HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS! My newest documentary "AQUI VALE TUDO" (Official trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbksJFw9JGU&feature=youtu.be), about MMA fighters in Brazilian state Paraiba, today earned an awesome sequence about Jean Silva, former Cage Rage champion, as he returned to the shantytown where he grew up in the José Pinheiro neighborhood of C. Grande (PB). I've shot uninterruptedly while old friends, ladies, workers, and also drunkards and stoned people came by to shake Jean's hand. The whole walking sequence resulted in a very natural meeting between old friends, as "things mostly remained exactly the same", as Jean Silva repeated a few times.
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| JEAN SILVA (FORMER CAGE RAGE MMA WORLD CHAMPION) & RICCARDO MIGLIORE (DIRECTOR) |
"AQUI VALE TUDO" is a collective portrait documentary of MMA fighters that consciously or not, belong to a fighting tradition that leads to Master IVAN GOMES, a big name in former "Vale Tudo" bare hands wrestling, who won more than 300 times during his impressive career. Master Ivan Gomes was born in Campina Grande, and after he died, between the pupils he left to take care of the fighting tradition in the city of Campina, there are professors like Mr. Fialho, who was Jean Silva's first Judo professor and former Olimpic Judo champion Edinancy' s trainer. Jean Silva, actually is retired as a professional fighter (he still organizes and fight in the "Gladiator", an international event held every year in João Pessoa, but he said to me that he fights just for fun, because his main occupation today is dealing with buildings).
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| Toninho Fúria (BTT), Riccardo Migliore (filmmaker) e Kell Santos (Chute fight/Instigação) |
"AQUI VALE TUDO" shows the fighters' daily struggle, training, fights, neighborhoods, people, places, that in one way or another are related to MMA in Campina Grande, actually the land of great fighters like Ivan Gomes, Jean Silva, but also Antonio Big Foot Silva (who defeated Fedor Emelianenko almost one year ago), and newcoming talents, mainly Jean Silva's pupils like Toninho Furia (BTT, Rio de Janeiro), Kell Santos (Instigação/Chute Fight), Rodrigo Mumbuca (Instigação), between others.
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| RIGHT TO LEFT: RICCARDO MIGLIORE, KELL SANTOS, "DIGÃO" AND ANOTHER GUY |
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| RIGHT TO LEFT: RODRIGO BOMBA, KELL SANTOS (OTHER GUYS) AT THE EXTREME LEFT RODRIGO MUMBUCA |
Other champions from Campina Grande are Edson Paredão (A 42 year old big man, who's just ready for a new international professional fighting experience in the US), Valderi Silva (European MMA/Muay Thai champion), Evilazio Puma (European MMA/Muay Thai champion), João Paulo Santos (moved to Portugal, where he will also fight and teach about MMA).
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| EDSON "PAREDÃO" (BIG WALL), INTERNATIONAL MMA FIGHTER |
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| RICCARDO MIGLIORE AND EDSON PAREDÃO |
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| PROFESSOR TARGINO (JIU JITSU/MUAY THAI BLACK BELT) AND RICCARDO MIGLIORE |
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| VALDERI SILVA (EUROPEAN MMA/MUAY THAI CHAMPION) AND RICCARDO MIGLIORE |
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| VALDERI SILVA (MMA/MUAY THAI PROFESSOR |
While many more are struggling against the lack of local opportunities and sponsorship, and are fighting in regional events for a ridiculous wage of 80 US $, just to make experience and being recognized as professional fighters, willing to follow Jean Silva's example and career. Between them, there are talented fighters like Rogério Souza, Rodrigo Silva, Rodrigo mãozinha and the young champion Stênio Barboza (Chute fight/instigação), Isac Almeida and Fabio Sapo (Professor Targino' s Nova Geração team), and many athletes from other fighting teams like Sport Boxe (Valderi Silva's team) and Professor Eli Vanderley's Gracie Barra equipe, and please note that Mr Eli was Antonio Big Foot' s professor until Zar Fedor' s punisher went to the US.
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| FROM RIGHT TO LEFT: CEARÁ, ROGÉRIO SOUZA, RODRIGO MUMBUCA, DIGÃO, AND RICCARDO MIGLIORE (WITH THE CAMERA) |
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| RICCARDO MIGLIORE (WITH THE CAMERA), RODRIGO BOMBA, DIGÃO, MUMBUCA, ROGÉRIO AND CEARÁ |
As well as MMA, documentary production is not really considered around here, so i take a chance to ask for a foreign sponsorship/co-production, considering that: 1. We already have 22 hours of (good) footage, including fights, events, training, fighters daily life etc.
2. This doc has got all the "flavors" required by a tasty audiovisual dish (i'm not here to show off, for i'm perfectly aware the quality level of my production has to improve...just i'm willing to sell my receipt!)
