festival del cinema di venezia
11 Dec
BACKSTAGE STORIES, cinema

AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL. A STORY WITHIN HISTORY

This story tells how I got to the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, but it also contains the story of a moment immortalized from two opposite points of view thanks to a smile stolen from… Shia LaBeouf.

I had always dreamed of photographing actors at the Venice Film Festival, on that famous Red Carpet, but I had never had the contacts or even the opportunity to get there. The year was 2012. That afternoon I was surfing Facebook. I received a message from a certain Gabriele who asked me if I was available to go and do some shooting at the Venice Film Festival for his film magazine, Kinematrix. I don’t believe it! Obviously I immediately gave him my availability, and immediately afterwards he revealed to me that he had the wrong person: he was convinced he was talking to another photographer that he had found on some professional page, but in the end, since we had met, he confirmed me; and this is the first story that for me is incredible!

I finally land at the Festival. From the very first day I had a post venice film festival>in the BlackBlock, a room set up specifically for photographers, with high steps like bleachers, from which we can immortalise actors and directors for various magazines. And so I find myself in front of a list of actors that I have always adored, ready to look into the lens for us. Photographer Winona Ryder, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Redford, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michael Shannon, James Franco, Pierce Brosnan and of course Shia LaBeouf, who when he arrives on the BlackBlock there is no way to make him smile. How serious! It’s not a funeral! All the photographers shouted “Smile please!” at him, but nothing. As the evening comes, all the photographers, including me, find themselves lined up along the Red Carpet, split in half on both sides. The parade of actors and directors arrives, and again we immortalize them and shout their names hoping that they will look into our lens and give us some interesting, unique expression.

Shia LaBeouf’s moment arrives: he walks down the red carpet and everyone yells at him to smile, but nothing. A unique pout, perhaps to maintain character, who knows. He continues his walk, when he arrives in front of my station. All the photographers are busy shooting from behind their cameras and I, in that moment, keeping my finger ready on the “trigger” like a sniper, reveal my face from behind the camera, look Shia LaBeouf straight in the eyes and when he meets my gaze, I give him a giant smile that he can’t resist, and he returns it! At that moment I took the photo and immortalized her long-awaited expression, while my fellow photographers who saw the scene shouted at me “Bravaaaa!!!” And, just as I capture the actor smiling, a photographer on the other side of the red carpet captures me smiling at Shia. And here is the magic of a double shot that tells a moment captured from two opposite and complementary points of view…

Click here to see more photos from the Venice Film Festival

20 Nov
BACKSTAGE STORIES

WHY HOST A FILM CREW IN THE SPINAL UNIT

The film crew that stayed for a few days at the Spinal Unit is working on a thriller film entitled “Spyne”, written by Paolo Fittipaldi, directed by Anna Antonelli and produced by Creations Factory with the support of Liguria Film Commission where they won the FILSE call for film production.

Although the film is a thriller, it deals with the story of a person with a spinal cord injury, which is a unique opportunity to acquaint the general public with the existence of our department and, more generally, the Spinal Units. The decision to set some of the filming in this setting not only provides visibility for the facility, but also helps to raise awareness of a wide audience on a complex issue such as myelopathy, bringing to the attention of many the rehabilitation challenges that patients face on a daily basis.

Compared to a docu-film devoted entirely to myelopathy, which is aimed primarily at a niche audience consisting mostly of insiders, health professionals, or directly affected people, a genre film such as a thriller has the potential to reach a much wider audience. This implies a greater dissemination of the topic of rehabilitation while not treating the rehabilitation process in a detailed and scientifically unimpeachable manner.

The main advantage of a fictional film is that, because of its captivating plot and the popularity of the actors involved, it can attract the interest of viewers who would otherwise never delve into issues such as spinal cord injury and the rehabilitation journey. This broadening of the catchment area makes it possible to reach people who do not usually attend documentaries or medical information programs. Although the film will not offer an accurate and detailed depiction of the rehabilitation process, it does include scenes showing rehabilitation processes, providing the general public with information on how functional recovery occurs after spinal cord injury.

