Os Invisíveis (The Invisibles)
By Miguel Vellinho
Os Invisíveis (The Invisibles) was inspired by oral and written accounts of survivors of the 2011 catastrophe in the Serrana Region of Rio de Janeiro, including facts and memories from the biography of the actors themselves, resulting in a self-fiction text, focusing on the Documental Objects Theater (Teatro de Objetos Documentais). Directed by Miguel Vellinho, this work was produced, rehearsed and envisaged in a virtual way through internet meetings and filmed in the city of Nova Friburgo with the five members of Companhia Arteira. The environment of destruction affects the physical, emotional and psychic spheres of the residents of Nova Friburgo. Brief reports and images reveal the state of isolation. Mud-covered inner ruins; eyes fixed into memories, objects and their stories. The five characters in this fictional documentary are created from real testimonies, collected by the actors among residents of Nova Friburgo: witnesses, survivors and victims of the tragedy of 2011. These testimonies, at many points meet, mix and conflate with stories and memories of the actors themselves – creators, who, being also residents of Nova Friburgo, experienced this catastrophe in various ways. Each of them reports elements and experiences of the same event, narrating their experiences, feelings and memories, from different perspectives. There are several qualities and contradictory images that come from television reports of 2011, images of details of this ruined construction that will serve as the main location for the work, aerial images especially captured by a drone offers views of the city at rarely seen angles, details of objects rescued in the tragedy and gently given to the project, and finally, images of the entire cast with their bodies completely covered in clay and a fictional situation that ties all the stories. All this blends together with the testimonies of the tragedy. With sound interventions specially created by musician and conductor Maurício Durão and directed by Miguel Vellinho, The Invisibles ( Os Invisíveis) dialogues both with the recent past and the present, and, in this sense, its urgency is more than welcomed in a moment that asks for knowledge, ability to review and plan for a possible future for all of us.
About the Artist
Miguel Vellinho is a Doctor at the Program of Postgraduation in Scenic Arts (PPGAC) from the University of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). Vellinho is a professor at the Theater Teaching course of UNIRIO, where he teaches Theater for Childhood and Youth (TIJ) and Animation Theater (TFA). He’s been working with Puppet Theater for more than 30 years, inicially with the company Grupo Sobrevento and then as the artistic director of the group Cia PeQuod – Teatro de Animação. Since the 1990’s, Vellinho takes part in roundtables and gives lectures and workshops throughout Brazil. He has several articles published in and outside Brazil about numerous aspects of Animation Theater. Vellinho is a member of the editorial board of Móin-Móin magazine, published by the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC) and co-publisher of Revista Mamulengo. As PeQuod's leader, Vellinho created more than 15 performances, all of which praised by the specialized critics and honored with the most important theater awards of Brazil. Vellinho is also curator of MITA – Mostra Internacional de Teatro de Animação, an international exibition of Animation Theater produced by PeQuod.