2020 | A tale of towns and cities: Amersham
Title: A tale of town and cities: Amersham
Year: 2020
Length: 4′ + 5′
Role: Director/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Editor/ Camera Operator (as Interspace Studios LTD)
Production notes: A short film documentary about a town – Amersham – and its pace, its landscapes and its people.
Crew: Marco Venditti/ Charlie Dolby
Technicals: Colour / Shot on a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema
Filming Location: Amersham, UK.
More Info: Website
Foreword
A few months ago we shot a short documentary film that we’ve never shared for a number of reasons [which we will mention in the second part of this article].
Now, given the circumstances, we strongly believe that the time to share this has come: it is a love letter to the territories we live in, a memo to remind ourselves of who we are and of the beauty around us, which is sometimes drowned out by the noise. We hope this can help you in some way.
Ian Morrison
Ian Morrison, the protagonist of the central part of the film is an antique dealer who runs a market in the Old Town of Amersham (Buckinghamshire, U.K.)
Every Saturday, Ian takes hours to set up his market. He belongs to a category of people who seek the beauty of things and display it: his market is a wall against sadness, fear and melancholy. It’s something that is human, just like some of the things you can find on his stall.
Ian is unique, just like everyone, and he is not alone in offering a shelter from ugliness. But exactly like many other people in the world, he too can’t work these days: the market is suspended.
This is an interview we’ve shot with him and it’s a sign of our hope that eventually, he’ll be back to warm this world, together with everyone else:
Brief and necessary note about the film.
Interspace Studios (Website/ Twitter) is the creative project I share with Charlie Souster Dolby. We’ve shot this divertissement halfway through 2019 and have never shared it for a few reasons: for example, it’s been shot in a very short time and with limited tools – as you probably have noticed in a few bits.
But one of the biggest reasons lies in the fact that we tried to contact the author of the song through all the channels available online. Unfortunately, we never got an answer. Obviously, we don’t want to open any controversy, on the contrary, we know that there are commitments, motivations or even previous cases that made the artist [or the management] decide not to answer.
However, we believed and still believe, that the Peter Silberman track – which deals with a painful and personal self-isolation from a city like New York – is the perfect music for the tone we wanted to give to the film and for the warmth it gives off. Especially these days, it is a music that cradles the film and those who watch it and adheres perfectly to the images we shot [also giving a “city” reverse-shot to the footage – hence the title A Tale of Towns & Cities together with the Dickens’ book we found on Ian’s stall].
Given the circumstances, we decided to force the hand a bit and do something we ordinarily would never have done: we used his music without having received an answer. This project is a non-commercial one: we don’t earn anything out of it [and monetization is automatically activated on the YouTube video with total compensation to the artist and / or copyright holders].
We hope that the artist will not find something wrong in what we are doing, on the contrary, we hope that they are able to perceive the goodwill behind our decision. In any case, should there be any problems, we will have no hesitation in removing the video and possibly reassembling it in another way. Peter Silberman is still among our favourite artists and we invite everyone to listen to his album Impermanence and his work with the band The Antlers.
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2019 | Julia – The Series
“Julia! You stay, you’re family, remember?”
Title: Julia – The Series
Year: 2019
Length: 5 episodes x ca 12′ each
Role: Director (x 4 ep.)/ Editor (x 5 ep.)/ Writer (final ep.)
Synopsis: Luca finds a wallet outside a club. It belongs to a girl named Julia and he decides he wants to give it back to her. Sounds easy right? It’s not gonna be.
Distribution: Julia The Series was presented on some international festivals. It also received 3 nominations at the UKOWF for the following categories: best director, best web-series, best actress in a leading role. It won the award for best web-series.
DoP: Luigi Mangia
Filming Location: London, UK.
To watch all the episodes, scroll down:
Please, watch it in 1080p and not in 4k, as this was a mistake in the way the files were uploaded onto YouTube made by whoever uploaded it.
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2019 | Ninety+Five
“And then…we score.”
Title: Ninety + Five
Year: 2019
Length: 10′
Role: Editor (as Interspace Studios LTD)
Production notes: Ninety+Five is a short form documentary about the football game Ajax Vs Tottenham Hotspurs valid for the access to the Champions’ League Finals.
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2016 | Per qualche nota di sapore
“Spero che nessuno veda nulla o sarò costretto a fingere…”
Title: Per qualche nota di sapore (tr. For some notes of flavour)
Year: 2016
Length: 43′
Role: Director/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Editor/ Colour Grader/ Sound Mixer/ VFX
Synopsis: Paolo is a young musician who wants to live and work with his music. His passion though is affecting his life: he must work and create even when he’s not inspired to do so (what is the inspiration after all?). We find him working on a new record, but the investors are not that happy about his work. The life-work-art circuit is quite complex and Paolo, psychologically damaged, is at a point of no return. This inevitably leads him to a clash with the life: he’s just searching for some notes of flavour for his life. What price will he have to pay? And what the result?
Distribution: “Per qualche nota di sapore” was presented on some international festivals and it was chosen as finalist in the L.A. based IndustryBoost Competition.
DoP: Luigi Mangia
Cast: Mauro Tiberi, Gloria Mariani, Emiliano De Magistris, Filippo Barbato, Angelo Tavella, Paolino Di Biasio
Music: Lee Rosevere, Mscaras, VYVCH, Cherly KaCherly, Doctor Turtle, Sergey Cheremisinov, Will Bangs, Kosta T, Alex Fitch
Crew: Walter Quarto, Mia Castagnino, Paolino Di Biasio, Andrea Petrelli
Technicals: 1:78/ Colour / Shot on a Canon EOS 60D/ Italian/ English Subtitles.
