Dividing her time between Portugal and Canada, the actress known for the series ‘Mulheres Assim’ and ‘Ministério do Tempo’ has undergone specific training for her new position at the American institution IDC – Intimacy Directors Coordinators and received her certification from the Screen Actors Guild in the United States.
Prior to the workshop she will lead today in Espinho as part of the FEST — New Directors New Cinema Festival, where she will discuss the advantages of hiring an intimacy coordinator in film, television, theater, and other audiovisual fields, Helena Canhoto anticipated some initial reluctance in hiring these professionals, but she believes the role will become gradually and irrevocably established.
“Many actors and directors want to hire an intimacy coordinator, but the biggest resistance always comes from production, which claims there is no budget for it,” stated the professional in an interview. “However, the reality is that there were other professions that faced the same issue, such as casting directors or stunt coordinators, and now nobody goes without them because it became clear that they improve everyone’s work and ensure more safety and authenticity during filming,” she argued.
Helena Canhoto draws from her own acting career to identify constraints that made her work difficult a few years ago, before the role of intimacy coordinator became a requirement in productions that demanded particular bodily exposure from performers.
“Exposing myself physically and doing nude scenes was always very paralyzing for me and I felt unsupported,” she explained. “There was one project in particular that involved portraying foreplay with an actor who was a boyfriend of a friend of mine, and it was even more awkward — I ended up distancing myself from both of them due to the discomfort of the whole situation,” she admitted.
The actress’s anxiety only diminished when she received training from Canadian Stéphanie Breton and found herself “passionate” about her approach to intimacy in front of the camera. “I felt that finally there was a solution for many actors I know and that there is an entire choreography that can be defined to make these scenes more realistic and convincing — not necessarily more comfortable, because it is never comfortable to shoot nude scenes, but at least not so constraining or hindering the best possible performance,” she recalled.
Labored breathing, arching back and shoulders, strategic positioning for partial breast concealment, and the use of technical underwear are some of the techniques that professionals interpreting intimate situations can rehearse under a coordinator’s guidance. These coordinators, in addition to defining each person’s personal limits and properly choreographing sex, birth, and other simulated body interactions, also intervene in the contractual negotiation of the degree of physical exposure to be introduced at each stage of the plot.
Helena Canhoto also provides an example as an actress: “I had a job where the first scene with the actor playing my boyfriend was a tongue kiss. And it didn’t make any sense because it was a meeting at the restaurant door, before dinner. The issue was that this job was for an important production by the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation], and that would inhibit me from talking to the director — but since we had an intimacy coordinator, it only took me 30 seconds to explain my position to her, and she mediated, and they corrected it immediately.”
Given that inhibition and discomfort with more intimate scenes can generate significant anxiety, insecurity, frustration, and even depression, which, in fact, is not limited to actors and can also affect other professionals present on the set, the new coordinator believes her work helps to prevent psychological issues, improve performances, reduce the number of takes, and shorten filming duration, ultimately helping to control production costs.
“I don’t want to impose anything — I just want to collaborate and support those in this complex and delicate work situation,” assures Helena Canhoto. “And when producers understand that intimacy coordinators are their allies, they will also realize there are other advantages to hiring them, as there are specific European funds for employing these professionals and their presence guarantees a better rating in the system for accessing community funds,” she concludes.
