Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
When I was 18, I went to work on a set where they were shooting stop-motion commercials for high-fashion brands. The clients, in addition to the director's video, also requested the making of the video itself. One day the video maker who oversaw this was sick and the director said, "Come on, why don't you try doing it?" With the help of a very nice French girl who was working on that set, I cracked Premiere Pro on my computer and then got busy learning how to use it and being able to get something out of the material I had shot - it was a story with a happy ending! The director called me back, and I gradually acquired the skills to shoot my own projects.
Tell us about ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. How do you describe it?
It is an experimental video in the strict sense of the word. Benjamin makes hypotheses about the relationship between photography, cinema, and the value of the work of art, and I test them through the very medium he is talking about. I give an example: Benjamin argues that with mechanical reproduction the work of art loses its authenticity because it no longer exists in a single space and time. I show that what he says is true through the elliptical montage of the photo of the Pirellone skyscraper, and meanwhile, I try to explore what the consequences might be for the viewer in a very personal way, telling the story of my friend Giulia. I think this short film is also very ironic. There is a clear desire on my part to downplay scary themes like this. This short film allowed me to express my anguish "for what lies on the horizon," but it also gave me the opportunity to take the viewer by the hand is take them into the candid and intimate world of three Italian college students.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
Billy Wilder, Fellini and Fassbinder are the filmmakers I love the most. Billy Wilder was an exceptional writer with an unparalleled intelligence and sense of humor. I think only great artists like him can observe the human psyche in such a careful way and return it to art in such a dramatic and entertaining way. Fellini's films compared to Wilder's are even more personal. Otto e mezzo, La Dolce Vita, I Vitelloni are such introspective films that they resemble novels. I love his films because we seem to have access to the very personal world of wonder in which the author lives. Fassbinder, I love him for a thousand different reasons but mostly for the portraits of ladies he is able to make in his films. They are truly interesting characters, full of contradictions, desires for emancipation, and impulses to submit, who find ways to navigate the difficulties of life, often endowed with power that they wield in an indirect way.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
I am currently writing the screenplay for a feature film called Prey of the Wind. It tells the story of an unstable, passionate girl in a disastrous economic situation who escapes from a hellish boarding school in the UK and reaches Rome during a pandemic to reunite with the boy that swept her off her feet. Clearly, this is a very different project from The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. This is a coming-of-age movie that I wrote respecting the classic Hollywood narrative structure in three acts. I really believe in this idea, the passion of the protagonist is the driving force of the story, and through the development of the story I think the viewer will be able to understand why she is willing to do anything for the love of a semi-stranger. I am especially proud of the tragic ending, which shows how each young individual is forced to mature by the means available to them. I am sure it will not leave viewers indifferent, who will surely have something to say about this unexpected but inevitable conclusion. In the short term I will continue to work on smaller projects, but in the meantime, I will continue to refine this script, hoping that one day this project may become a film.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
My productions are small, so I've never had much trouble making sure that production was on schedule. However, I think that working extensively on pre-production is always very important regardless of the size of the production. In addition to storyboarding, I think it is helpful to do a breakdown of the script that includes the characters, locations, and props required for each scene. Numbering the scenes according to their importance can help. This way, more time can be spent on the most significant scenes. It is equally important to collaborate with reliable and passionate people and make sure you are on the same page as other collaborators.
What was the hardest part of making ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’.
Shooting the part in the interiors. I did not use a storyboard to guide me in composing the shots for this short film. I remember feeling a little uneasy because I didn't know if the material I was shooting would allow me to make the cuts that I imagined I would make at the time of editing. I think not using a storyboard in this case had its advantages. My short film is somewhere between a documentary and an intimate diary, and not having a storyboard allowed me more creativity during filming.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
The next short film I would like to shoot is about an ethereal and unstable girl who formerly worked as a set designer, no longer able to stand the ghost of her late lover, a famous director, she decides one night to break into a movie set in a desperate attempt to rid herself of his haunting memory when she is caught by an honest and stern policeman who wants to arrest her for trespassing. I am currently writing the screenplay. I think the story has a lot of potential but shooting it exactly the way I imagine it will not be so easy. It is a narrative short film with emotionally charged scenes with high tension. My actors will have to be ready for anything in their performance, and I will have to work extensively on the storyboard so that every line in the script acquires even more meaning through compelling shots.
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