Despite growing up in Luxembourg’s Minett region, Dominique Santana, a Brazilian-Luxembourgish historian, never could have imagined the discoveries that awaited her in Brazil. After completing her studies, she relocated to Brazil with her husband, initiaély intending to reconnect her with her own roots.
Pure coincidence led Dominique Santana to discover the Brazilian-Luxembourgish community of João Monlevade, primarily composed of individuals from the Minett region. As a historian, Dominique Santana found the history of this community interesting. Together with her husband, she flew to Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Brazilian federated state of Minas Gerais. There, they discovered that an entire neighbourhood located next to the hospital was named after Luxembourg.
Next stop on their journey: João Monlevade. After a lengthy car journey through the Terres Rouges from Belo Horizonte, the couple reached their destination, where the steel mill of Arcelor Mittal still stands. Upon receiving a warm welcome from the locals and upon admiring the works of Arcelor Mittal, the researcher quickly noticed the uniqueness of Monlevade’s story, realising that it had remained largely untold. ”And if I don’t do it, then who will?” she wondered.
And so, her goal was set: Dominique Santana wants to narrate the story of the “A Colônia Luxemburguesa” in her Ph.D. dissertation. However, for the historian, who has always enjoyed an inherent artistic spirit, the story needs to be told differently. She seeks to show that history extends beyond mere facts, illustrating its integral connection to society.
Ironically, she returned to Luxembourg for her Ph.D. Despite initially traveling to Brazil to explore her Brazilian roots, Dominique Santana ralised that she ended up “discovering Luxembourg”.
After the National Research Fund (FNR) approved her file in October 2017, Dominique Santana commenced her research at the C2DH, the Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History. She considers it the “perfect place” for “being allowed creative liberties in historical research”. The C2DH’s significant objective is to “bridge the gap between history and the people, even through the use of digital media”.
The director of the C2DH, Professor Andreas Fickers, who is also the researcher’s Ph.D. supervisor, enthusiastically embraced the idea of creating a documentary on the subject. Despite the lack of resources at the C2DH, Dominique Santana has taken on the task of securing them herself, viewing it as just another “challenge” to overcome. Collaborating with the CNA, the National Audiovisual Centre, one of her main project partners, Santana successfully navigated this initial obstacle.
In the CNA’s facilities, she uncovered “boxes full of photos of Luxembourgish people, expired passports, filmed footage, and much more” related to the history of Arcelor Mittal — each item, in her view, simply “waiting to be discovered”.
The next collaborator to join the venture was Samsa Film.
As a researcher, Santana had never ventured into filmmaking, but with the assistance of Samsa Film, she gained the necessary professional support for her project. Regarding project financing, she received support from the Film fund. She acknowledges that “without them, we would not have been able to bring the whole production of the project to its feet because the FNR mainly focuses on the research aspect. As the project expanded, a fantastic opportunity arose to collaborate with Esch2022, where our subject seamlessly aligned: ‘Minett, Remix, Stolindustrie, Immigratioun a Brasilien’ (Minett, Remix, Steelwork, Immigration in Brasil)”.
With a clear goal of bringing her research closer to society, Dominique Santana embarked on her adventure. However, in addition to the stress associated with producing a documentary and her dissertation, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced an extra layer of complexity.
Constantly changing protective measures created uncertainty about when the crew could return to Brazil, whether the financing would endure the pandemic, and every COVID-19 test became an additional source of stress. Nevertheless, the people of João Monlevade warmly welcomed Santana and her team. Initially surprised that “people were still interested in them after all this time,” they felt “honored to be able to tell their story and be part of history”.
The same reaction could be felt in February of last year in Belo Horizonte. The movie and its associated web page were unveiled during a significant event. “People were seeing each other for the first time in decades on the screen; you can only imagine the emotion that was felt in the room. We were also quite a big delegation – about 20 people came over from Luxembourg, and even the film crew was present to celebrate this launch. The CNA, the C2DH, Samsa Film were represented and even the Luxembourgish embassy was there. Seeing the emotions, the tears and the sheer happiness was simply priceless. As a researcher I felt accomplished, all my hard work, my efforts and my sacrifices paid off. Everything was worth this moment.”
