BRAZIL STUDENT’S FILM DEBUTS AT SDSU

CORONADO —  Before 1985, Fabio Golombek didn’t know a thing about U.S. universities. But after being offered a scholarship by the Brazilian government to attend film school here--and looking at college catalogues with pictures of lots of blonde beach girls--he decided to come to Southern California.

The 27-year-old is finishing up his thesis project at San Diego State University in pursuit of a master’s degree in telecommunications and film. But unlike many student film makers, Golombek’s creation of a 12-minute short titled “Lioness” is old hat.

In Brazil, he worked for JPO Productions, where he directed and produced documentaries for Brazilian television. While Golombek was an undergraduate at the University of Sao Paulo, his senior film placed first in a professional film festival in Brazil, he said.

But his most prestigious endeavor was documenting the making of the Brazilian movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” starring William Hurt.

“It was an important project for me,” he said, adding that Hurt and he became friends “and the executive producer, Francisco Ramalho Jr., has become one of my confidants.”

“Lioness,” a fictional drama that will screen in late May at SDSU, is different from the film maker’s past projects.

“This is my first time to direct a dramatic film,” he said. “Since going to school here, I have been trying to get away from documentaries and put my emphasis on feature films.”

Set in the 1950s, “Lioness” opens with a steamy sex scene shot in a room at the Hotel del Coronado. The latter half of the short was filmed on location at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The plot involves two characters, Ray and Laura, (played by SDSU students) who are being threatened by Ray’s brother. The film examines the couple’s conflict in resolving their problems.

Golombek said the movie, which was shot on 16-millimeter color film, cost $10,000 to produce. He paid for it out of his own pocket and said he will probably never make a cent on the film.

“This film is just something to put in my portfolio and help me to get funding for a full-length feature film I want to do,” he said.

Golombek said he doesn’t like to talk too much about the plot of “Rehearsal 1968,” his future film, for fear that someone will steal the idea. But with a little urging, he disclosed the story line. The film is set during the years Golombek grew up in Brazil, a period of political turbulence.

“The film is going to be a feature about the political climate in Brazil during the ‘60s,” he said. “In 1964, there was a military government occupying Brazil. At that time many artists, intellectuals and journalists were killed. They would just vanish and no one would talk about it.

“My mother was an actress in the (Theater of the Oppressed). I was 8 years old when the founder, Augusto Boal, was kidnaped, and his wife and child came to live with us. We were all very afraid.

“One time a secret anti-communist organization broke into the theater and kicked an actress in the stomach. She was pregnant and lost her baby. We later found out that my cousin was in that group. Finding that out has shocked me my whole life.”

Golombek said the Brazilian government now is very supportive of the arts.

“It is a good place to live now,” he said. “Like the United States, Brazil has had a couple of important film movements in the last couple of years. Film makers are now receiving money from the private sector as well as the government.

“But it isn’t easy for an artist to make it anywhere. For that reason, I studied engineering in school before I ever got involved with film.”

Golombek worked as a mechanical engineer at a large company for two years but returned to school to get a degree in film.

Next month, Golombek’s scholarship will end, and he will have to make some career decisions.

“I have to go back to Brazil out of respect for my country for giving me the scholarship,” he said. “It is not my main objective to work in Hollywood, but I wouldn’t mind the chance.”