October 4, 2020
Facebook Live
Presented as part of Music+Film: Brazil
co-presented by Co-presented by Cinema Tropical, Brasil Summerfest,
and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU.
French-Swiss director Georges Gachot talks about his most recent film, the documentary feature Where Are You, João Gilberto?, which had its New York premiere as part of our part of our Music+Film: Brazil series. Moderated by the series programmer Mary Jane Marcasiano, the conversation delved on the genesis of the project, the enigmatic and legendary Brazilian musician João Gilberto, founder of the popular and influential boss nova movement, and the equally-enigmatic German journalist that started an obsessive search following the footsteps of the Brazilian singer and songwriter.
Georges Gachot. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, Georges Gachot is a French-Swiss filmmaker. He started his career working in film production for commercials and as a sound assistant, most notably in the Oscar winning film "Journey of hope" by Xavier Koller in 1990. Subsequently he was commissioned by the music label Naxos and by various European TV channels to direct films that portray musicians, composers and interpreters. In 1996 he began producing and directing his own films - in coproduction with international partners like Idéale Audience (France), Arte (France & Germany) - that enjoyed worldwide success, distributed byDoc & Films (France). Gachot received the prestigious "Prix Italia" in 2002 for his portrait of the Argentinean pianist Martha Argerich, Evening Talks and created the first of a trilogy of films about Brazilian music in 2005, Maria Bethânia, Music Is Perfume. This portrait of Maria Bethânia was distributed worldwide (in France by Les Films du Paradoxe and in Brazil by Imovision). He became a true enthusiast and specialist of Brazilian music and went on to film two more feature length documentaries there, Rio Sonata (2010) and O Samba (2014). Between 1996 and 2012 he also directed five feature length documentaries about Cambodia. Gachot's latest project is Where are you, João Gilberto? is based on the book by the German journalist Marc Fischer, which tells the story of his quest to find the famous Brazilian musician and founding father of Bossa Nova, João Gilberto.
Mary Jane Marcasiano is the Director of Development and Special Projects at Cinema Tropical and programmer of the Music+Film: Brazil series. She is also the president of her eponymous design company in New York City and actively involved in the arts and non-profit community in NY, Brazil and West Africa. She is a graduate of Parsons School of Design/The New School, in 2019 she received a Masters Degree from NYU Gallatin focusing on the intersection of Art, Nonprofits and Social Change, and she is the recipient of the Cartier, DuPont, Cutty Sark and Wool Knit Awards. Marcasiano has designed costumes for DanceBrazil, the New York City Ballet, the Brazilian films: Até Quando (2008), Reaching for the Moon (2013), and for Grammy award winning singer Angelique Kidjo. Marcasiano has produced several films in Brazil: Ginga (Gustavo Moraes, 2004), Reaching for the Moon (Bruno Barreto), Alair Gomes (Gustavo Moraes, in development), and in the U.S. a documentary film, Jack Lenor Larsen (2016) with CheckerBoard Films. For three years she served as the President of the Board of Directors of DanceBrazil, a non-profit foundation dedicated to cultural exchange between Brazil and the U.S. In 2007 Marcasiano created the Made With Love Project, a non-profit global initiative dedicated to raising funds and awareness for NGOs aiding women and children in need in Brazil, Africa and Haiti.
