User:Pmush10/Butterfly Diaries

Diário de Viagem is a 2022 Brazilian drama movie directed and written by Paula Kim. The film stars Manoela Aliperti and follows the story of a young woman who, upon returning from an exchange program in Ireland, has to deal with a series of disorders and obsessions acquired during her stay abroad. The secondary cast is made up of Virgínia Cavendish, Eucir de Souza , Pedro Ogata and Daniel Botelho.

The film features special appearances by Clarisse Abujamra, André Ramiro , Eliana Fonseca , Lorena Tucci, Simone Collins, Aaron Katambay, Maxim Tribug and Alex Hannigan.

Plot
In 1995, in Sao Paulo, after the implementation of the Plano Real in Brazil, Liz' parents (Manoela Aliperti) send her on an exchange program in Ireland. However, the 13-year-old girl, from an emerging middle-class family, does not share her parents' expectations and has a disastrous experience during the trip. Liz returns to São Paulo unbalanced and obsessive, with an eating disorder that affects every aspect of her life. How will she deal with this difficult reality?

Cast

 * Manoela Aliperti as Liz
 * Virgínia Cavendish as Regina, Liz's mother
 * Eucir de Souza as Marcos, Liz's father
 * André Ramiro as Dr. Rafael
 * Clarisse Abujamra as Dr. Rute
 * Daniel Botelho as Lucas
 * Pedro Ogata as João
 * Lorena Tucci as Mariana
 * Yasmin Thin Qi as Patty
 * Eliana Fonseca as Eliana Teacher
 * Simone Collins as Ivy
 * Alex Hannigan as Jamie
 * Aaron Katambay as Joost
 * Maxim Trigub as Alexander

Production
''Diário de Viagem is the first fiction film written and directed by filmmaker Paula Kim. The film is based on the director's own personal experiences. Paula faced anorexia nervosa at a young age and used her own experiences to create a film that addresses the topic and the overcoming of it. She points out that some people believe that eating disorders have no cure, but she is living proof that this is not true. ''

Development
Paula Kim had to overcome one of the biggest challenges faced by independent filmmakers when looking for a producer to realize her project and script. Despite not being successful in this endeavor, she did not give up and created Sam Ka Pur Filmes, which seeks to generate positive impacts on society through audiovisual. In an interview, Paula revealed that it took her a while to believe that she could open her own company and produce her own film, which took 12 years to complete, from the final script to completion. The director's dream came true beyond her expectations. Even before debuting in cinemas, the production achieved prominence in international projects, including being the first Brazilian film to participate in the Cinéfondation's L'Atelier at the Cannes Film Festival, in France, in 2015.

Filming
Sara Silveira headed the production of Diário de Viagem in 2019, together with Paula. Executive production was carried out by Maria Ionescu. The film had production support from Dezenove Som e Imagem Ltda.

The photography directors responsible were Kátia Coelho and Naji Sidki.

Rica Amabis produced the soundtrack that makes up the film.

Most of Diário de Viagem's team leaders were women, a form of resistance to the machismo usually present on the film set.

São Paulo
The interior of Liz's apartment was recorded in a residence, now a nursing home called Sá & Sacalina, in the Barro Branco neighborhood (North Zone),, in São Paulo. The residence was set with objects purchased at charity bazaars with the intention of building an oppressive place and evoking the 1990s, when the story takes place.

Liz's school was filmed at Escola Vera Cruz in Vila Leopoldina.

The images inside the plane were filmed at Chácara do Piloto, in Araraquara.

The images in the film's final sequence were recorded at Cachoeira do Pimenta, Cunha.

Ireland
In Irlanda, scenes were filmed in famous locations such as the St. James Gate (the touristy Guinness) brewery factory gate ) and at The Rage vinyl shop at 8 Crow St, Temple Bar.

Another iconic spot in Black Rock is the area near Blackrock Baths and Blackrock Raiway Station, where Liz makes friends for the first time.

Filming ended on August 1, 2019, in Blackrock (Dublin). The last scene filmed was in the kitchen, at the party in Dublin, where Lucas offers Liz a drink and is interrupted by Jane.

The section filmed in Ireland was produced by Edwina Forkin (Zanzibar Films) and had Paddy McCarney as executive producer.

