The Three Building Blocks is an experimental passion project that comes to life as a collection of chapters from Miguel Thomé’s and Fernanda Pompermayer’s relationship. Originally from the same city in Brazil, they met in Berlin by pure chance. The film takes viewers on a captivating journey through love, identity, and self-discovery, exploring the depths of Miguel and Fernanda’s connection. Their travel through the enchanting landscapes of Morocco provides an almost surreal backdrop for the film, which beautifully reflects their experience as a young couple.
Niccolò Montanari: What sparked your journey into the realm of filmmaking? And what is the story behind your encounter?
Miguel Thomé: I started as a filmmaker, editing weddings, and after six months, I started my own company. After being an assistant director for a couple of months I realised it was not for me, but it helped me to enter the industry and become a director. Now, I am focusing on painting as my passion project and I am represented by Seiva in Brazil—a production company I love working with because they give me space to put forward my ideas. They are always very enthusiastic about passion projects. I’m also represented by Roommate in Mexico and Totalli in Germany.
Fernanda Pompermayer: I am a photographer and also a graphic designer. I have been working with ceramics for two years now, under the name of Studio Rocha. I worked mostly in fashion and this was my first project with film, actually.
MT: We are from the same city in Brazil, Curitiba, and we met in Europe. I was living in London, and Fernanda was living in Lisbon at the time, and we met in Berlin. It is very meaningful for us because the whole film is about our relationship. 2019 was a very intense year. We already knew each other through our friends, but we met in Berlin. It was New Year’s Eve when we started dating, and we got married in April. We changed countries 20 times that year. When you are in a relationship and travel, there is only you and the person. There are no roots somewhere else and no place to go home. After two or three months, a year together, 24 hours, seven days a week, the masks come off, and you are your whole self. Your shadow, desires, fantasies… you share, and you show everything.
NM: How did this project come about? Was this a reaction to getting to know each other or was it just something you had in mind and wanted to produce and create together? Tell us about the trip.
MT: Laurence Leenaert has an amazing ceramic brand in Morocco. We bought 15 minutes of film and went to Morocco to shoot with her, but she wasn’t available. So we just said to each other: “We won’t leave Morocco without a film. We are going to shoot a passion project. We need to find something here.” Since our relationship was the main topic that year, it was bubbling and we needed to explore it. It was the best way to do that; maybe metaphorically, you touch more on what is true about yourself. Then when it came to making the film, it was easy to bring all these ideas that were already there. All the creativity was emerging, along with shadows and insecurities; it was overwhelming. You start building and repairing things.
NM: Is it the reason why you called it The Three Building Blocks? Did you want to put any order to your relationship, or was there another reason behind it?
MT: The reason we called it The Three Building Blocks is because it represents the different stages of our relationship. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect. The first chapter explores the early stage of being together and learning how to coexist. The second chapter delves into establishing our individual identities while working together. This one is interesting because it is based on a particular incident we encountered while travelling in Italy. Fernanda noticed a cactus, and we stopped to take a picture. I wanted to take the fruits of the cactus, and she said, “Man, don’t do it.” I was stubborn, and I took it. Needless to say, the car was filled with thorns shortly after. As for the third chapter, it symbolises a pivotal moment in our relationship. During the third chapter, we were in a phase of trying to “repair” and redefine our relationship, exploring different formats. We experienced an intensely passionate three months during that time. After travelling together for a few months, we revealed our true selves to each other.
FP: We share everything, so at a certain point you start questioning your individual style and identity. While we work together, we also strive to maintain our individuality. This is something we address in the film.
MT: Initially, we considered naming the third chapter Kintsugi, after a Japanese ceramic method. In this technique, when a ceramic piece breaks, it is glued back together with gold in a way that makes it even more valuable. The idea behind this choice was to symbolise the transformation of our relationship, turning the conflicts and challenging moments into something beautiful and meaningful. The film truly captures our genuine journey.
NM: How did you find the difference between shooting on film compared to digital? What was your visual approach for the film?
MT: Film is very different. With digital there are no restrictions. But on film, you need to prepare a lot. We scouted all the locations. We knew exactly all the framings. So it was very prepped; I made a document with all the scenes exactly with the seconds they would be on the film and the amount of film we could use. It was shot with one lens, which was a 24mm.. Shooting on film already brings a texture by itself. So I think it puts a bit of a nostalgic feeling in the whole film. It is inspired by Fernanda’s photography as well. Often the camera is on the tripods; there are few shots handheld. It is a very contemplative and poetic film, where we wanted to make less and bring people inside the film, with not much craziness. We didn’t want to put a lot of camera movement.
FP: All the places in Morocco were incredible. You look at the mountain and that’s enough. I was doing a lot of photography of our objects, creating sculptures. We wanted to bring to this film a simple image. It is also nice sometimes to work with these kinds of limitations.
NM: How did you navigate the production process, for example the cast?
MT: We were in Marrakech, and I connected to my agent in Berlin, which connected me to a guy from Fez and this guy to another guy in Ouarzazate, Mustapha Rachidi. He was one of the actors in Babel; he brought Youness, a prop master, and they both produced the film. Youness was the only one in the crew who spoke English and helped us out a lot, including with location scouting and casting. We were looking for expressive people but not necessarily actors. Once we found them, we approached them—we didn’t know whether they would accept, especially as they didn’t speak English. They didn’t actually know each other so we just let them interpret the scenes how they wanted—that’s all part of the process.
NM: Let’s delve into the technical aspects of the film. How did you approach the script development, sound and colour grading?
MT: We divided it—the script—into three chapters. We had the visuals and the idea of scenes, but it wasn’t all linked and connected; it took us a year or two to finish the film. I think it was because our relationship needed to get into a state where we were confident enough to make the film happen, you know? It was amazing to look back into the images portraying a different stage of our relationship. I then wrote the poem and gave it to Thomas Berti, who also made the soundtrack. Leandro Lamezi did the colour grading, which is also fantastic. The cool thing about this project was when I called Leandro, we did not talk about colour. We talked about the film, the scripts, the sensation and the concept. And the result was amazing.. Same with Thomas: we had a long call about what each scene meant for us and he created a most fitting soundtrack.
NM: Did this passion project bring you increased work opportunities and visibility in the industry?
MT: Definitely, more people got to know me because of this. It was released on Nowness and it was also shown on Director’s Library. We won the Berlin Commercial Editing prize, we participated in Video Art and Experimental Film Festival in New York, and it was shown at MIAC Roma and Triennale Milano. One thing to consider is that when you are used to working on commercials you always have a client sharing their opinion. When you are doing passion projects, no client is there approving—or not—your work. You have all the freedom in the world, which is a bit frightening but fully liberating. The reality is that I shot a commercial in Romania, made some money and then invested it into this project. At that time, I got my agent to send me a script to shoot in Germany, and it was a very good one, but I just said no, because I wanted to shoot this passion project. That was important for us; it is the project I am most proud of.