According to Santana: “An important challenge over the course of my 4-year PhD was to keep a balance between my role as a researcher and as a film director.” This period was a time of significant learning, characterised by what she describes as “a nice cooperation between the professional world and the academic world.”
Nevertheless, it was also fraught with doubts. Santana, not fitting the mold of a typical researcher, wasn’t confined to a desk but instead traveled with a film crew, connecting with people. “Am I an academic or a film director? Can I be both? Where will I find the energy to actually write my thesis? Will my work be recognized by the academic/scientific world?” A glimmer of hope came in the form of the FNR Award 2023, which the researcher received for her “Outstanding Promotion of Science to the public”. This award is a statement that signifies growing interest in “bridging the gap between the people and history,” and that the “FNR is ready to support this endeavor.”
However, the biggest honour for Santana was the human impact of her project, specifically on the people of Monlevade. Many of them learned about their rich history through this project. Even though they went to school with Luxembourgish names, lived on streets named after famous Luxembourgers they had no idea why, until Santana’s arrival in the community. People claimed that they had no idea how multicultural Monlevade was, and that so many Europeans once lived there. Through Santana’s work, they were able to discover their history and heritage. “For me as a researcher, this is the greatest reward, and I am thrilled that my work helped them with that”, says Santana.
The project “A Colônia Luxemburguesa” had a notable impact in Luxembourg as well. During Esch2022 at Belval, Luxembourgers had the opportunity to learn more about the “Brazilian Minett.” Similar to João Monlevade, there was a so-called "[L]aço Kiosk.” Through this kiosk, individuals could delve deeper into the project via a Facetime call with the kiosk in Monlevade. Santana aimed to “underline a more personal and physical interaction with the project” through this digital connection.
The project garnered significant promotion, with Grand-Duke Henri being the first person to make a call via the screens. Santana fulfilled her dream of involving the youth, who might not know much about history, in her work. It was an exciting experience, especially for Felix and Leo, who, through this initiative, spent seven months in Brazil. They were warmly welcomed by Monlevade, and Felix, who didn’t speak a word of Portuguese before, even became fluent. Together with Kayla and Anderson, two volunteers who assisted in Belval, they managed both "[L]aço Kiosks.”
Recently, the researcher has also started her new project. A project that is ideally suited to mix history and media. Even while working on “A Colônia Luxemburguesa”, Bernard Michaux and Paul Lesch, the then-director of CNA, repeatedly discussed a project ‘Radio Luxembourg’.
After searching for a new project and settling on a theme, it became clear to Santana that Radio Lëtzebuerg wasn’t just a small radio station but a “global player in media history”. Similar to her previous project, she aims to go beyond mere facts and delve into the decades-long societal impact of Radio Lëtzebuerg.
“To truly analyse this societal impact, we focus on the people who have first-hand experience with the radio station. We want to concentrate not only on the people who worked for the station in Villa Louvigny but also on the individuals who listened to it in Luxembourg and in different countries like England, Finland, or even Western Europe during the Cold War. Radio Lëtzebuerg was listened to everywhere. This was during a time without the internet, and the station managed to have millions of listeners. This must make us think about the impact that the radio station had on Europe”.
Dominique Santana was bestowed with the title of “honorary citizen of João Monlevade,” and for her, history is “an essential part of society that should be made more inclusive. And it is my duty as a researcher, but also as a film director, to push things in the right direction.”
To know more about the project and the history of the Brazilian-Luxembourgish community visit the the webpage www.colonia.lu.
Dominique also dropped in for a chat on the Lisa Burke Show, and you can catch Lisa’s interview with her over on RTL Play right now.
