Quiet, Real and Thoughtful: a conversation with Barbara Anastacio

Filmmaker and Director

Born and raised between Lisbon, Brussels, and London, Barbara Anastacio is a director and photographer who has produced a number of films for NOWNESS, contributing to the flagship interiors series, My Place. Her portfolio also includes projects for brands such as COS, Vogue, and River Island.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in the world of filmmaking.

I came from a small town in Portugal where a career in filmmaking was not even part of the vocabulary. Luckily, I found refuge behind the camera early on when my dad first bought a VHS. Little did I know that this
camera would allow me to transcend my geographical limitations twenty years later. I studied Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths College in London. During this time, I was deeply influenced by the “ethnofiction” films of Jean Rouch and the cinema verite’s blurring of lines between fiction and documentary. After graduating, I wanted to learn more technical skills and started working as an assistant photographer in London while developing my own practice.
Soon after, in 2011, I moved to NYC with an arts grant to work with Magnum Photos in NYC. It was a unique opportunity to meet some of my heroes and also to realize that it’s not such a far-fetched reality to be one of them. The city’s energy and vibrancy seemed to fall short with a still image, so I started making short videos with my DSLR camera instead. Around this time, I also met with Jonas Mekas, whose diaristic work greatly inspired me. He taught me that to be a filmmaker, you just need to grab your camera and make films. There’s nothing but yourself stopping you. And so I did, capturing everything around me voraciously. Knowing that my time was limited due to visa limitations also gave me a sense of urgency. Except, I ended up staying. The series My Place for Nowness was a result of this period, and at first, I shot, directed, and edited myself. As it grew in popularity, I was able to start working with a small crew just to direct. My commissions grew bigger and more varied from clients including Vogue, The New York Times, and brands like Valentino, Tommy Hilfiger, etc... and that’s how I find myself here today answering this question. So basically, I never planned any of it!

How do your projects typically evolve, from the initial idea through development and filming?

Each project is very unique and it’s hard to have a one-fits-all approach. Sometimes I storyboard, sometimes I don’t. But generally, I’d say the step that I never skip is the research process. I guess it’s maybe the anthropologist in me. I love immersing myself in the subject or the story that I’ll be working on, whether it’s a documentary, a fictional piece, or a commercial. To read as much as possible about it, interview people, meet them and spend as much time as possible with the world I’ll be creating and/ or recreating. It’s also important for me to create a visual moodboard that serves as the map to the journey I’m embarking upon.

Can you share your approach to interview shooting, including how you balance scripted content with improvisation?

My main approach to interviews is to just be present and listen. I know this sounds very basic, but it can be challenging to do that when you’re on set with a bunch of people, lights, cameras, and a stressful time crunch. I really thrive in creating intimate environments where everyone feels comfortable and included. It’s important that the person being interviewed sees it as a collaboration. Metaphorically, I almost become invisible to create the space for them to shine. Generally, I have pre-written questions that I follow, but they really change according to the flow of our conversation and the energy on set. I think it’s important to allow for silence and not feel like you need to fill in each gap with chatter. This breathing space often allows the most interesting responses to occur.

What are your key responsibilities as an editor, and how do you approach them in your work?

I love editing the work I direct, it feels like the reward from all the sweat you’ve had on set. You truly see the film come to life. Editing is another form of directing, so it comes with huge responsibility. You can really tell the same story completely differently depending on how you edit it. For me, editing is a very intuitive process, and I don’t have a rigid set of rules. My priority is to tell a story in an engaging and unexpected way while maintaining the emotional truth of the story.

The videos in ‘The One’ series are quite short. How long is the raw material? Where does the magic happen? During the filming or in the editing studio?

We have very little time with each person since they’re major celebrities with tight schedules. We usually film about 20 or so minutes of raw material. It’s kind of edited into a snackable piece of the conversation since it mostly lives on social media. A lot of the first questions are usually just a warm-up to get the person comfortable. It’s only toward the end that we get to the core of it. There is very minimal editing involved in these.

How do you build trust with powerful individuals who are accustomed to control when filming ‘The One’?

This is an interesting question because there is no straight answer or formula for this. My goal is to just create the space for each individual to be themselves and I’m just the vessel for that. On the one hand, there is this invisibility that I think is important for me to embody, while also being extremely alert and present to the other person and what they’re going through. It’s surprising to see how even highly achieved and successful individuals can still struggle with insecurity when faced with a camera. So I’m just there, making sure they trust me to be themselves.

