André Marouço (photo) is a journalist, radio broadcaster and film-maker with a degree in Marketing at Universidade Paulista. He was born and brought up in São Paulo, where he has worked for more than 20 years in several television stations. André Marouço, a Spiritist, is the director of a film to be released on October 7th

Is there a campaign for Spiritists to get together and go in large groups to the cinema when the new film opens? 

We are not worried about that, as we expect it to happen naturally. We understand many Spiritist Centres will organize group viewings, and we hope that starts from the very beginning, from the first weekend, which is seen as the measure of success for any new film. The Spiritual Benefactors have been with us in all stages of the film, and we are certain that they will continue to help, by inspiring the Spiritist Movement. I just hope that we, Spiritists, can something back, as we have received so much through The Spirits’ Book and all the works of Allan Kardec. 

Who are the actors and the technical team? 

The technical team is made up of young professionals from the Mundo Maior Cinema Project – a Spiritist media initiative in Brazil. They were joined by more experienced professionals from the Mundo Maior TV Network and other people from the cinema industry. But there were very few Spiritists in the film set. I would say the Spiritists were only 3 or 4 out of about 30 people working. In the cast, we have some very well known Brazilian actors, such as Nelson Xavier, Luciana Gimenez, Etty Fraser, Reinaldo Rodrigues and Sandra Corveloni, the only Brazilian actress ever to get an award in the Cannes Film Festival. Luciana Gimenez (a well-known television actress in Brazil) plays the role of a simple villager in her 60s. She didn’t charge anything for work, and yet was extremely dedicated. To transform her into a worn out woman in her sixties, she had to patiently wait for hours as the make-up artists worked. The main character, played by Rodrigues, is a psychiatrist. Among the other characters are a housewife who works on a meals-on-wheels programme, an ex-convict who now works as a waiter and a woman who is about to return to the Spiritual World. 

What are the expectations in the Spiritist Movement and what have been the reactions to the initiative so far? 

We are very happy with the support we’re getting. Many regional organizations in Brazil have contacted us to stress that they are publicizing the film and will work for it to become a success. As for me, I have public talks booked for São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to publicize and talk about the film. There is huge demand for those talks. We are available for more information and any questions on magali.bischoff@mundo maiorfilmes.com.br or on phone number + 55 11 22830360. 

Did you feel the presence and support of the Spiritual World during filming? 

There were many times when I did, but one particular incident had a bigger impact on me. We’d been deeply involved in filming for a couple of weeks, beginning to face the usual challenges, with everyone prickly and tired. The atmosphere in the film set was very tense, I was on the edge and I asked myself: “How did I get involved in THIS?” I just felt like leaving it all behind, running away from the set. In that particular day we were filming at Casas André Luiz, in the beautiful tree alleys where they look after our brothers and sisters with mental and physical disabilities. My head was in turmoil when I felt someone embracing me from behind. It was one of the inpatients. She came round, stood in front of me and embraced me again, a very warm hug. I caressed that little angel’s head, and she soon let it go and ran away. It felt like she had given me healing. I didn’t even see her face. I then found my feet, my balance, I breathed deeply and went back to work with renewed enthusiasm, thanking the Lord for the opportunity. 

Do you have any box office targets? 

It will really depend on the Spiritist Movement in Brazil, which will need to work hard and incessantly. So we make an appeal for all Spiritists in Brazil to get together and go to the cinemas to see the film, to promote it, to go in great numbers in the first days, to use the media to publicise it. I believe we can overcome the expectations, as it happened with a previous Spiritist film, Bezerra de Menezes. It was initially scheduled to show in 40 cinemas, it went on to be shown in 60 cinemas, being watched in total by 500 thousand people. If we follow a similar patch, we can reach up to 700 thousand people going through the box office, or even more, who knows? As I mentioned Bezerra de Menezes, I would like to point out that O Filme dos Espíritos (The Spirits’ Film) is a project from 2008, therefore an idea that was born before the current boom of Spiritst films in Brazil. 

What can Spiritist Centres do to help publicizing the film? 

We request all our friends to follow us through the website www.ofilmedosespiritos.com.br, or on twitter @OfdosEspiritos, or www.facebook.com/OFilmeDosEspiritos or on the blog http://mundomaiorfilmes.globspot.com/. We have also been posting videos on Youtube on www.youtube.com/OFilmeDosEspiritos. Please spread the word around and pass on these web addresses. It would also help if Spiritist Centres throughout the country organised talks to their volunteer workers and those who attend their meetings to highlight the importance of spreading the Spiritist message to the world. The Spirits’ Film is a good tool for that. And we also ask you all to campaign hard against piracy, as the struggled to find the resources to do this film, and the income we are expecting to get will be invested in the dissemination of the Spiritist Doctrine.