11/03/2003

In 2000, Felice Laudadio announced a competition to gather new ideas and give space for young filmmakers eager to work using the latest technology. The result was an authentic flood of screenplays for short film projects, each of which would be funded by Cinecittà Holding to the tune of Lire50m (Euros25,000), as well as material support from the companies sponsoring this project like Istituto Luce, Philips-Thompson, Apple and Kodak.
Istituto Luce distributed the six projects selected in 2002 under the collective title that is also a play on the Italian for "six" - "sei" and "you are" also "sei": Sei Come Sei ("You are as you are", but also "Six of Six"). The promotional tag given this film was that it was the very first entirely digital Italian film. One of the six titles, Il Sorriso di Diana (Diana’s Smile), written by Mauro Spinelli and directed by Luca Lucini (best known for his excellent commercials for clients like Tim, Müller, San Bitter, etc.) was selected for the 2003 edition of the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival and won the award for Research”.

Diana, a young woman played by Anita Caprioli, moves into a bug-ridden flat which she tries to make habitable. Armed with all sorts of insect repellents, Diana starts hunting down her unwelcome flatmates. For the most part, she succeeds but doesn’t quite manage to zap them all. One of the hardy survivors is Agenore, a very nice spider who falls in love with Diana and is convinced the feeling is mututal. The film is a touching metaphor about an impossible love and Lucini makes excellent use of techniques like 3D in order to give the multifarious and highly intelligent insect world personality and soul.

How did you come to make Diana’s Smile?
"Mauro Spinelli, the writer, came up with the idea for this short film. Spinelli won the Cinecittà Digital 2000 award for the screenplay for Diana’s Smile but did not want to direct it (he is a chef from Treviso). So Francesca Longardi of Cattleya called me. The idea of portraying the insects using 3D is a result of our desire to make the film as realistic as possible whilst allowing the insects themselves to act. We decided against using models, animation and everything that indicated that we weren’t using real spiders. Then, on seeing an American film called Joe’s Apartment, we realised what we must do".

Describe your time on the set of this film where the star, Agenore, is a virtual character who was subsequently created in a studio.
"The on-set atmosphere was different, and magical: it was as though we were experiencing a fairy tale. The overwhelming feeling was one of respect for an ordinary film crew (my background is TV commercials) and it seems that I wasn’t the only one: everyone there really cared about the end result. I think that one of the reasons for that was an important but also very mysterious presence: although our main character did not really exist, he was present just the same. He was present exactly as much as we were: he would run away, confess his secrets, face his enemies and he enchanted us all with his affectionate craziness. I think that my biggest difficulty lay in having to use my imagination so much whilst shooting empty backdrops and moving grapes on a nylon thread. Surprisingly, it was nowhere as difficult as I thought it would be. I actually learned a lot from this experience in terms of using my imagination and fantasising because whilst it is true that when you work with 3-dimensional graphics, you have to imagine everything, it is likewise true that you can use your imagination an awful lot more".

Are you working on other projects using digital effects? What is in the pipeline for you and what are you working on right now?
"I have not made another film using digital techniques. I continue to work in advertising. I have also held a number of auditions for a feature film to be produced by Cattleya. I should direct it some time this year and it is entitled Tre metri sopra il cielo".

How was the Research Award you won in Clermont received at Cinecittà?
"I have not talked with anyone at Cinecittà but I am sure they are happy for me because Italy is not considered a leader in the special effects field. I was fascinated by the Clermont festival and was taken aback by the level of interest in short films (packed 1000-seat theatres and queues outside). The short film market has numerous buyers so the fact that all this is still a dream as far as Italy is concerned is disconcerting to say the least. Luckily the efforts of Cinecittà appear to prove that the ball is finally starting to roll".