Following Isabela Catão’s trip to the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the Amazonian audiovisual scene has another crowdfunding campaign to engage: videomaker and graphic designer Nathã Lucas has launched a collective financing campaign to help him study at the renowned Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in Cuba. Living in Manaus, he plans to move by September 2, the day classes start for the Fiction Direction course.

Nathã Lucas’s Campaign for His Trip to Cuba (Click Here)

Nathã was one of 13 Brazilians selected for admission to EICTV this upcoming semester. The school, founded in 1986 by figures such as Colombian journalist and writer Gabriel García Márquez, Argentine poet and filmmaker Fernando Birri, and Cuban theorist and filmmaker Julio García Espinosa, held its selection process in Manaus this past April.

In an interview with Cine Set, the 23-year-old videomaker explained that the online campaign will help fund his airfare to Cuba. “The idea is to book a flight with simpler logistics, traveling from Manaus to Panama and then catching a flight to Havana. This is the biggest urgency right now,” he said.

COURSES IN MANAUS AND A PASSION FOR CINEMA

A fan of directors Richard Linklater, David Lynch, and Kleber Mendonça Filho, the Amazonian has been passionate about cinema since the age of 13, and cites The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by Ben Stiller, as a life-changing film. His passion for movies gradually turned into an interest in audiovisual work when, as a teenager, he participated in a photography course with Thaís Tabosa and Rodrigo Tomzhinsky.

He later took another course at Casarão de Ideias with Walter Fernandes Jr and a photography course with César Nogueira from Artrupe Produções—both of whom have significantly contributed to the Amazonian film scene.

“Being part of these groups opened my mind because I didn’t have any perspective on local audiovisual work,” he said. At 18, Nathã began working in advertising. “But my interest has always been cinema,” he confessed.

CONTROLLED NERVES

About to embark on a three-year course abroad, Nathã admits to feeling nervous but believes that the long selection process, which included interviews, helped him prepare for this next step. “My experience brings a lot of practice, but not much in terms of form, especially in the artistic field, which I intend to develop at the school,” he said.

The EICTV attracts students from across Latin America and beyond. For Nathã, cultural differences will be minimized by one thing they all have in common. “Although the cultural differences are a big factor because of all the peculiarities of the people, I’ll face this head-on, and I believe that because my colleagues are as passionate about cinema as I am, it will help with support and exchanges,” he added.