Shot in Super 8mm in multiple countries between 2010 and 2018, Sobre Tudo Sobre Nada (Anything and All) presents a delicate and moving essay film that reflects on love, solitude and the transformations of daily life to recall Portuguese filmmaker Dídio Pestana’s memories and to tell his own story.
We interviewed the filmmaker about his feature debut, shooting on Super 8, creating fiction from reality, and capturing the passage of time, ahead of the film's world premiere as part of the Signs of Life competition at the 71st Locarno Festival.
NOTEBOOK: Why did you start shooting in the first place and when did you realize you were shooting for a film?
DÍDIO PESTANA: The first time I shot was when I visited my girlfriend in Copenhagen. I already took the camera with the idea of making a film. I didn’t know what would become of this film, but I knew already that I wanted to shoot in Super 8mm and that I wanted to shoot something that was personal and intimate. From the first moment I took the camera to film, I had already decided to start collecting material for this film. I didn’t know when it would stop and how long it would take. Also, how things would become because, as you see in the film, it is autobiographical in a lot of aspects so that means that I also had to wait for certain moments to spring.
NOTEBOOK: This movement of shooting, how often it was? From one shooting phase to the other, how much did the footage you previously shot and watched influence the next filming?
PESTANA: Since I started shooting, I basically carried the camera and some film rolls with me all the time. Shooting in Super 8mm in Berlin was the perfect place to do it, the right city for many reasons, but specially because it was so easy to access everything in Berlin. The good thing about shooting in Super 8mm is the fact that even if you have the camera you have to choose the specific moments and what exactly to shoot. Before, I did some film experiments in digital that I never released. I was having come issues with the material because I was collecting too much footage and I didn’t know what to keep. The material makes a lot of sense for this film, as the way of seeing through this camera was essential for me.
NOTEBOOK: How did you select what to shoot or not and how did the narrative structure came about?
PESTANA: It was more a process of following some instincts. I knew more or less the kind of spirit I wanted. After a while I realized the film needed to be shot through time. I couldn’t have it done in less time. For me, was important to have a collection of situations. There is something that I knew that I wanted to use more often, which is the images of Guincho Beach. It’s a place by the ocean near Lisbon, with all these waves. This is a place that I come often just to shoot, to take images. I knew this was something that I wanted to use in the film, the presence of the ocean. At the same time, because it is also something that I lack here in Berlin somehow, it is like a compensation. I realized later that I was collecting images related to topics and ideas. Also, when I was watching the film at home with a projector I realized what I still needed, elements of this or that, but then it was a process of collecting and being aware. I knew I wanted to have shots from which someone could feel the passage of time. This was something important to me. Something that I learned working as a sound engineer is the fact that images have their own time to breathe. When you use a Super 8mm camera and you press the button to shoot you have the feeling that you are shooting a lot but just because of the noise. In the end, you have really to breath and count the time to have the necessary footage and the possibility to edit later.
NOTEBOOK: Once you have collected all the footage, what was the editing process like for you?
PESTANA: The editing process was long, but it was even longer in my head, I think. I remember a few years ago when I did the first edit with Rui [Ribeiro], who is a good friend and a very good editor. Basically, we edited the first 20 minutes of the film. Of course, it is different now but this initial impulse we did it together a few years ago. We were applying for some funding that we ended up not getting but it was important for the process. For me, after that deadline the process was to find new deadlines. For me, if you don’t have a deadline there is always something else to work on like other jobs or things to do. So the deadline is good to force yourself to make choices and to take decisions. The first image selection I did had 8 hours of footage. This selection was still something very close to the raw material. Sometimes you get too attached and it is necessary to have distance to be able to precise what to include or not in the film. In between, during the last three years, I did a masters here in Berlin. I needed to learn new things. Also, I decided to do some little projects with this material and working with the sound and experimenting a few things, helped to kept me busy working and thinking about the film. Then, last year, I pushed myself to have a proper version of the film by March. After that, Rui and I have been working together to come up with a final version.
NOTEBOOK: Was voice over always part of your plan?
PESTANA: It was a hard process. Not just the voice but also the text. I knew the film would have a voice. I didn’t know how exactly or the quantity. I mean, you have to figure out with the rhythm and what the story also needs. It was a process of writing and then recording. I did a lot of easy recordings directly on final cut just to experiment and to see if it was working or not. Also, if I had too much or too little text. Or, if the words were in the right position. Or, what would be the effect of having a voice before or after certain point. I remember that in the first version I had very little voice and I knew that I needed more voice. Then, when I edited the second version I realized that I could just watch and go through the images without all that voice. The film became more introspective. I am not a big fan when the voice is always telling something. It must have a purpose and if doesn’t or if it is not needed because the images carry the narrative anyway, so you don’t need it.
NOTEBOOK: As a composer and sound engineer, how did you approach creating the sound design of the film?
PESTANA: The whole process of the sound design was related with my initial idea to have all these textures and times. I had sounds that were coming from vinyl and sounds that I recorded. Then, I had other layers like more abstract pieces of music. I composed new things. I used archival things. I used a lot of material that I did for myself or I did for other projects but never used. But all the music was produced. I never recorded sound while shooting.
NOTEBOOK: What was it like shaping a story and characters out of reality?
PESTANA: As you can imagine, this is a funny project because it is so close to you and at the same time, after a while, you are thinking about the film and you are seeing these people also as characters. I tried to always be true to the people and to their stories but at the same time, to also protect them and to protect myself because it shows and exposes a lot. But I didn’t want to overexpose. It is more like showing different sides of these people, who are people that you like or have issues with but always protecting them. All my friends, girlfriends and family. Something that I learned with Gonçalo [Tocha] is to always take care of the people you film—and specially in my case, having stronger bonds because all these people are part of my life. If they have allowed me to shoot and to do a film with them, so I have to be very careful with them.
NOTEBOOK: It is interesting that you say all this because the film for me is something between a film diary and a film exorcism…
PESTANA: When you work in a very autobiographical film like this, there is a kind of therapy involved. You take the time to reflect about your past and about the things that happened in your life, which is not an easy thing to do. I shot over 8 years, but this is only a small part of my life. It is at the same time, a small and a big part. There are so many things that happened that are not included in one hour and a half of film. When you create a narrative around your past, you have to reflect. It helps you to understand a bit better. In my initial impulse, there is a little bit of that—or a lot, maybe. To try to understand things with the camera, but it is not just that but also the will to make a film with that. To make a film is what I wanted since the beginning.
NOTEBOOK: Did you have any film references that inspired you?
PESTANA: There are a lot of auteurs that I appreciate who work in this kind of personal or essayistic way, like Jonas Mekas or Chris Marker. The first time I thought about the idea of a personal documentary was many years ago during a retrospective of Ross McElwee at Doclisboa. I remember watching Sherman’s March [1986] and realizing that was a different thing. That was the first time I watched something that was so personal, so this was very inspiring. Many of the filmmakers I work with, as well—these are my references.
NOTEBOOK: Something that I think is very beautiful in your film is the feeling of constant transition. To go through life. To meet different people. To have different relationships. To be constantly traveling from one place to the other. Did this state of movement work as a trigger for you to shoot?
PESTANA: There was a lot of things that I shot that were part of the daily life. I was always with my camera. But, nowadays, traveling back and forth—in my generation—is very easy because the distances are smaller and I work in different countries. I live in Germany, but I go often to Portugal to visit my family and friends, also because I have a band there. You end up being in this constant limbo, a few days before or few days after arriving in a new place—which is nice, in my opinion. I also wanted to show this feeling in the film. Time passes and goes. Things change but you are still there, wherever the place is.