No, Carla Isn’t Going to the World Cup

By Chesney Hearst, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – When film director Carla Dauden uploaded her video on the morning of June 17th the 23 year-old says she didn’t know her video, “No, I’m not Going to the World Cup”, would become a viral sensation or the role it would play in the protest movements.

“It was so sudden,” Dauden, who spoke with The Rio Times during a return trip to Brazil, said when asked about the massive popularity of her video. “I was really not prepared for it.”

With over 3,300,000 views and counting, the original six-minute YouTube video explains in English (with Portuguese subtitles) why she, a Brazilian currently living in the United States, will not attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup and why she feels that the event and the 2016 Rio Olympics should not be Brazil’s top priorities.

“I had the idea before the protests got that big […] I wanted to bring attention to the reality of Brazil that few people in the world knew,” said Dauden.

Towards the beginning of the video several people questioned on the street in the U.S. say what comes to their mind when they think of Brazil. Answers included; “soccer”, parties and dancing. “But few people knew about what was really going on,” Dauden told The Rio Times. “In Brazil we’ve known for a while. But with international pressure and awareness, I thought we could motivate more changes.”

“I love Brazil. I eventually want to come back and live here,” Dauden added.” It’s so frustrating when you live somewhere else and you see that most people have a decent quality of life. Things aren’t perfect in the U.S., of course, but it’s decent. Seeing your people from your country go through all that they go through is painful. I wanted to do my part and help.”

Born in São Paulo and raised in Florianópolis, Dauden left Brazil at age eighteen and moved to California to attend film school. She graduated just last year and left a full time job at a production company in April of this year to dedicate herself entirely to directing and working on her own projects.

When it came to the production of “No, I’m not going to the World Cup,” Dauden said it was a side project with no funding and “zero budget”.

According to Dauden, the video was shot in her living room in Los Angeles with her camera and the help of her friend, also a Director of Photography (DP), and his light kit. She said that she subtitled it and edited it herself with a little help from her father.

So far, Dauden said she has received positive feedback overall but that there have been negative reactions as well. Famous Brazilian author Paulo Coelho tweeted on June 23rd, “# MudaBrasil [#ChangeBrazil] but not with Kate Nash “protesting” or that idiot video of the girl asking, in English, w / no one come to Copa2014 [the 2014 World Cup].”

In response Dauden said, “You know what’s funny, I think he and a lot of people interpreted my video as a call to boycott to the World Cup. It is not. It’s my personal protest.” In regards to the protests in general, Dauden said, “We can’t change the country from one day to another but I feel that we can be much more active in our democracy and I think that’s what has to be taken from these protests.”