Editor's note: The Standard-Times is in Seattle to cover tonight's world premiere of "Passionada" at the Seattle International Film Festival.

By ROBERT LOVINGER, Standard-Times staff writer

  SEATTLE -- The affinity is apparent in a heartbeat.  

RON WURZER/Standard-Times special

                              Helena Marques and Sofia Milos turn heads. They are attractive and a bit larger than life. There is vitality and impatience about them. It's not surprising to learn that among the things they like to do together is run.  And when they're together, as they are here this weekend, they're inseparable. That's the way it was last summer, too, when Ms. Milos was filming "Passionada."   She plays Celia, the central character in the movie, a love story set in and filmed all around New Bedford.

"Passionada" will be unveiled tonight in the Seattle International Film Festival's closing night gala.

Ms. Marques, director of the Immigrants' Assistance Center in New Bedford, came to the United States from the island of Madeira when she was 10. "Passionada's" filmmakers recruited her to be one of their unofficial consultants and to specifically school the Italian-born Ms. Milos in the ways of being Portuguese.

The women struck an instant friendship.

Ms. Marques used to think that when it came to ethnic identity, the Portuguese had most in common with the Spanish. Not any more. Not since she met Ms. Milos. "We talked about our family backgrounds and found they are very similar: Both strict. And we have similar personalities," she says. Ms. Marques was amazed at the actress's ease with Portuguese, a language she hadn't spoken before. "I had her say, 'O cao que ladra nao morde,' which means 'The dog that barks doesn't bite.' She got it right away. I said, 'Are you sure you don't speak Portuguese?'"

Ms. Marques introduced Ms. Milos, whose character is a fado singer, to local fado legend Ana Vinagre for coaching. The actress fell in the love with the music and had no trouble lip-synching it. "I was amazed with her passion for the film," Ms. Marques says. "She became Celia for the time she was filming the movie." Although they e-mail and speak by phone nearly every week, their schedules -- Ms. Milos lives in Rome and Los Angeles -- haven't allowed a reunion since filming concluded last July. That's what this weekend has been about: to talk, walk, run, shop, party, sight-see, and, oh yes, attend the world premiere of "Passionada."

On Friday night, they took in a sunset from atop this city's signature Space Needle, built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Ms. Marques knows that people who have seen "Passionada" say it paints a nice portrait of the city. "But it's also important to me that my culture is represented well in the movie." Asked whether she feels she stands in for the Portuguese of New Bedford here this weekend, she replies, "Yeah, I do."

This story appeared on Page A1 of The Standard-Times on June 16, 2002.

Back to latest news stories

Back to "Passionada" index