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Comunidade Film
Oficinas Querô - Brazil

Young people in the slums of Santos have a shot at a better future thanks to filmmaker Carlos Cortez and his Oficinas Querô film academy.

Oficinas Querô has its roots in a filmmaker's search for young actors among the slum-dwellers of Santos. Carlos Cortez was struck by the positive effect that the production experience had on his young cast. Carlos resolved to make this life-changing experience available to more young people. He teamed up with UNICEF to create a formal education programme for 40 students at a time.

Over the course of a year, the students are expected to write, finance and produce three short feature films. The experience immerses them in the techniques of filmmaking, with top professionals from the Brazilian film industry available for help and advice. The films are publicly screened at the end of the course.

Several students have gone on to forge professional careers in Brazil's TV and film industries. But the aim of the course is designed not so much to find the next Walter Salles as to use the power of cinema to put young people on the right course. As Carlos explains, "The students are learning not only to deal with the tools for audio and visual production, but also teamwork and reflecting on their realities. They are preparing themselves to achieve things."

What are they doing now

In 2005 Brazilian filmmakers Debora Ivanov, Fabiano Gullane and Carlos Cortez made a film called Quero about the hardship of a young boy abandoned on the streets of Santos. The following year, Cortez teamed up with UNICEF to create Oficinas Quero, a film school for disadvantaged teenagers. The school now benefits 40 young people every year through its intensive 11-month training programme.

“When we received news of being named a finalist in the World Challenge, we couldn't believe it!” says Cortez. “There are so many great programmes out there around the world and we felt honoured to have been named a finalist – and to top that, the only programme from Brazil.”

The local press in Santos covered the BBC World News crew’s visit with enthusiasm. The shoot also provided an opportunity for some young graduates of the Quero course to make a short film about the BBC visit. This film is now used in presentations with donors and in fundraising.

“Being a World Challenge finalist has brought more legitimacy to the programme in Brazil,” says Cortez. “We could write pages and pages about how being a participant in the World Challenge was important to us. We thank the organizers and sponsors not only for having selected us, but simply for providing the competition as it is a gleam of hope in rather dark days that there are ingenious human beings out there making a difference.”

For more info call http://www.oficinasquero.com.br/