(ART DIRECTORS) After having signed the art direction of the highly-acclaimed and Oscar®-nominated Central Station (Central do Brasil), Cássio Amarante and Carla Caffé faced the new challenge of living up to director Bruno Barreto expectations for BOSSA NOVA, as Carla Caffé explains: "The basic concept was to create a film which didn't have to be realist, only convincing. Bruno wanted to create a feeling that everything was 5 inches above the ground. He wanted an "ideal Rio de Janeiro", with a romantic atmosphere, a different vibration, without any commitment to reality, date, or time. Our job was to make his vision come true - to make BOSSA NOVA a timeless film, in a timeless Rio. In an ideal Rio."

This "ideal" Rio is also the real Rio, with its stunning natural beauty, such as Arpoador Beach, Botafogo Bay, the view we get from the city as we're approaching by ferry from Niterói, the outline of its mountain chains. "One of our main concerns was to choose locations where you could see Rio through their windows," remembers Cássio Amarante. Carla Caffé reveals she drew inspiration from the American painter David Hockney, who used a "very tropical, strong, colorful" palette.

The great number of locations was also another challenge facing the art directors. "Bruno always envisioned his film with lots of natural vistas of Rio de Janeiro. After all, one of the central issues of the film is how difficult it is to face solitude in Rio, when one looks out of the windows and sees such exuberant landscapes. That's why the characters are always framed by a landscape, seen from the inside. So our basic concept in choosing our locations was to highlight the landscape, show the outside, seen from the inside," says Cássio.