LISTEN DE SOUSA ANA ROCHA A FILM BY MAGNOLIA PICTURES INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS A PINBALL LONDON LTD. AND BANDO Á PARTE PRODUCTION LOGLINE AND SYNOPSIS When the wellbeing of their deaf On the outskirts of London, Portuguese daughter is put in jeopardy, a strug- couple and parents of three, Bela and gling Portuguese immigrant couple is Jota, struggle to make ends meet. When forced to defy the British social ser- a misunderstanding arises at school over vices to keep their family together. their deaf daughter, the British social services grow concerned for the safe- ty of the children. LISTEN portrays the tireless battle of these immigrant parents against the law, in a desperate struggle to keep their family together. DIRECTOR’S AND PRODUCERS’ STATEMENTS LISTEN felt urgent to me, not in someone else’s shoes paves the only as a filmmaker but also as a way for change. Absolute ways of mother. The shapes and shades of evaluating mostly leave space for different sides of a story, like a dance mistakes. Separation as a preventive between right and wrong, interest- measure is a question mark to my be- ed me. Culture and life shapes us liefs. Union, support and compassion to behave and to be categorized in a usually achieve better results. LIS- certain way, but nothing is exactly TEN is to me a painful journey in how what it seems. It is not that simple. we see, what we judge or believe — and The ability to position ourselves what is actually real. Ana Rocha de Sousa In the rich tradition of social drama tered around family, and the tireless films set in the UK, rarely have we seen struggle parents will go through to do these stories told from an immigrant’s what is best for their children no matter point of view. Let alone a female one. the odds. LISTEN is the first English- As immigrants themselves to the UK, Portuguese co-production and we have this was one of the elements that strong- achieved gender parity both in front of and ly appealed to writer/producers Paula behind the camera, having predominant- Alvarez Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner. ly female heads of department. As pro- LISTEN has given us an oppor- ducing companies, Pinball London and tunity to highlight London’s diversity Ban-do á Parte, we are extremely proud and present a new way of looking at the of both of these achievements and of the controversial subject of forced adoption, film’s launch at Venice, one of the most by focusing on the universal theme cen- prestigious film festivals in the world.” Paula Vaccaro, Aaron Brookner and Rodrigo Areias WRITERS’ STATEMENT “In 2014 Ana Rocha came across a vestigation was that, especially in the U K , news piece about a Portuguese fam- children were often snatched by force, ily living in the UK who had their against their own and their parents’ will, kids taken away by the British Social and that could even happen at birth. Services. The shocking story includ- Family court hearings, sometimes held ed having their kids placed into Forced in secret, justified the ‘care’ and then the Adoption, a government policy en- adoption, against the parents’ wishes. abling children to be permanently re- When ‘contact’ was allowed, moved from their parents and placed it was always supervised, with numer- for adoption without parental consent, ous restrictions including, in the case following intervention by the Chil- of immigrants, the inability to speak dren’s Services department of a Lo- their native language. In fact, many cal Authority in the United Kingdom. parents would get ‘injunction orders’ Ana started compiling count- that threatened them with imprison- less press clippings, videos and further ment if they decided to complain about links to cases and court orders about the their ordeal to the media. Those who disturbing subject planting the seed for ended up in prison were sometimes LISTEN. In 2018, when Paula Vaccaro not able to see their kids at all with and Aaron Brookner joined her to write the ultimate punishment taking place the final script, the research intensified. when the parental consent for adop- For a year, while writing, the team spoke tion was dispensed and children were with experts, institutions, policy re- placed with foster or adopted families. searchers, groups, and journalists. They The research on the top- consulted court orders, media archives, ic was extensive and while the family petitions, victims’ cases and watched in LISTEN is fictional, every single many hours of videos including investiga- event that happens to them happened tive documentaries such as BBC Panora- to real families. To access part of our ma, or ITV This Morning news reports. research and data, you can access a What was noted during our in- comprehensive dossier of sources here. Ana Rocha de Sousa, Paula Vaccaro and Aaron Brookner LÚCIA MONIZ as BELA Lúcia Moniz was