Melbourne filmmaker Dan Jackson offers an unflinching and fascinating insight into life inside Brazil’s largest slum, Rochina, in his documentary In the Shadow of the Hill. The feature is Dan’s first foray into producing, directing, editing and cinematography and the intrigue of Brazil’s favelas drew him in to the community.
“I found it incomprehensible that large swathes of Rio de Janeiro largely operated under different laws and that they could exist in such close proximity to some of the country’s most affluent neighbourhoods. This was the catalyst for going to live inside one, but the true inspiration is the people of Rocinha.”
The humility and the resilience of the Rocinha locals inspired Dan to record the stories he saw there. In the Shadow of the Hill was made over four years, which involved six separate trips to Rocinha for Dan where he lived inside the community for cumulatively over a year.
The central narrative thread of In the Shadow of the Hill is based on the disappearance of local bricklayer Amarildo de Souza. Amarildo was last seen being taken by the police for questioning, and his family believes that he has been tortured and murdered by the police.
“Amarildo’s story didn't unfold until my third trip to the community. So what I thought would be a short, impressionistic film eventually evolved to a feature length narrative driven documentary.”
It took Dan some time to get to know the residents and build the trust not only of the residents but of the drug traffickers who were still controlling large swathes of the favela.
“The residents were understandably very sceptical of an outsider with a camera, and I realised I needed to do more than just live in the community, but really become part of it before people began to open up.”
The experience has been lifechanging for Dan.
“I learned many things about myself, and the resilience of humanity in general. I learned to appreciate the quality of perseverance to a greater extent, and developed a huge admiration for the disenfranchised, specifically the residents of Rocinha, and the dignity, courage and strength with which they approach their struggle.”
Dan also learned quickly about the challenges of filmmaking.
“I had zero luck attracting finance, and had personally paid for the entire production with a small amount of savings and a lot of good will from industry veterans like Steven Robinson, Mark Street, Doron Kipen and Soundfirm.”
“The final hurdle which I could not manage on my own was clearing certain archival rights. The film had been accepted into Hot Docs and I couldn't afford to legally screen it due to archival costs, so Film Victoria was absolutely crucial in ensuring that the film could have its festival run, and I'll be forever grateful for their support.”
Following its Official Selection at Hot Docs this year, In the Shadow of the Hill has now been nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 2016 AACTA Awards.
Stay tuned for Melbourne screening details.
