“DESPITE IT ALL, STILL I RISE.” This favourite phrase of the volleyball coach Sol, expresses the significance of the film’s title, Levante: to rise up and rebel. “It also relates to the movements you make to play volleyball and smash the ball down – the film is about collective strategies for these very violent times.” (Halla).
Lillah Halla
The storyline of this intense and dynamic film, deals with volleyball star Sofía (played by the charismatic Ayomi Domenica). On the eve of a volleyball championship, crucial for her selection for a scholarship and her future as an athlete, 17-year-old Sofía discovers an unwanted pregnancy. In her despair, when she tries to find a way to secretly end it, she inadvertently ends up becoming the target of a fundamentalist group led by the very scary Glória (Gláucia Vandeveld), who intends to stop her abortion, no matter the cost. However, the girls from the tightly- knit volleyball team, under the sympathetic coach Sol (a superb Grace Passó), have no intention of surrendering to the mob rule of the evangelists, and those who believe only they hold the moral high-ground.
Halla took eight years to get this film onto the screen. This is also in evidence in the large number of co-production companies involved. Written with her Venezuelan co-writer María Elena Morán, the story evolved over that period, in tandem with political events that were taking place in Brazil. As Halla stresses: -
“Every film is political. There is no film that is not political, even when films are apparently apolitical, they are not.”
Ayomi Domenica Días as Sofía
Abortion is prohibited in Brazil, so a film about this subject matter is bound to be challenging. This is a country where “people are PERSECUTED – the situation is tragic but I needed to find a way to use the energy of the group as a political tool as well… [Halla wanted to]… “Elaborate the foundation of myths, to challenge cultural ideas and destroy stereotypes in order to envision new possibilities for the future… We were moving very deep tectonic plates of our culture. There were many risks involved (and still are). A huge responsibility and challenge for a first film.”
The Capão Lest volleyball team muck about after winning a match
Halla’s objective, with this film, and others that she has made, is to illuminate the value and importance of the collective, the camaraderie and queer sisterhood, that, in this film, supported Sofía as she struggled with her dilemma. However, it is somewhat disturbing, that given her relationship with Bel (Loro Bardot), the film remains totally silent on how or where Sofía could have got pregnant. Even she appears confused about it, which is odd to say the least.
The wall at the entrance to Sofía’s home is vandalized with a quote from the bible “For the Wages of Sin is Death.” (Romans 6: 23), revealing evidence of the origin of the religious intolerance and fundamentalist approach to her problem. Glória offers Sofía “support” with a smile that would fit in any horror movie. In fact, Vandeveld is so good in her role of Glória, that when you suddenly spot her in a crowed, you react with physical revulsion.
It took Halla two years to find the cast for the film, as she felt it was vital that each member of the cast was committed to the ideas of the production and understood their importance. In the end, the actors came from all over Brazil, and did not know each other at all till they got together for the production. Halla decided to start a WhatsApp group for them to share their thoughts and in the end, she discovered that many of their ideas had already been written into the story.
The technique was to gather everyone together, hold discussion groups and improvise. In this way, in no time, everyone felt that they had known each other for years and this can be felt on screen as the girls share intimate moments, dance and, very instrumental in this film, have a lot of showers together. Water takes on a significance, be it coming from a shower or from the sky.
Ayomi Domenica( Sofía) with Rômulo Braga (João, her father).
Right from her first award-winning student film in 2014, Lillah Halla has shown talent and potential. With her bouncy, energetic personality, coupled with her deep curiosity and activist soul, she has previously made award-winning shorts like Menarca (2020).
Her concerns usually touch on patriarchal myths, feminine and queer issues. In her short ‘Menarca’, she tackles myths about vaginal dentata, using chimeras, like strange piranha women: ““hybrid beings are symbolic creatures born of cultural anguish. When they appear, they throw a wrench in the system as they can’t fit into any classification, threatening the status quo and its binarism. They are transgressors who see the possibility of an unthinkable future”.
With a multitude of studies in different countries, from Cuba to Germany to Canada, including theatrical experiences, Halla has covered a lot of ground and is already working on her second feature ‘Flehmen’ as part of the Sam Spiegel Jerusalem Film Lab (JSFL). Definitely a talent to look out for.
Ayomi Domenica as Sofía and Loro Bardot as Bel
‘Levante’, her debut feature, premiered at the Semaine de la Critique Cannes and was awarded BEST FILM AWARD by FIPRESCI in the same festival. The project was part of the Next Step 2020 from Semaine de la Critique. It is a co-production between Brazil, France and Uruguay. Halla is also a co-founder of the São Paulo-based film collective known as Vermelha, a political project for women and queer film makers in Brazil.
Ayomi Domenica
‘Levante’ is more straight forward than Menarca, for instance, and does not delve into magic or unusual rituals, but it is a forceful pointer to the issue of women’s rights and choices in Brazil. The music is an important element, another dimension, as the team share jokes, laugh and dance together enveloped by the beats that add suspense and rhythm. In effect, this film is bursting with energy and warmth at every level, that further shocks when confronted by bigotry and intolerance.
“The people brought onto this film all have a HUGE voice. This was the family I chose. My power alley. I wanted the work to have their ‘shine’ – both from the cast and from the artists in the crew. When collaboration happens in a deep and synchronised way, it's magical.”
POWER ALLEY (LEVANTE) 2023 will be on digital and cinema release in the UK and Eire
from November 29th 2024.
Creative Team
Director Lillah Halla / Screenplay María Elena Morán, Lillah Halla
Cinematography Wilssa Esser / Editing Eva Randolph
Production Designer Maíra Mesquita
Sound Recordist Ruben Valdés / Sound Mixer Alejandro Grillo /Sound Design Waldir Xavier
Music Maria Beraldo / with the participation of Badsista / Juçara Marçal
Co-Producers Santiago López, Hernán Musaluppi, Diego Robino
Producers Clarissa Guarilha, Rafaella Costa, Louise Bellicaud,
Claire Charles-Gervais
Cast
Sofia: Ayomi Domenica Dias / Bel: Loro Bardot / Sol: Grace Passô / Glória: Gláucia Vandeveld / João: Rômulo Braga