Another aspect to consider is the emotional impact the film can have. A work of fiction has the ability to create an emotional connection between the audience and the subject matter, thereby increasing awareness and empathy toward people with spinal cord injury. This kind of emotional involvement can have a more lasting effect than a documentary, prompting the viewer to reflect not only on the case narrated in the film, but also on real cases and the difficulties faced by para and quadriplegic people in daily life.

Enhancement of medical and health personnel.
The footage will highlight not only the department itself, but also the work of the professionals working there, showing their commitment and expertise in caring for patients with spinal cord injuries. This can help increase staff pride and improve the image of the entire health facility.

Impulse social inclusion and destigmatization.
Seeing a care setting represented in a cinematic context can help reduce the stigma associated with disability by promoting an inclusive and respectful view of people living with spinal cord injury and other disabilities. This can positively affect how the public perceives these people in daily life.

Increased visibility of the facility in the film and media landscape.
Participation in a film project can position the spinal unit as a focal point for possible future productions, attract educational or documentary projects, and foster collaborations with production companies or organizations interested in promoting health-related issues.

Therapeutic effect on patients’ psyche.
In addition to the distraction and disruption of hospital routine, the presence of a film crew can provide patients with an experience that can relieve the monotony and tension associated with prolonged hospitalization. Curiosity and excitement about an unusual event could even have beneficial effects on patients’ mood and foster a more positive mental attitude during rehabilitation.

Promoting collaboration between art and health care: This initiative demonstrates a synergy between two seemingly distant fields such as art and medicine. Film can be a powerful tool for telling stories of resilience and recovery, and allowing filming in the ward can be seen as a way to support positive life and health narratives.

Having closely followed and monitored , as is my duty, the interactions between the health care team and the film crew, I can testify how an initial transformation in the attitude of the director, actors sound engineers, actors , makeup artists and many other staff (whose names I have yet to learn) already took place as the days went by inside the ward. The level of knowledge of the problem has certainly increased in all of them. This is a foundation stone for the construction of artistic creations ever closer to reality where correct information is married with the creative genius of the artist that makes it pleasant and interesting to “listen ” to the narrative.

Direct contact with the dynamics of a complex context of care and rehabilitation such as the Spinal Unit has aroused curiosity in all of them, which, once satisfied, will determine the basis for artistic creations that are increasingly relevant to reality.

They began to perceive more clearly the daily challenges, emotions and personal stories that are intertwined in such a sensitive environment. This contact contributes to not only professional but also human growth, fostering a narrative that becomes increasingly adherent to the complexities of “rehabilitating the person.”

This builds fertile ground for the creation of artistic works that, while retaining the artist’s creative touch, manage to convey correct and detailed information regarding health issues. This is a fundamental basis for telling authentic stories that can inspire, raise awareness and bring audiences closer to difficult realities, making it “enjoyable” to listen to and understand complex issues.

Moreover, this collaboration can help break the stereotype of a distant and technical medicine, showing it instead as a human journey, where patients are protagonists and their stories become central. Art, in this sense, has the unique ability to humanize medicine, to tell the story of care as a deeply relational act in which emotions, empathy and humanity play a key role.

In conclusion, the initiative to promote collaboration between art and health care is a foundation stone for building an ever truer and deeper narrative of the world of health care. In fact, the fusion of correct information and artistic creativity can educate, excite, and ultimately contribute to a positive change in the social perception of medicine, the sick person, and the treatment process.

I hope I made the right choice in facilitating the Spinal Unit team’s participation in a large-scale film project.

Some additional sacrifice was required of the department’s professionals (doctors, nurses, OSS, physiotherapists, psychologists and administrative staff) who had to shoulder some extra constraints on their actions to make room for the needs of the film crew.

I hope, however, that, if not in the immediate term at least in the medium term, their sacrifice can be repaid by a media buzz that will bring a wide audience to learn about the complex realm of human interactions created within the Spinal Unit, the resilience of patients and their families, the self-sacrifice of professionals and the challenges they face .

Antonino Massone
Chief of Santa Corona Hospital, Pietra Ligure

backstage
14 Nov
BACKSTAGE STORIES

ALE, FRANZ…AND HITCOCK

Sometimes life surprises me with really unexpected situations. Sometimes it is as if the dreams I had as a child suddenly materialized, once forgotten.

