We recently connected with Rafaela Goncalves and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rafaela, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As I’m about to graduate with my MFA in Producing, I’m currently working on two VERY special projects that were part of my degree journey! Both are in Post right now and will be submitted to film festivals soon.

The first one is a short film called “If The Shoe Fits,” an experimental drama thriller about unhealthy relationships, domestic violence and sexual abuse, but mostly how all that trauma is passed on through generations if not healed, from a child that witnessed such things from their parents growing up to their own child if the cycle is not broken. How far would you go for love and how much of yourself are you willing to lose, change, or hurt? This film is also a metaphor (I’m a big fan of metaphors as you’ll see on the next project as well) that compares people to shoes, and in this film the shoes are ballet point shoes and red high heels.

The second project is actually my final thesis and proof of concept to a feature I want to produce, and it’s called “Someone In Me.” This one’s metaphor is on the eyes of the protagonist who has heterochromia (two different colored eyes) and feels divided for being a Brazilian born in America, that’s how I personally felt when I left my country (Brazil) so young to follow my dream of becoming an Actress Producer in the US. “Someone In Me” explores the universal feeling of wanting to fit in so bad and how far one would go to finally do that; it also explores how stuck we get in our own head sometimes, missing all the beautiful things/people we already have in our lives, taking them for granted. (It’s also loosely based on a novel I published back in Brazil 10 years ago, but just like I did, the story changed a lot)

I’ll be creating social media pages for both projects soon, but you can find more info on them on my instagram! @itsrafaelagoncalves

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi (or “Oi” in Portuguese)! My name is Rafaela Goncalves and I’m a trilingual Brazilian Actress Producer currently based in Los Angeles who wants to do her part to better our Industry (especially the Brazilian/Latinx representation in films) and open doors to other amazingly talented artists from all over the world!

I was born and raised in Brazil but moved to the US right after high school to get my BFA in Acting and then MFA in Producing (I’m graduating in August this year, yay!) I grew up very involved in all kinds of arts, singing, writing, dancing, acting, painting, drawing, etc. and I can’t see myself doing anything else.

I absolutely LOVE being on set, in front and/or behind the cameras, and collaborating with passionate individuals. I’ve produced a fair amount of short films already including my own (moving to feature films now too, fun!); I’ve been on some shorts as an actress as well as feature films and commercials (Acting was always the initial dream, Producing came a bit later with experience and passion to tell stories); and here and there I do some Production Designing and 1ADing as well.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

It’s always so fascinating to me how the general audience have no idea of how much work and people it takes to make what they sit and watch for fun, and I don’t say this in a bad way at all! If they don’t know it, then we did our job great!

I recently went through something really rewarding that I’d like to share with you and it has to do with this question. As I mentioned before, I just finished shooting my final thesis for my MFA, “Someone In Me,” and coincidently I was shooting it during the exact time my parents were visiting me from Brazil, so they got to see it all – from the craziness of pre-production (my apartment was a MESS when they arrived, I think they’re still traumatized to this day) to the craziness of being on the actual set. They come from a VERY different career path as me, they both went to Law School and had never experienced what it’s like to make a movie, they’d just watch movies and think “that’s a great movie!” It was extremely rewarding for me to have my parents see what I do, what I left my country for, this dream that I’m making come true with a lot of sweat and tears. They loved it all! They told me they had no idea it took THAT many people, THAT much time, and THAT much gear just to get ONE shot checked off the shot list, and then we’re on to the next shot and there we go again.

Have you ever had to pivot?

After I graduated with my BFA in Acting, I was ready to start auditioning to all the roles I dreamed of when I was growing up back in Brazil and watching American movies. However, I quickly learned that the parts that I wanted to play weren’t really out there, and the ones that WERE out there, were really stereotyped. That got me thinking: “I love writing, I have so many ideas I’d like to share, why not tell my own stories and make my own parts?” And that’s why I decided to pursue my MFA in Producing!

And then, as I was pursuing it, I got to meet SO many amazing people from all over the world that shared the same feeling and goals as me, and a lot of people from Brazil started reaching out to me to ask about my journey and advice to get here too! So, in addition to being a freelancer Producer, I also dream of someday opening my own Production Company to help somehow open doors for other artists, produce other people’s projects or bring people into my own.

Fun Fact: as of right now, I’m thinking of “Half N Rafa Productions,” which started as a joke because of the mispronunciation of my name (my name is pronounced “Hafa-Ela”) but then I kind of liked it because I want my productions to be extremely collaborative (“half me, half whoever I’m collaborating with” :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://halfnrafaproductio.wixsite.com/halfnrafaproduction
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsrafaelagoncalves/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaela-goncalves-162a402b8/
• Other: IMDB: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12747690?ref_=nm_nv_usr_profile
  Performer Website: https://itsrafaelagoncalve.wixsite.com/rafaelagoncalves

Image Credits

BTS “Someone In Me” by Emily Roberts
BTS “If the Shoe Fits” by Vyshnav Baburaj