L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 6 Monica Manganelli: author of an animated short, selected at L.A. Shorts Fest T he 19 th edition of the L.A. Shorts Fest – running at the L.A . Live in D ow ntow n from S eptember 3 rd to the 10 th – showcased a total of 265 films from 26 countries. This festival's distinguishing feature is that it's officially recognized by the Academ y o f Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the winning shorts from each of its 7 categories may be nominated for the A cademy Awards. Monica Manganelli, a native of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna regio n, w as the only representative of our country at the Festival and the winner for Best Animated Short with her film T he Ballad of the Homeless (2015). Through the follow ing conversation, I had the privilege to become more acquainted with her exquisite artistic sensibility. Mon ica, can you tell u s ab ou t you r artis tic background and studies? I studied Architecture at the Institute of Art "Paolo Toschi," and then Cons ervation of Cultural Heritage/History of Art at the University of Parma, my hometow n. A fterw ards , I specialized in Scenography/Set Design. Actually cinema has always been my greatest passion, since I was a child. However, the opportunity to attend a course on Set Design at the Theatre Regio in P arma (O pera H ous e) presented itself, and my destiny w as marked: w ith the lyric theater, it was love at first sight. Looking at your biography (www.monicamanganelli.net), it's clear that your specialty is visual art. What was the main challenge in writing The Ballad of the Homeless? And what about your directorial debut? The main challenge and, at the same time, my goal when I conceived and wrote the short was trying to tell a story with s imple ges tures , capable of reaching the audience's heart and soul. Of course, the storyline was as important as the aesthetic and visual research. For this reason, there are no dialogues in my short film and, like the title suggests, it's a ballad. I wanted the music to be predominant, as an ins trument to engage the audience. VALERIO VIALE My debut as a director wasn't difficult. For a very long time, w orking as s et des igner and concept artist in theatre and movie productions, I've been collaborating with directors of movies , commercials , and theatre shows. So I knew very well the production process and it was natural for me to start working as a director. Besides, many famous directors of contemporary movies were set des igners as w ell. With T he Ballad of the Homeless I felt the need to take a step forward in my career and to start telling stories from my point of view and visual intent. How d id th e 2012 earth q u ak e in Emilia Romagna region affect you? At the time of the earthquake in Emilia Romagna, I w as w orking in Berlin on the G erman-A merican s cience fiction film Cloud Atlas, and it was a shock for me. Later on, I came back to Emilia and collected s tories that have ins pired my s hort film. F or ins tance Tommy, the protagonist, was inspired by the true story of a child, the son of a firefighter, who was afraid to leave his hous e. This s ame episode opens my movie. How would you define the an imation s tyle th at you chose? I've used a combination of 2D and 3D techniques, but the final product is totally CG (comp uter graphics ). The characters are completely modeled and animated in 3D, while the virtual sets are digital, matte painted sets, then animated on a s pace called 2.5, w ith cinematography compositing. My team and I took care of the opening credits by employing the technique of motion graphics animation. From a visual point of view, I wanted to recreate a watercolor style, so we put a texture of that type throughout the short, with the intent to better portray a "poetic" world. Correct me if I'm wrong but, watching your short, I've noticed a direct quotation of Salvador Dalí's most famous painting The Persistence of M emo r y, alon gs id e th e metaphysical works of Giorgio De Chirico. Can you expand on your artistic influences? S urrealis m in general has been a crucial s ource of ins piration, together w ith Edward Gorey's pen-and-ink drawings. I wanted to "swing" between the style of a sensitive, poetic world to one of contrasts, w ith black & w hite incis ive signs. The continuous contrast betw een the tw o s tyles w as really sought after. Chagall and Magritte are two other artis ts , w ho w ere of inspiration for me, with their warm shades of brown. Indeed, the brown color represents the "earth" of Emilian people. Likewise, an important reference has been the film Novecento by Bernardo Bertolucci, which is set in my native Emilia. D id you r th eatrical experience provide you with useful tools in your short's mise-en-scène? Obviously, my experience with theater was very important and influenced me in developing this project. As I mentioned before, the mos t important aspect was the use of music: M as s imo M oretti w rote an original soundtrack and, after the short was finished, he composed the mus ic, follow ing the movements of the main character and his animation. How was your short film welcomed so far? I am very happy about the response that it's having. And I must say, although it may sound weird, that it's having a greater success abroad and in major festivals, while in Italy it has not been considered. I really can't s ay w hy! M y s hort film w as selected to participate in the last edition of Cannes Film Festival and since then, we toured 13 fes tivals around the w orld (Toronto, Poznan, Paris, Berlin, Chennai). In September only, the short will take part in 4 festivals. By the way, being selected for the L.A . S horts F es t in Los Angeles was very unexpected. Lastly, can you tell us about your next project(s)? I'm going back to the world of Opera. Next year, I'll work on the set design for three operas by G. Donizetti, that is the trilogy of the Tudor Q ueen: Rober to D ever eux, Mar ia Stuarda, and Anna Bolena, a co- production betw een Theatre Carlo F elice in G enoa and Theatre La Fenice in Venice. I also want to continue to direct and produce my ow n projects , in particular tw o documentaries about two Italian creative fields, two works that will explore these artistic worlds from within: lyric theater and fashion. One is a documentary that I would like to promote and produce, titled An O per a in Winter: Roberto Devereux. The director will be a colleague, S tefano Cas ertano, w ho has already realized documentaries on artists' communities, such as The last days of Tacheles in 2014, and w ill celebrate the fascination of theatrical creation. It will be an ambitious project, concerning performing arts in one of the most important Opera hous es in Italy and Europe, Theatre Carlo Felice in Genoa. Whereas my personal movie project, When the dream comes true: Fontana Sisters, will be halfw ay betw een documentary and animation, telling the story of famous Italian des igners M icol, Zoe and Giovanna Fontana, who have created Made in Italy and haute couture. Monica Manganelli. Photo Courtesy of Monica Manganelli Ballad of The Homeless at the LA Shorts Fest. Photo Courtesy of Monica Manganelli

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