Queer Antidramaturgy: a dialogue with Marcelo Caetano about Body Electric (2017)

Abstract

This article aims to understand possibilities for the queer cinema to break with social norms and distance itself from classic models related not only to narrative, but also to filmmaking. The text will find support in the concept of “queer antidramaturgy”, constructed from the systematization of statements of the director Marcelo Caetano, provided throughout an interview about his debut feature film: Body Electric (2017). Filmmakers’ Theory is used as a methodology, through which the article portraits the tensions that the film provokes in regulations and prejudices related to dissident sexualities and gender identities. The text also portrays, through the director’s testimonials, the surrender of the film’s creative process to the unexpected and to chance, enabling thereby a bigger space for the cast’s contributions to the scenic and narrative creations.