Fernanda Montenegro begins filming “The First Mass” by Ana Carolina

In a few weeks, Fernanda Montenegro will begin filming a new movie, "The First Mass," a project that filmmaker Ana Carolina has cherished for several years and has now finally secured funding for, at least to begin filming. "I'm going to play a Minister of Culture," the actress tells the reporter with a mischievous smile. "But I haven't started preparing for the role yet, so I don't know what kind of character she'll have."

With that, she gently addresses the obvious issue: Ana de Hollanda's performance at the head of the ministry. "She has the confidence of President Dilma Rousseff, but the entire ministry has been on strike for a long time. Why doesn't she shoot? Because she has no gunpowder. The entire cultural complex of the country is paralyzed. A consensus needs to be reached," she states.

The impasse will curiously be repeated in Ana Carolina's film, in which the minister, played by Fernanda, will have to decide whether to finance the production of a feature film depicting the first mass held on Brazilian soil, on April 26, 1500. "Ana is a talented filmmaker and, in the plot, the Portuguese doubt about whether they are right to bet on a new land and not on the Indies arises at the same time that the team questions whether they will have the money to finish that film."

Questions about power, exercised by men and women, are in a way related to the reason for the reporter's meeting with the grande dame of national arts: she is re-staging, on Saturday, at the Raul Cortez Theater, the monologue "Living Without Dead Time," which had a short but intense season in São Paulo in 2009. For approximately one hour, Fernanda presents a compilation of the thought of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), the French philosopher who became an icon of feminism and partner of another celebrated thinker, Jean-Paul Sartre.

To ensure the power of the ideas directly resonates with the audience, director Felipe Hirsch opted for a clean staging, with austere sets and costumes, restrained lighting, and a soundtrack used only to punctuate the scene – all in service of the spoken word, allowing the thought to stand out. "Simone said she didn't want women to seize power from men, but rather to destroy the idea of ​​domination," comments the actress, who refused to be a minister under two presidents, José Sarney and Itamar Franco. (Information from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.)

Living Without Dead Time - Raul Cortez Theater (R. Dr. Plínio Barreto 285). Tel. (011) 3254-1700. Fri., 9:30 pm, Sat., 9 pm, Sun., 6 pm. R$ 80/ R$ 100. Until 11/27