Paulista, Quanto Dura o Amor? (2009) by writer/director Roberto Moreira and actress Maria Clara Spinelli (winner of the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival award for Best Actress) held its North American premier at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January, 2010.

Both Roberto Moreira and Maria Spinelli attended for Q and A after screening. Roberto discussed that it was indeed a challenge to make a film that focuses on four main characters because, theoretically, in cinema one should normally focus on one main character to identify with and to follow. But, he pulls it off brilliantly in this story about lost illusions and love in the city of Sao Paulo.  

I asked Roberto to explain the special form of film funding that exists in Brazil and gave an explanation of Brazilian ‘independent cinema’, which is funded by Cinema Brazil, their national cinema and is largely subsidized by Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras. They both explained that in Brazil, their TV novellas rank higher in popularity than film as TV is cheaper than film to watch as well as produce. TV Globo is like Brazil’s Hollywood and beyond TV they fund most of Brazil’s indie films. Roberto believes his film could be classified as art/indie because of the gay lovers and a transexual theme, placing it in a niche market which makes his film a hard sell, whereas an indie film with more international themes could be easier to produce. In January, 2010, Maria Clara Spinelli won best actress at the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival.

**Stay tuned for more from interviews with actress Maria Clara Spinelli

view official trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ3N8tbuhNg

Written by, Vanessa McMahon