An Interview with Skin of Glass Director Denise Zmekhol: A Sensitive Film for A ‘Change Of Heart’

Written by GOOD DOCS intern Julia Franco Ramos

Denise Zmekhol is the Director and Producer of SKIN OF GLASS

Out of all the films I’ve watched, those carefully written with plot twists and exhilarating scenes, none ever gotten me onto the edge of my seat like Skin of Glass did. The documentary by Denise Zmekhol shapes reality into layers, omitting and revealing parts of the story at strategic moments, leaving the viewer surprised and wanting more. I interviewed Denise to understand more about her work and her process. I started by asking her what the film is about, for those who haven’t seen it. "The film tells a story that I think is universal because it’s about a search of a daughter for her father, AND his art, via a building he designed as an architect”, Denise explains. Then, the story takes its first turn, and becomes about something much larger. According to Denise, (the film) “Moves from an organic perspective and a personal story to a social political story of Brazil. It encapsulates the subject of homelessness, that exists in the entire world. It reveals what many cities in the world are dealing with: which is the lack of housing for low income populations." The interweaving of the intimate family plot with the global issue of homelessness makes the film universally emotional.

Denise lost her father at an early age, unable to get to know him as an adult. Now, years later, she decided to investigate the work he created to connect with him, but ended up discovering much deeper and larger issues. She says in the film, addressing her father: “This journey is much bigger than you and me. I came to look for you and found a Brazil I was taught to ignore”. In the 1960’s Roger Zmekhol, Denise’s father, designed the building Pele de Vidro (Skin of Glass), in São Paulo, the largest city of Brazil. The building got its name because its exterior is made of glass. In recent years, Denise encountered the building her father designed, which was occupied by homeless people. She said “When I knew the building was occupied I decided to go back to Brazil to tell this story, to try and get into the building, get to know the people who were living there and know their stories—why they were there and who they were. I thought that when I got into the building I would understand my FATHER more.”

What Denise didn’t expect was that she wouldn’t be able to talk to the people living in the building. For months she had to contend with filming the building from the outside, trying to look into the Skin of Glass to get to know the people living there.

In a country whose media outlets constantly portray homeless occupations—that is, groups of people that occupy abandoned buildings—with an increasingly negative tone, Skin of Glass shines light on how these movements can give social function to abandoned buildings while providing housing for low income populations. These occupations, however, need to have ethical leadership to work well and serve their purposes. This wasn’t the case within the building that Denise’s father designed. "I was shocked when I saw the state of the building. I didn't know a lot about occupations, but as I was researching, I found out about occupations that were doing really well, treating people with respect, taking care of the buildings and bringing safety to the people. I found that there is a world of ethical occupations and that the Skin of Glass occupation was not ethical.” Denise could have easily just represented the poor conditions of the building’s occupation but instead she reached out to the housing movement to show how ethical occupations are effective when the leaders of the movement care about the safety of the residents, guaranteeing livable conditions for them.

Denise also mentioned how it was important to show her process of learning more about occupations in a very honest way. Her goal was to present the story of the homeless people with humanity and to inspire the audience to have ‘a change of heart’. To me, she couldn’t have been more successful. The film demonstrates to the audience how they can learn more about housing activism in Brazil in a humanistic and empathetic way.

The impact of each sequence and story is not only due to how they were filmed, but also how they were edited. I asked Denise how the editing process went. “I worked very closely with my editor, we would meet every day to discuss ideas. I think editing is the moment when the story really takes form, it's when you decide how to tell the story and I think this process is super important.” The way they decided to tell this story was, in my interpretation, a way for the viewer to peel the layers of the narrative like an onion. “When the film begins, the viewer might think it's a purely personal and emotional story, however, the narrative proceeds, shifting to discover more about the building and the people who live in it.”

Denise talked about the symbolism of glass: “Glass has many meanings, like fragility, and transparency. It seems as if the years passed and the meaning changed. In the beginning it was a modernist idea, that glass was used to create transparency in office buildings, that there was nothing to hide. Some people told me the images of my memories, on the beach, the skin reflecting the ocean looks like glass. Glass also helped me see the people inside the building when I couldn't get in it. Then, the glass was what saved the people in the building during the fire.. So the glass has many metaphors in the film.”

This touching story is now being shown globally. “Since the premiere in September last year, the film has been screened in dozens of festivals in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and in Asia and Europe, and has won 4 awards: A Special Mention at the Ischia Film Festival, Best Feature Award at the Milano Design Film Festival, Best Documentary in Barcelona Architecture Film Festival, and Audience Favorite for the category ¡Viva el Cine! At the Mill Valley Film Festival. When I asked about the audience's reactions, Denise stated “People from all over the world, living in many different realities, had similar reactions. The film has a strong impact on the people who see it. What's most interesting is that sometimes it's for different reasons, it's either because of the search for the father, or because of the story of the building, or the story of the people in the building. It's interesting how the impact can be different because of the layers of the movie.”

Towards the end of the interview, I asked Denise if there was anything else she wanted to add, and she mentioned something I’ve been thinking about lately. “I think it's interesting that the Brazilian constitution says that everyone has the right to housing, which is something only a few countries have.” Brazil rewrote its constitution in 1988, having the Sixth Article state it is a social right of individuals to have a place to live. Even though this is written in the constitution, more than 281 thousand people are currently in a homeless situation in Brazil, according to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea). “This housing activism movement is very unique because they try to organize things for the abandoned buildings to go to the homeless people, because the state doesn’t have a way to provide so many housing units”. When the state isn’t capable of providing housing for all its population, which is a basic need guaranteed by the Constitution, while many buildings live empty on the streets, an ethical occupation might be the best way to help solving both problems.

Skin of Glass is the product of Denise and her crew’s extreme sensitivity to the subjects represented, bringing people to reflect on social issues with empathy and humanity. The blending of Denise’s family story with the emotions she brings through letters to her deceased father make the viewer connect deeply with the film. Skin of Glass brings something that could change the way Brazil and the world deals with the issue of homelessness: a genuine ‘change of heart’.