Some of the Irish crew that took part in filming in Dublin were professionals who worked on the celebrated film Once, such as casting director Maureen Hughes and first assistant director John Burns.

Post Production
Diário de Viagem was edited by Ide LaCreta between the second half of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, when the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was identified.

Initially, international songs from the 90s were considered to compose the film's soundtrack, but due to the rise in the dollar resulting from the crises caused by the pandemic, this original soundtrack was made unfeasible.

The remaining original tracks were produced by Amabis.

The mixing extended until the second half of 2021 due to physical restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo.

The release of Diário de Viagem suffered from the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema. In 2020 and 2021, participation in international film festivals was hampered by the lengthened and expensive post-production of the work, by the cancellation of many film festivals when the film was being cut for the first time in 2020 and by the online exhibition format that these festivals adopted, which made many distributors, producers and directors around the world decide to wait for the pandemic to pass. For this reason, in May 2023 Diário de Viagem remains without a world (international) premiere.

Release
The film was selected for the Festival do Rio, which took place between October 6 and 16, 2021, and was shown at the Première Brasil: Novos Rumos Longa. The debate session at the festival was mediated by critic and journalist Luiz Carlos Merten.

Movie Theatres
In Brazil, ts commercial launch took place on November 17, 2022 at Cine Belas Artes, in São Paulo It remained on display until mid-January 2023, when it entered the SPCine Circuit, having a relatively long journey in cinemas for a national feature film.

Streaming / VOD
In January 2023 Diário de Viagem began to be watched on streaming platforms nationwide such as ClaroTV+, VivoPlay e no Belas Artes A La Carte.

Broadcast
On March 29th 2023, the film was shown by Canal Brasil at Mostra Cine Delas, which during the month of March showed eight feature films directed by female filmmakers in honor of the celebrations of International Women's Day.

Critics Response
The film divided specialized critics.

Negative Review
Writing for Folha de S.Paulo, critic Inácio Araújo said that the film is "incorruptible", however boring when portraying the theme of anorexia. For him, Diário de Viagem can be confusing for the viewer in relation to its context. At first glance, it appears to be a film about adolescence and the transition from childhood to youth, with all the difficulties that this entails. In the case of Liz, the protagonist, it all starts with an international trip, in which she seeks to express her feelings and experiences through writing. Araújo also cites the construction of the characters of Liz's parents, played by Virgínia Cavendish and Eucir de Souza, who have no identity or depth of history, defining them as "null" and "alienated" characters, existing only for the film.

Marcelo Müller, critic for the Papo de Cinema website, also highlighted the lack of construction of the secondary characters, as well as the difficulty in the connection between the protagonist and the supporting characters. For Müller, the film presents not only conceptual problems, but also flaws in execution that weaken the important warning message it carries. Paula seems not to be interested in the individuality of the supporting characters, which results in shots that almost always follow the same scheme: Liz at the center of attention and the other characters acting as extras in an artificial landscape. This creates the feeling that the people around Liz are just actors following appointments, and the director does not inject liveliness into the frames, which exposes the cast to the notion of artificiality. These weaknesses make it difficult to connect emotionally with the protagonist and compromise the fictional dimension of the narrative, damaging the drama's density. Despite addressing an important topic, Paula ends up prioritizing the denunciation and warning to the detriment of the development of the characters and the spontaneity of the plot.

Positive Review
Critic Celso Sabadin wrote for the Planeta Tela website that the work, with a linear and classic narrative, is a true warning film to be seen and debated by parents, teenagers and educators. He begins his text by mentioning that many years ago, when he saw a film on television about the singer Karen Carpenter, who died prematurely at the age of 33, a victim of anorexia, he had a strange feeling the next day: it seemed that everyone he knew had seen the film. And he reflects that he would like the same to happen with Diário de Viagem when it debuts in theaters.

Following the same line, Alex Gonçalves, from the website Cine Resenhas, gave the film four (out of five) stars. According to Alex, you don't have to be an adult to understand the demands of presenting yourself and behaving in a certain way to the world, as well as the need to nurture good relationships with everyone around you, especially those who have a certain popularity. For Gonçalves, in Diário de Viagem we have a notorious case in which having an artist behind the camera who went through the same dramas as her fictional protagonist proves essential for a careful and unfiltered result of a difficult theme to stage. Paula Kim creates a drama in which there are no easy solutions, much less corny ones, for Liz's martyrdom, exemplarily understanding a generation that was not yet contaminated by the electronic devices and virtual and instantaneous interactions of our contemporary times. Alex adds that the director and author provides a broad and safe space for Manoela Aliperti to shine. Best known for the television shows Malhação: Viva a Diferença and As Five, the actress from São Paulo goes through Liz's phases, meeting the physical demands of the role and defending a difficult personality that counts on our complicity without at any point calling for it.