Filming Location: Roma, Italy.
Trailer:
Film:
The entire film is available on YOUTUBE, but please if you like it or simply want to help – we’re an independent production company – you can buy it HERE.
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2015 | Parlami d’amore, Mario.
Title: Parlami d’amore, Mario (tr. Tell me about love, Mario.)
Year: 2015
Length: 63′
Role: Editor/ Colour Grader
Production notes: A documentary film about the cinema of Mario Camerini, one of the great italian directors. Directed by Vito Zagarrio and edited by Marco Venditti it’s been presented at the festival “Santa Marinella” in 2015. This documentary relies on the accounts of him made by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Mario Monicelli, Franco Interlenghi and many more that retrace the career of Mario Camerini.
Director: Vito Zagarrio
Production: Centro Produzione Audiovisivi
Technicals: 1.33:1/ Colour + Black and White/
Filming Location: Roma, Italy.
Where to watch it: password restricted due to distribution rights, please contact me if you have any query in regards.
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2015 | Massimo
“Perché stando coi giovani, nun te poi permette di invecchiare”
Title: Massimo
Year: 2014
Length: 7′
Role: Director/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Editor/ Sound Mixer
Production notes:The objective for this short documentary was to focus on faces. Rome is a city with thousands of different faces, many of them share with the city itself the sign of the history. The face, the (hi)story that we wanted to follow is about the porter of a student house that can be found in Rome and who everyday of his life has got to coordinate entrances and exits of young people coming from every part of the world. Realised for “Laboratorio di cinema documentario” (prof. G. Pannone)
DoP: Luigi Mangia
Cast: Massimo Baieri
Music: Get the blessing, Tom Waits
Crew: Sonja Stegic/ Cecilia Carlini/ Fabiola Di Renzo
Technicals: 1:78/ Colour / Shot on a Canon EOS 60D/ Italian
Filming Location: Roma, Italy.
Where to watch it: password restricted due to distribution rights, please contact me if you have any query in regards.
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2014 | L’età dell’incertezza
“Si. Questa volta lo so. Uscire fuori, cambiare.”
Title: L’età dell’incertezza (tr. Age of uncertainty)
Year: 2014
Length: 17′
Role: Director/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Editor/ Colour Grader/ Sound Mixer
Synopsis: A man runs back to his home: he feels chased and the noise coming from outside is digging a hole in his brain and the feeling of paranoia has taken over. He decides to live and hide within the walls of his apartment and of his mind. He’s locked in and organizes a solitary life that leads him to a complete stagnation from which he can’t seem to be able to move anymore.
The outside is still trying to reach him and the social life to capture him: he knows well that a man can’t live on his own for his entire life. What should he do? Go beyond the curtain and enter the scene o stay outside of it all destined for sterility. He must take control back, facing his own roots and take a decision that will change his life forever. He lives the age of uncertainty, that place, that time that we all lived when facing an important choice: go out and change or let ourselves be won by the immobility and the quietness?
Production notes: “L’età dell’incertezza” was presented on some international festival and was a finalist at the “Cartabianca” festival in Rome.
DoP: Luigi Mangia
Cast: Mauro Tiberi, Veronica Marra, Michele Cacciotti, Angela Silter
Music: Francesco Giangrande
Crew: Andrea Petrelli, Flavio Scuotto, Walter Quarto, Samira Mangione Oppo, Federica Marra, Angela Silter, Fabio Langella, Banadraw
Technicals: 1:78/ Colour / Shot on a Canon EOS 60D/ Italian/ English Subtitles.
Filming Location: Roma, Italy.
The film is available on youtube, but please if you like it or simply want to help – we’re an independent production company – you can buy it here
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2011 | L’anello
“Non posso dirti cosa è giusto o cosa è sbagliato”
Title: L’anello
Year: 2011
Length: 14′
Role: Director/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Editor/ Colour Grader/ Sound Mixer/ Camera Operator/ Music
Synopsis: Mr. President is in troubles and the very same people behind him, that helped him, are now leaving him alone. An ethical dilemma is at the core of this short film: a dilemma that had the entire society hanging on and which see a change that as Tomasi di Lampedusa pointed out, ultimately will not lead to anything different.
Production notes: “L’anello” was presented on some international festival and was played in other Countries.
Cast: Flavio Scuotto, Giuseppe Di Matteo, Roberto Venditti
Crew: Francesco Cerrone, Luciano Tarantino, Jonathan Cacace
Technicals: 16:9/ Black and White + Colour / Shot on a SONY HVR-HD1000E
Filming Location: Napoli, Italy.
2011 | Would you like a coffee?
“Un caffè?”
Title: Would you like a coffee?
Year: 2011
Length: 14′
Role: Director/ Editor/ Producer/ Screenwriter/ Camera Operator
Synopsis: Would you like some coffee? Actually, would you like a coffee? Should we grab one? Coffee? Yeah, coffee! Come up here, I’ll make a coffee! Coffee! Yay! Coffee! Another one? I should be doing something, but, hey…how about a coffee? I seriously need some help.
Music: Lou Reed – Walk on the wild side/ Kevin Ayers – Run Run Run/ Tom Waits – Shore Leave
Cast: Flavio Scuotto, Paolo Amitrano, Marco Venditti, Giuseppe Di Matteo.
Crew: Marco Venditti, Flavio Scuotto
Technicals: 16:9/ Colour/ Silent Film/ Shot on a SONY HVR-HD1000E.
Filming Location: Napoli, Italy
