Photo Credit: Beadie Finzi
Beadie Finzi
Only When I Dance
2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Bio: Beadie Finzi has been working in documentaries since 1994. After making a number of films for UK Broadcasters, Beadie produced Unknown White Male, a feature documentary about a young amnesiac rediscovering his life. Beadie went onto direct The Hunger Season, an emotional essay examining the impact of humanitarian food aid. In 2009, Beadie shot and directed Only When I Dance, which charts the remarkable story of two young children trying to dance their way out of the favelas of Rio. The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and was released in 2010 in the United Kingdom by Revolver and by Film Movement in the United States.
Beadie is one of the founding directors of the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, a United Kingdom based not-for-profit organization dedicated to reinventing funding and distribution models for documentary filmmakers. It has funded more than award-winning films such as Afghan Star, Yes Men Fix The World, and the environmental polemic The End of The Line.
Description: Only When I Dance is a classic narrative documentary following two young teenagers, Isabela and Irlan, as they strive to realize an extraordinary dream. One girl, one boy; both black and poor, and living in one of the most violent favelas on the outskirts of Rio. Irlan and Isabela both want to dance—to dance ballet, and their ambition is to leave Brazil to join one of the great companies in the North. For them, dance is the way out, an escape, and on stage, an ecstasy that is rarely found in their day-to-day lives. The question is: Can they make it? Only When I Dance follows these two gifted teenagers during the year that will make or break all their future dreams. (Credit: Only When I Dance Official Press Materials)
Interview Date: July 2, 2010
Women and Hollywood: How did you find the subjects for the film?
Beadie Finzi: Producers Giorgio Lo Savio and Christina Daniels were working up ideas and looking for possible characters, coming back and talking to me in London for nearly three years before we found Irlan and Isabella. There have been many competition style movies. Many extraordinary films are set in Rio de Janeiro. So it was a tall order to find something fresh and interesting, with deeper angles. Hence the numerous research trips and endless discussions over Caipirinhas before we identified just the right characters at the right time of their lives, who would also give us access.
W&H: Why did you think this would be a universal documentary?
BF: I really, really hoped it would be. The idea was always to make a cracking narrative film first, which had music and dance laced through. We wanted people who might never go and see classical or contemporary dance to watch the film and enjoy it. We hope that people may even be pleasantly surprised at how moving the dance could be.
W&H: Why did this story move you?
BF: There is a lot about this film that is emotional. However, for me the strongest themes were about family—about the love of good parents, of what they will do to give their children the very best chance. It was genuinely inspiring to be around Irlan’s and Isabella’s families. The selflessness, the good humor, in spite of the difficulties. It was a special year filming with them, and I must say I really miss them.
W&H: I found Isabella’s story quite heartbreaking and Irlan’s quite uplifting. How did you balance what was going on in both their lives?
BF: We only ever filmed those two and there was pressure at one stage to lose Isabella’s story as Irlan’s story began to take off. But for me there was no doubt they needed each other. It would have been too saccharin to have only featured Irlan. It would have looked too easy—“I had a dream, I wanted to dance. I danced my way out of the favela.” What he has done is very extraordinary. It is the stuff of fiction, of dreams. But, the truth is most of us are like Isabella.
W&H: Isabella dealt with racism and body issues that were very difficult for her to conquer. Is the Brazilian ballet world much harder on girls?
BF: All schools of ballet are exacting on the body. There is a vision of the perfect body, of a grace of line, form, and proportions, which brings a huge pressure on all girls and women who participate in ballet. Brazil is no different in this, however, there are even greater issues here of race—the idea of wanting to be a black ballerina is preposterous. And coming from a poor background, well, it is laughable … and that is what makes Isabella such a hero and such an inspiration.
W&H: How did both their families’ circumstances affect why these young people wanted to dance?
BF: It always seemed to me that dance was an escape from real life for Irlan and Isabella. Achieving moments of perfection, of discipline, and of beauty. A reprieve in one of the most intense, violent, and chaotic cities in the world.
W&H: What do you want people to get out of the film?
BF: I hope people are moved and inspired by Isabella and Irlan. These two make me feel anything is possible—dare to dream, dare to reach your dreams.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female filmmakers?
BF: Be ambitious in your filmmaking. Have persistence and quiet determination. But most of all, hold on to your passion for storytelling. Put aside all pressures in order to preserve authentic relationships and respect for your characters. I think that is totally essential.
W&H: Tell us how you were able to get a distribution deal.
BF: Producer Nikki Parrott of Tiger Lilly Films led the deal making. There was a fair amount of heat around this film—as a feel-good documentary that can work for quite a broad audience. Film Movement had come to see the film at Tribeca Film Festival and loved it, but then somehow in the craziness of the festival, our paths did not cross. They had assumed we were snapped up by others, so it was a delightful surprise when we reconnected at the end of last year and a struck a deal.
W&H: What is next for you?
BF: I am experimenting with a love story. Part musical, part documentary. Again with Nikki Parrott at Tiger Lilly. It’s early, but I am excited!