- Being at The New School right now fulfills this external validation need that I have.

It's also a move that says I'm an artist and I'm here to get the tools to become the artist that I know I can be.

(gentle music) My name is Cacau Araujo.

I'm a filmmaker and writer from Brazil based in New York.

At the moment, I'm producing a film that's called Great Find.

(music box playing) It's a short film about objects that people just leave outside in the curbside of New York.

(woman speaking in foreign language) It's really funny, because this film started on this kind of I wanna be a super serious filmmaker and touch upon on social issues.

And, this is a great portrait of how capitalism is ingrained in us and how New York is a city that it's almost like a synonym of that.

What stood out for me was... Kind of this weird, quirky, domestic appliances and furniture stuff was like this little former pieces of someone else's house spread throughout the city.

In this work, we have three layers of characters.

So, we have the objects, the people that interact with the objects, and we have New York.

New York, in a sense, is the background where everything happens.

But, it's also in the foreground of people's lifestyle and how the city is lived.

As I moved with the project, the project started becoming something else.

I'm making a film about stooping and the stuff that are left on the curb.

Have you ever done this?

Like taking stuff out of the street?

- A few times?

I don't know.

It's...

If there's furniture around, I'm looking for it.

- I've helped friends get couches on the subway.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I think that there is this profile of people who does that, kind of, with this intention of someone giving this second life and trying to give a second chance to objects.

It's really nice, because of course it could go to the landfill or whatever.

- Well, you feel guilty, like throwing it in the... Get... Having it go into the landfill.

So, you put it out in the hopes that someone who does want it takes it.

And, then, win-win - I think they're not that different.

The people who put out and the people who pick up.

It's almost like, I don't know, pen-pals, but object pals, you know?

So, in a sense, they're kind of united by an object.

- Found it on my way back from the park and I live on 4th and President, so it's a hike, but I'm gonna make it.

Totally worth it.

- Part of making a film is finding out what is the film that you're making.

I chose a topic that is kind of random and it's on the street.

So, I could stay in front of a sofa for 20 minutes, two hours, three hours, and nobody would come.

And, sometimes, I would just arrive at the moment where someone is just leaving with the thing.

And, I didn't even have the time to film them.

This lack of control was challenging on the sense, but it was also a challenge that I kind of liked to embrace.

- I'm really impressed with the way that Cacau's film developed from being a kind of straightforward critique of capitalism and consumerism.

It's a testament to her kind of openness and curiosity, that she let the material guide her, and she listened to it, and realized that it also really had a lot to do with the psychic life of objects.

(woman speaking in foreign language) - I really think that being a mother makes me a good professional.

Taking care of a kid can take you to the next level at doing anything you can do, because you learn about prioritizing, you learn about patience, resiliency, you learn so much about yourself.

Every time that I'm dealing with something challenging regarding my motherhood, I have to be looking at myself all the time.

It made me more direct.

It made me less scared.

I'm really happy with how the film's looking and with what I'm being able to be doing.

But, I'm also really open to just learn different ways of doing it, because I don't think there's only one way of filmmaking.

I'm really excited to kind of understand what kind of filmmaker and artist I will become from now one.

(gentle music)