When I was in high school, my father and I didn’t miss an episode of Zelig. How good it was to laugh together on the sofa! And we watched it, all of it, all the way to the end, because at the end was them, Ale and Franz, or rather say Fitz and Gin. We loved that schetch of theirs!

Ale and Franz backstageAnd then years go by, more or less 20, and from Friuli, I find myself living in Milan. And it happens one day, that. I find myself in a tiny restaurant in the Bovisa area, that in the table next to mine I see sitting just them: Ale and Franz! Heartbreak!!! I didn’t want to be the one to get up and go ask him for an autograph though…it seemed priori unfashionable 😉
So I my brain was strategizing so that I could at least talk to him a little bit, when I see Ale getting up from the table, and going outside to smoke cigarettes.
Bingo! I also go out and, I sneak him a cigarette (which never goes out of style!) and from there we start chatting, exchange numbers, keep in touch and become friends!

How strange to think of me as a little girl on the couch waiting to see them on TV and now I know them!
But this is just the premise to tell you about a specific day when something happened that is even more unbelievable.

That day I had an appointment in a studio with Ale and Franz to do a photo shoot from which we would later select photos for the poster of their new Comincium tour. First unavoidable stop: cafe coffee all together. While we were there between chats and coffee, Franz looks out the window and makes a strange face. The light outside darkens, as if it were suddenly cloudy. We all turn around and open-mouthed walk out of the bar. A gruesome spectacle! A flock of birds, just like in Hitchcock’s film, swoops down on the strange and passing cars. A truly splatter scene of which I will not show you photos to let you sleep sound dreams…because what an impression! We did not understand how this was possible. It was as if they lost altitude and could in no way climb back up from that nefarious landing.

We rush out to rescue them by dodging cars and leave the survivors in the hands of animal protection. Uneasy, we returned to the bar, paid for our coffees and finally went to do our photo shoot: crossing the threshold of the pose room was like entering another dimension, the right one! The one we were supposed to be in! And the service went very well. What a crazy memory to think about, though!

Anna Antonelli

14 Dec
BACKSTAGE STORIES

DREAMS IN THE DRAWER

There are ideas that come to mind and remain locked in a drawer for years-that is, locked in a computer in our case. Sometimes these ideas don’t come to fruition, sometimes you make “pork out of them” as they say in the jargon, i.e., you take some ideas from them that are then used to do something else, just as Dr. Frankenstein or a good mechanic would do if you were talking about engines. No throwing anything away! But there is also the possibility that one day, by luck or stubbornness, of meeting someone who says to you, “Fitti, look, we could use something to propose for a big network. A nice, original format for kids.” Boom! When something like that happens, as you’re doing your mental thinking, what happens is that suddenly the drawer opens and there it is: the idea comes back and starts to take shape.
When together with Anna and our team, the opportunity came to present a bouquet of ideas to be pitched to a major international network, the moment I had been waiting for a very long time finally arrived.

Certainly an idea without meticulous and articulate work is just another idea, but when you put together a close-knit, creative and prolific team like ours, a dream can become something bigger. We cannot reveal anything yet, you will have to make do with the photos you see here, but we are very confident and will soon reveal our secrets.

After 6 months of hard work, we finally managed to record the pilot episode of our fun children’s program (we’ll give you some hints, come on) and it was certainly no picnic. While I was writing the script, organizing all the work involved in making such a zero episode was at times delirious, and Anna knows this very well, since she followed everything down to the last detail.

The pre-production, in fact, required efforts on several fronts, the most important of which was the creation of the lead puppets (here, another clue!) but thanks to our “Deus ex-machina,” the very talented ventriloquist Samuel, and our irreplaceable Jefte, we were able to build everything we needed: from the puppets to the set design, from the contrivances to hide our tricks to the characterization of the characters. The result is a children’s format to be proud of — and we can’t wait to show it to you. Funny, ventriloquist, puppets–in short, we’ve given you plenty of clues, but I want to give you one more: if I say “Talk show,” what comes to mind for you?