Margarida Vila-Nova

IA - Strangely we never worked together, but some of the points made on this storyline relate to the trips, with the need to escape, with the need to leave, with friendship issues, food matters, the way you see your job and how you perceive the world. And I don’t know this. I mean, I know some things about you that I have been told about, but, for example, I honestly don’t know when your initial contact with art or culture was, when did you decide what track you wanted to pursue…

MVN - I grew up surrounded by artists, I cannot remember the moment I decided I wanted to be an actor. I do not know what day it was, that day you wake up in the morning and you’re determined about what you want to become. More than becoming an actor, I wished to have many projects, and this is something I remember from a very young age. I wanted to create things. And I guess, recently, I have been meeting this early age desire of creating more – It’s just an idea around making, building, producing. I have always enjoyed this concept of getting people together, weather they’re from different working areas; people that I love, I admire and respect. Human interactions, love, friendship, respect, or admiration lead us to more beautiful paths to creation and construction. I am always modest when asked about how long I started. I can never be specific about a date, and I don’t even care how old I am, so I no longer feel the need to prove myself to me or others. Some things are not numerable. I feel very reasonable about the word career. I cannot apply it to me, this is my journey, and it can certainly end tomorrow. I can quit tomorrow and start a different thing, and then I can return and come back to it once again. However, I remember the first time I was in a film set, I was 6 years old. I remember because there was a shooting scene and the silence on it is my biggest memory. I remember I kept my scream inside my throat because I could not shout and ruin the scene, and I remember that hidden scream like it was yesterday. Also no one could go across the rail, and that was when I learned you can never cross a cinema rail where the chariot or the camera runs. These were some things I learned that made me respect this world so much. About the part, I was not relevant on the storyline, I don’t really know what I did, but it was the first experience I had. My mother was a stage director so spending many hours on the backstage was normal for me. 

IA - It’s curious what you say about silence and that well-kept scream - that comes precisely from weakness. In other words, we were aware of timings and that we didn’t have space to film thirty takes. Getting the rail together was so important in order to miss failure. Keeping a scream inside because you are conscious that it can mess things up, lead you to failure… How do you deal with failure? 

MVN - I’ve patrolled myself enough in the past. To me failing was such a horrible thing. I used to live in remorse due to failure. I wanted to do things right, I wanted to do everything properly. 

IA - You wanted to do right by you or others? Where does that worry come from? 

MVN - It was about others, I guess. It was difficult to me, going on a casting call, being evaluated by others… It cost me, knowing an audience was there, not knowing who was actually there. The idea of failing in the eyes of others. Once I realized failure was my greatest friend, once I unlocked that issue, I understood that through my faults, even when outside my comfort zone, I have a place and I can reinvent myself. Failing was exactly what could lead me to better places. And I solved that later in life, since it can be applied not only professionally, but personally. If you try to be the best mom, the best wife, the best daughter, the best, the greatest… you get stuck on a mission not to fail, and in a certain way you’re annulling yourself. You’re not available to get to know your true self. I apply this viewpoint not only professionally but also on my daily life - Doing everything right doesn’t grant you happiness. 

It made me human, once I understood that I could also fail, that I could allow myself to make mistakes, that I could cry, and that things could go wrong without it indicating I was weaker. It was such a relief on my life. 

I guess I’m happier now. I’m naturally anxious, but I feel a little better. At least, I feel less distressed. I’ve always had a hard time, and still do, living in the present moment. I am thinking about the future. I’m reading a book and I start wondering if I should start the stew because the kids arrive soon. I always find myself anticipating problems, this could happen with anything, not just stews. 

IA - we cannot mention that anticipation without linking it to our current situation – war in Ukraine, two years of pandemic, us being mothers… what crucial changes and actions do you is the world craving? In other words, the world needs our small steps that make a big difference and sometimes we think on a global level which can block us from seeing the real picture. 

MVN - I believe each of us has a role, a mission, a purpose in life, in our own personal backyeard but everyone applies it on a more global way. The world doesn’t build itself. Having children, for example, it takes a village to raise a child. Meanwhile, each of us in our own backyeard will know how to proceed. Eventually, we learn what will be our path in society, inside our city or country. Living in speed, the importance about image, seeing these social media platforms promote beauty stereotypes make us focus only on our little selves, leaving us with no space for others. Just like we do with ourselves, we need to pay attention to others, we should look at everyone as one. On a daily basis, we should practice compassion to others and be more tolerable, more respectful, and empathic. I worry about this in small things – weather we see it in traffic while a pedestrian is trying to cross the road, or at the supermarket queue, or even when we take the lift and no one greets us “good morning”… 

IA - what’s undoubtedly annoying? 

MVN - Arrogance really gets on my nerves. Disrespect, authority in speech or hubris. I really have zero tolerance for that. I guess these days I protect myself a bit more. Back then I used to endure more bad energy. Today, if I don’t relate to a type of speech or something bothers me, I escape it. 

IA - Do you escape, or you question it? 

MVN - I question it, but no longer start an argument. I no longer spend my energy fighting.