We loved your portrayal of George Lois in his apartment for the My Place series on Nowness. What caught your eye when you first entered?

I think what first caught my eye was the amount of books he had. I remember thinking whether I’d ever get to read that many books in my lifetime. Also, it was kind of funny how he was surrounded by so many chairs that no one was allowed to sit on. I thought that was kind of hilarious, and it really exemplified how passionate of a collector he was.

Can you share one interesting observation or detail about filming in George’s apartment that gave insight into him as a creative?

The premise of the My Place series was a sort of anthropological essay on the person reflected by their spaces and what they surrounded themselves with. I think George Lois was the perfect embodiment of that. He even mentioned it in his book of advice -“make your surroundings a metaphor for who you are” (pg 111). He was an avid collector, art historian, aesthete, artist, and family man. His apartment was, in many ways, a museum in terms of how many treasures it carried, but it never felt too cluttered or deprived of life. In some ways, his no-frills, no-bullocks approach really transpired in his space. It was a place of a life fully-lived in all aspects. It was also funny that he was coined as the original Mad Man, infused with a lot of negative womanizer connotations, but he really was a one-woman man and still very much in love with his wife after all those years. That was very touching to witness.

What technique do you find most effective for getting compelling reactions and candid responses during interviews?

I think having an open mind and not expecting too much or having a closed-off, preconceived idea of what you want to get out of people is an important start. And to generally allow for an uncomfortable silence. That’s usually when people get really thinking deeper into things instead of just their auto-pilot answers or reactions to a social situation. I also prefer not to call action or call cut in interviews so that the people don’t feel like they are performing.

You have experience shooting both in color and black and white. What factors most influence your choice of visual palette for a project?

For interview-based projects, I love the simplicity of black and white and how it really distills the person’s essence in a timeless manner without the distraction of color. But overall, I love working with color and the richness of detail it provides. If I know it’s an environment where I’ll have more control over the surroundings, I’ll probably opt for color and its richness.

Do you have to adjust your approach when making an ad or short film with a brand’s message rather than a purely personal vision in mind?

I think filmmaking always involves a compromise of sorts. Everything is perfect in your head, but when you get to set, there are always elements you can’t control. I think part of the magic of filmmaking is embracing that and making the most of what is offered to you. I think this applies to branded work too. Constraints can be a way to test and expand your creativity. It forces you to think out-of-the-box for solutions you wouldn’t otherwise consider if everything was possible.

How does your creative approach change between independent and commercial projects? Ever faced any vision compromises?

My creative approach is the same in both situations. What changes is maybe how I behave on set and how much I push or don’t push to get my vision across. When working on a commercial project, it’s a lot about the dialogue with the client and how they want their product to be seen. When it’s a personal project, I’m my own client, so that dialogue happens mostly with myself.

With so many superficial portrayals of ‘beauty’ in media, how do you define true artistry?

If you’re asking how to achieve authenticity, I always strive for that by removing any superficiality of a given character or situation. If it’s a fictional situation, it’s important to get at the emotional truth of the character or story. If it’s a documentary, my only rule is not to manipulate reality to fit my vision and to be open to what unveils in front of me.

Do you ever worry about perpetuating unrealistic lifestyle ideals when depicting personal spaces?

That was one of my main concerns with the My Place series I created for Nowness back in 2015. I really wanted to show spaces as they are, unfiltered and raw, and to avoid the cliched manufactured spaces you often see in interior design films. For this series, the emphasis was for me on the messiness of real life - there is more to be said about the postcards on the fridge than the Alessi juicer.

Let’s imagine that, finally, aliens make contact. Which of your films would you choose to explain who you are?

I doubt aliens would be interested in watching movies, but if they were, I would probably show them the short film I did with robotics professor, Hiroshi Sugimoto. It ponders what it means to be human, and I’d be curious to see what aliens would make of it. Otherwise, maybe just My Place, so they can see the mundanity of everyday life.

Let’s set the stage for a deserted island scenario. You can only have five films to watch. Which ones would you choose?

On a desert island, I would probably relish in the beauty of nature - the best filmmaker of all. But if I really had to pick five films to be stuck with, I would probably go for long classics. Here are my picks: