An Interview with Bloomington Director Fernanda Cardoso

Hey bois & grrlz! If you’re like me and drooled a little over Sofia Hoffman’s Bloomington review last year, only to hit a wall of frustration upon realizing you don’t live on a stop along the LGBT indie film festival circuit, now is your chance to rejoice. This fine nugget of film has just been released on DVD, which means you—yes, you—can see it at your convenience, no snobby film festival tickets required. I got a chance to talk to first-time director Fernanda Cardoso on the genesis and impact of the film, artistic influences, and the experience of growing up gay in Brazil; and I’ve brought the goods straight here to you, dear reader. You’re welcome!

Velvetpark: So, I admit, I don’t really watch much reality television; I had to IMDB you to figure out what your background was. And I found it really interesting how you have this long list of work on reality TV—you’ve got America’s Next Top Model, The Real L-Word, Stylista…and then you made this very different indie film. So, what was the genesis of this project? Clearly, since you wrote and directed it, this is your baby.

Fernanda Cardoso: [Laughs] It’s been my baby for a long time. Yes, I’ve been doing reality [television] for ten years now; basically since I graduated from college. I guess like everyone else, I wanted to direct; and I thought I would start by working on movie sets, having a production job. But then I quickly discovered that I’m very bad on the set—I’m a horrible PA, couldn’t get hired to save my life. And then through a series of clerical mistakes, my resume ended up in an editors’ pile, and I got hired as an assistant editor. So I became an editor. But my eyes have always been on directing—that’s what I went to school for, that’s what I always wanted to do.

As far as Bloomington goes, it was really a parallel process; I had been working as an editor for five years, and—I come from Brazil—and I came here [to the US] with the sole purpose of directing. And after five years, even though I was living a pretty good life, I thought, “I’m not doing what I came here to do.” I think you can never just say,