Fábio Barros, Film Director of Escape

Who are you?

Hi! I’m Fábio Barros, a 27 years old Portuguese filmmaker and co-founder of Armazém Criativo, a creative multimedia agency. My venture in filmmaking is fairly new, I focused in motion graphics most of my career. I also like to do photography, and music.. and 3D… To be honest I can’t focus on the same thing for long, after a while I get bored and have to try something new and challenging, not sure if this is a good thing.. But filmmaking is working for now.

What is Escape about?

Escape is about the custom motorcycle scene in Portugal and the reason why people choose to go through all the trouble of customising a bike instead of just get a new one of the shelf. I explore the emotional process that goes into the making of your own unique bike, a choice that seems illogical but at the same time the right one. I found that very intriguing when the custom Café Racer style resurfaced, I realised people build a relationship with their bike, it’s not just a commodity.

An anecdote about your filming?

After I got a support from Mondim de Bastos’s county, I was able to shoot the inicial sequence of the film there and with a full team of sound engineers, drone crew and production assistants. Two days before the shoot, the driver we found to be the subject of this shoot said he had misunderstood the date and that he couldn’t make it, I had everything set up and no actor, so I made the best use of social media and frantically posted messages in motorcycle facebook groups asking for help. The night before shooting day, I received a call from Ulaak José, a lawyer, offering his time (and bike) to spend the night at a local hostel and shoot at sunrise in the middle of a juridical process. I couldn’t believe my luck, this really shows the mentality of the motorcycle community. I am a motorcycle rider, that’s what made me start this project in the first place, this was just one of the many friend I made during the process of making this documentary.

It was a premiere for Escape in France, what does it represent for you?

Well I was actually born in France, Blois to be exact. So it was pretty special, I couldn’t think of a better place to premiere my film internationally!

What is next for Fábio Barros?

I will just continue to grow doing what makes me happy. I would really like to make travel related films, as well as fictional. Let’s see what the future brings!