On September 1st, the film Down Quixote will premiere in the state of São Paulo. It is a rereading of Don Quixote, the book written by Spaniard Miguel de Cervantes. The feature fi lm’s cast is made up of people with Down Syndrome, a genetic condition that makes the cells of these people are di_ erent from those of people who do not have Down’s syndrome.

The actors and actresses in the fi lm are part of the Adid Theater Group, which was created in 1998 as one of the courses offered by the Association for the Integral Development of Down (Adid). The idea for the production came after the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the country, which prevented the group from continuing to rehearse the play they would present that year (which would be Don Quixote). So, the class teacher Leonardo Cortez (director and screenwriter of the fi lm), chose to turn the theater play into audiovisual material and rehearse the fi lm through online video meetings.

The story takes place in Tiradentes, a city in Minas Gerais, and shows the reality of the theater group, which had to stop rehearsing Dom Quixote because of Covid-19. The scenes mix the life of the protagonist, Diogo, during social isolation, with the fanciful adventures of a knight errant, the character Dom Quixote.

To learn more about what it was like to be part of the cast, our junior reporter, Theo E., age 10, spoke with Daniel Gejer, the 46-year-old actor who played Segismundo and himself in the fi lm. Check out the chat below.

Did you prepare to be an actor? In what way?

Yes a lot. I’ve been in the theater since 1998.

Oh cool. Do you want to continue acting?

I do, yes.

And what are you going to do after this movie?

I’m doing Down Quixote at the end of the year.

Did you enjoy working on this film? What was your favorite scene to do? How was it?

I really enjoyed it. The scene I liked the most was with Diogo talking on the phone. I talk to him on the phone, right? He is in Tiradentes and I am in São Paulo. Then he calls his girlfriend, but she doesn’t answer. He answers his cell phone which is me. Then we talk about how he is, how I am, and if everything is okay.

How did the director bring the actors together during the pandemic?

Because from what I saw, the actors were spread across the country. We did it online, through the videoconferencing platform Zoom.

Wow how interesting! And the actors who were in the film already knew each other? Did you know anyone in the group?

Yes, because we are from the same theater group, right? So we already knew each other.

Would it change anything for you and the other actors if the director also had Down syndrome?

No. For me, it’s all the same. For us, it’s normal.

What values does the film want to convey?

That we can follow our own dream. We communicate [the message about] how capable we are and how we show ourselves online (on Zoom) and in person.

Do you want to say something more?

Watch the movie, because it’s an important movie. Now [when the interview was done] we are at a festival in Rio de Janeiro, the Rio Film Festival.

FESTIVAL DO RIO

This festival was founded in 1999 when two other national cinema events that existed since 1980 merged — Mostra Banco Nacional and Rio Cine Festival. It encourages appreciation for cinema, bringing new films as well as classics from national and international production, in addition to special sessions with comments from great names in the field. This year’s 24th edition took place between October 6th and 16th. Access the QR Code and read more about the film Down Quixote on the Festival do Rio page.

Questions

1) Which characters does Daniel Gejer play?

a) Diego and Daniel

b) Diogo and Segismundo

c) Daniel and Don Quixote

d) Daniel and Sigismundo
2) What did you think about the idea of the movie,  during the pandemic?

Sources: Agência Brasil, Festival do Rio, Sesi and Terra

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