born on September “A STREETCAR NAMES DESIRE”, 9, 1976 in Lisbon, and is the daugh- directed by Diogo Infante, at the Por- ter of Azorean musicians, Carlos Al- tuguese National Theater D. Maria II. berto Moniz and Maria do Amparo. In 2013 she was cast in “CON- At the age of 6, she enrolled in her VERSATIONS AFTER A BURI- music training at Santa Cecília Music AL”, written by Yasmina Reza Academy, achieving her 6th degree. and directed by Renato Godinho. Apart from music, Lúcia has In 2017, Lúcia made a wel- also developed a deep passion for the- come return to musical theater, starring atre. She has made several appear- for two seasons in “NEXT TO NOR- ances on the Portuguese stage and in MAL”, directed by Henrique and Nuno television. But it was in 2003 when Feist, at the Estoril Casino Auditori- the young actress garnered interna- um and Teatro da Trindade in Lisbon. tional recognition, starring oppo- Since 2016, Lúcia has active- site Colin Firth in the blockbuster ly worked with established theatre British film “LOVE ACTUALLY”. company, Palco 13, and starred in sev- Between 2006 and 2008, eral productions including “RICAR- Lúcia took on several leading roles DO II”, by William Shakespeare. And in Portuguese musical produc- in January 2019, together with her tions, directed by Filipe La Féria. brother Paulo Quedas, she di-rect- In 2009 she starred in the ed her first play, “THE ADVEN- television series “LIVING IN YOUR TURES OF JOHN WITH NO FEAR”. CAR”, produced by David Steinberg Lúcia’s most recent film, for HBO Canada, which was also a Por- “FATIMA”, directed by Marco Ponte- tuguese co-production with beActive. corvo, will be released in August 2020 In 2010 she starred in the se- and “LISTEN”, directed by Ana Rocha ries “MATERNIDADE” for RTP 1, and Sousa, had its World Premiere at the landed the cov-eted role of Stella in Venice Film Festival in September a production of Tennessee Williams’ 2020. SOPHIA MYLES as ANN Sophia Myles began her acting ca- “UNDERWORLD” (2003); “OUT reer at the age of 16, where following OF BOUNDS” (2004); “THUNDER- a performance in her school produc- BIRDS” (2004); “ART SCHOOL tion ‘TEACHERS’, she was cast in CONFIDENTIAL” (2006); “TRISTAN the BBC production “THE PRINCE + ISOLDE” (2006); “TRANSFORM- AND THE PAUPER” (1996). Fol- ERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION” lowing from this, Sophia was cast in (2014); and “BLACKWOOD” (2014). the TV mini-series “BIG WOMEN” Television credits include, (1998), and later went on to secure a “FOYLE’S WAR” (2002); “DOC- role in the critically-acclaimed film TOR WHO” (2005); “EXTRAS” “MANSFIELD PARK” (1999) and the (2005); “DRACULA” (2006) “MAR- TV series “OLIVER TWIST” (1999). PLE: SLEEPING MURDER” (2006); Additional film credits in- “SPOOKS” (2010); “OUR ZOO” (2014); clude: “FROM HELL” (2001), in which and “A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES”. she starred alongside Johnny Depp; “LISTEN” is Sophia’s latest “THE ABDUCTION CLUB” (2002); film. RUBEN GARCIA as JOTA Ruben Garcia has over 20 years’ ex- “Á VOLTA O MAR NO MEIO O IN- perience in theatre and film and has FERNO”, directed by Maria do Céu worked in many countries, including Guerra; and “MARIANA PINEDA”, Austria, Israel, the Czech Repub- directed by Federico Garcia Lorca. lic, Portugal and the United States. Film credits include: “COKE Theatre credits include: AND TARTS”, directed by Clint the Viennese production of “AL- Lukas; “SHADOWS”, directed MA-MAHLER”; “ANGEL CITY”, by Nuno Dias; “GASOLINA”, di- directed by Sam Shepard; 1936 O rected by João Teixeira; and “BEI- ANO DA MORTE DE RICARDO JA-ME”, directed by Aurélio Vasques. REIS”, directed by José Saramago; “L IST EN ” is Ruben’s latest fi lm. MAISE SLY as LOU From Plymouth, England, Maisie the daughter of Portuguese immi- Sly is nine-years-old and best known grants trying to navigate their way for her impactful role in the Oscar®- through the British social services winning short film “THE SILENT system, had its World Premiere CHILD” (2017). Maisie’s latest film is at the Venice Film Festival in September “LISTEN” (2020), in which she plays 2020. ANA ROCHA DE SOUSA Ana is emerging as a filmmaker International student Film Festival. after a successful career as an ac- Passionate about storytelling tor in Portugal. In 2007. She com- and profoundly in love with charac- pleted her Fine Arts Degree in ters, Ana has found a complete ex- Painting at the Faculty of Fine pression in film as the place where Arts, University of Lisbon and fiction marries reality. She has a moved to the UK in 2010 to study special interest in observational sto- film at the London Film School. rytelling methods and works closely She won the Bienal Jovens with actors while freely documenting VaLoures (Biennal for Young Artists) action in front of the camera, allow- with her work “LOVE_IN_PROG- ing emotions to grow, to hide or show.