From a female critical perspective, author and writer Graciela Paciência writes on the Cinema De Buteco website that filmmaker Paula Kim's first feature film explores, under a direction filled with great sensitivity, the anxieties of those who suffer from eating disorders and how this it can affect all areas of a person's life. Liz's transformation, throughout the film, gives us the perception of how food deprivation can change someone in every detail and reflect on all their relationships. Liz does not have a feeling of belonging in the social circles she frequents, she does not see herself as part of a group, her self-esteem increasingly drops. It's as if the effort to stop eating was the answer to all her questions about herself. Graciela writes that we feel sorry for such a young person carrying such a heavy burden on her shoulders, when her worries should be nothing more than the effort to get good grades in school and, perhaps, some flirting. In Paciência's view, the parents understandably try to intervene for their daughter's recovery, but, just as happens when someone needs to stop using drugs, the decision to stop has to come from the victim themselves. For the critic, Paula Kim demonstrates a certain distance from the narrative without losing familiarity and respect, skills necessary to approach such a sensitive topic. Virginia Cavendish shines in the role of the teenager's mother and conveys the feeling of uncertainty and questions about what she may have done wrong. In turn, Eucir de Souza plays the role of the teenager's father, someone she sees as a respectable and respectful man, despite their relationship being quite rocky since before the teenager's trip. But it is Manoela Aliperti who is the star of the film and who shows a lot of talent in a role that is difficult to show on screen. Liz's decline is frightening, moving and admirable and the actress has everything to become increasingly prominent in Brazilian audiovisual. Graciela also mentions that national cinema with a youth approach still suffers from prejudice on the part of the public and with little publicity, but Diário de Viagem deserves the attention of young people who like and consume films and/or series, regardless of age group. Califórnia, by Marina Person, The Best Things in the World, by Laís Bodanzky, and Antes que o Mundo Acabe (Ana Luíza Azevedo) are suggestions for titles that, like Diário de Viagem, portray teenagers having to go through a maturation process before the moment that is normally expected.

On the website specializing in the seventh art CinePop, journalist Raphael Camacho highlights Manoela Aliperti's brilliant performance in the title of the review. He also cites the work The Picture of Dorian Gray, mentioned in the opening minutes, saying that it is a kind of opening for us to walk through a story about the mind and the parallels with the body in a corridor of fear and affliction, having the the search for perfection (in this case: not gaining weight) as something constant, intense and often inconsequential. For Camacho, the variables that surround the protagonist end up finding their space in the narrative in a forceful way. The biggest example is her parents, who realize that something is wrong but take a long time to act, most of the time not knowing how to deal with that situation, heading towards an imminent conflict. Furthermore, the whole situation shakes the family, leading the mother to despair and the father to moments of explosion and lack of control (alcoholism is even present). With Liz physically and psychologically shaken, her exhausting routine puts her in moments of more sadness at school, where bullying appears. For Camacho, this profound drama bubbles through the wrenching emotions of a young woman with a life-paralyzing eating disorder. According to him, the objective of raising awareness of anorexia nervosa has been achieved, leaving the public in a line of reflection on the subject.

Response from professionals
Diário de Viagem had a positive impact in Brazil among medical professionals specializing in the treatment eating disorders.

Professor, psychiatrist, coordinator and creator of AMBULIM - The Eating Disorder Program of the Institute of Psychiatry of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, doctor Táki Athanássios Cordas invited the filmmaker to a live stream entitled "Watch the movie "Diário de Viagem": What for?" on its official Instagram profile on November 8, 2022, generating attention for the film from doctors, psychologists, therapists, nutritionists and caregivers specializing in the treatment of eating disorders.

Author of the best seller O Peso das Dietas, a nutritionist, researcher in eating behavior, influencer and speaker Sophie Deram also invited the director to a live in her official profile on November 10, 2022 to talk about the film.