minelli to name a few. It took six to nine months to land the interview with Liza Minelli who let them interview her in her own house. The film opened in October and has won eight awards in Brazil so far with nationwide distribution in Brazil.

For me, this film takes the prize for out-and-out true ‘indie film’ by definition as it was almost entirely made by Raphael and Tatiana.

Written by, Vanessa McMahon

me and Raphael at PSIFF