3. Due to UFC and stuff, today MMA is the world's most "growing" sport, and in Brazil it only loses for soccer.
4. I've already signed two distribution contracts with an international distribution company based in São Paulo (Brazil), and they are also interested in this documentary.
I'd be very pleased to receive a sponsorship specially because i want a good professional to edit the high amount of footage that we already have and that will definitely increase until we'll finish the production phase. (Unfortunately) I'm used to do almost everything by myself, but at this time i'd love to count on, at least, a good editor to help me shaping this documentary (actually an observational, mostly imagetic non-fictional film, "flavored" with interesting life experience revelations told by each fighter).
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| DIRECTOR'S PRIVILEGE |
I also take a chance to say that if anyone out there wants to make a big deal, further than co-produce this documentary, he/she could make an investment by betting on these young talented fighters from Paraíba. Jean Silva, Antonio Big Foot, Edson Paredão, Valderi Silva and others already demonstrated they can do great things abroad, so why not investing in young fighters coming from the same social environment?
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| BTT (BRAZILIAN TOP TEAM, RIO DE JANEIRO), in the middle, KELL SANTOS AND HIS BROTHER TONINHO FÚRIA |
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| KELL SANTOS FIGHTING IN RIO DE JANEIRO |
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| KELL SANTOS WINNING A FIGHT |
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| KELL SANTOS FIGHTING IN RIO DE JANEIRO |
These guys are just waiting for their dreams to become true and one more thing: all of them are training three times a day, Monday to Saturday (some of them, like Stênio, are training on Sunday too), exactly like "real" UFC champions, except for the fact that, in Paraiba, they are not earning enough to do that, or better say: they don't earn anything at all. Imagine allowing them to do it professionally (actually they already are professional MMA fighters), that is, being properly paid to do what they're already doing for free? Well, i'm quite sure that it would be a great deal for any agent who works in the fighting business.
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| ELIEBE (MUAY THAI PROFESSOR) AND RODRIGO MUMBUCA (MMA FIGHTER) |
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| RODRIGO MUMBUCA (TRAINING) |
Back to my documentary, I really hope that a clever producer will provide me some bases in order to post-produce in the proper way. In case it won't happen, it won't be the first time, that is, i've got nothing to lose, as (unfortunately) i'm used to do EVERYTHING on my own, investing the few money that i have, and being taken for an "amateur" (after 15 years since my first course in a Milan based film school), just because of the lack of opportunities and sponsorship, while real amateurs actually pretend to be professionals, just because of the production structure they can count on, due to political or whatever...influence. Concluding, i can say that, producing on my own and mostly with no budget at all, thanks God, i've achieved official selections in important film festivals, as you can verify in my bio-filmography below. How things could improve in case someone would just give an helping (production) hand. I'm definitely willing to reach the quality level of my referencies, great documentary makers like Kristzof Kopczinsky, Fred Wiseman and Christian Frei, just to mention a few of them.
More info, please check other "Aqui vale tudo" pages on this real blog, and please take a look of my bio-filmography below.
Riccardo Migliore, Director
Born in Milan, Italy, lives in Brazil since 2004 with a permanent Visa. Independent documentary videomaker, since March 2010 is working as a consultant for the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, Secretary of Audiovisuals. Directed more than twenty between documentaries and fiction short films, many of them selected in either national or international film festivals like, between others: It's all true/International Documentary Film festival/State of Things (2011); Cineport – International Portuguese Speaking Countries Film festival (2007, 2011), In-Edit Brasil/International Music Documentary Film festival (2011), 6ª Rassegna Brasil Cinema Contemporaneo (Milan, Italy 2011), Zanzibar International Film Festival (2007), Cinesul – Latin America Film Festival(2011), Mostra Internacional do filme etnográfico/International Ethnographic Film Festival (2009), Cine Documenta (2010, 2011), Festival Prêmio Roberto Rossellini/Roberto Rossellini Award Festival (Italy, 2004), 6ª Mostra de Cinema e Direitos Humanos na América Latina/6th Latin America Human Rights Film festival (2011); already selected for the 2nd International Uranium Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro, June 2012). In Milan he studied Arts (Highschool at Liceo Artístico I) and Filmmaking (Scuola del Cinema, TV e Nuovi Media – Fondazione Scuole Civiche di Milano, 1997-98 and 2001-2003), and worked for a few production companies like Mercurio Cinematografica. Participated of workshops with international professionals of the film Industry, like Gianfilippo Pedote, Gianni Squitieri, Bruno d’Annunzio, Renzo Rossellini, Mohammed Kalari, Yesim Ustaoglu, Marcélia Cartaxo, Ralf Tambke between others; And also coordinated workshops such as introduction to photography, introduction to filmmaking and introduction to non-fictional films (UFCG, 2008-2009). Actually he' s also concluding a graduation course in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG, Brazil), researching Ethnographic films and visual anthropology.
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