Interview with Radio Free FM Ulm!

During my German stay to attend the fabulous the Sisters Wild CinemaBiberacher Filmfestspiele, I had the great honor of being interviewed by a stunning guy, Henrik Frankenfeld, who has a Friday evening show at the Radio Free FM – Ulm. He was very kind to send me the final cut of our chat in English, during which I could talk about The Wedding Cake and The Ultimate Prostitution and Porn Anthology. Super nice!

I really want to thank again the Konstnärsnämnden, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, for making it possible for me to travel to the festival!

 

Interview for iFF!

I love this interview I gave to iFilmFestival in connection to my participation to the Brussels Independent Film Festival with The Wedding Cake, it was fun!

One-on-one with Filmmaker Monica Mazzitelli – “I am a hopeless optimist”

Monica Mazzitelli, feminist directress and writer, Rome-born and Sweden-based, has filmed some twenty-five short films (documentaries, narrative films, videos, promos, booktrailers).
Her latest film, the animated short ‘The Wedding Cake’, tells the story of a young woman who is forced to become a prostitute in order to settle her ex-husband’s debts. Her destiny is narrated through Playmobil figurines and a wedding cake that disappears along with the woman’s illusions.
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Festival number 50 for “The Wedding Cake”!

The Wedding Cake reaching its 50th selection by entering the prestigious and beautifully curated Afrodite Short film festival in Rome! It’s hard to believe my little short reached this far, I’m delighted!!

The festival will take place from March 29 to 31 thru the platform Mymovies, and will be competing among other 20 shorts. The list is also here on Cinecittà News.

A new piece for “Nordic Model Now”

During the latest Göteborg Film Festival I watched a feature film by the Swedish directress Ninja Thyberg which made both furious and sad. I am very proud that Nordic Model Now hosted this very long piece about it which I just felt compelled to write.

It is not at all about the film as such (which I appreciated) but about the content and its message.

I want to thank Vanessa McCulloch who was editing the first draft of this piece.

The deception of “Pleasure”

Ninja Thyberg’s film “Pleasure” depicts a quite simple story: a 19-year old girl from Sweden travels to Los Angeles in order to become a porn star. She starts with more traditional performances but realizes that if she wants a break-through she must do more extreme scenes; so, she agrees to BDSM and double anal, with apparent indifference. The only time she feels violated is during a shoot where the male actors are very aggressive and she reacts showing emotional distress. Continue reading

“Animacion para adultos” reviews “The Wedding Cake”!

I feel truly elated by this review of “The Wedding Cake” by the Spanish site Animación para adultos that makes me happy not only for its important content but also for the very high score I got: 8.5/10!

I want to thank again both Mikael Moiner for his photography and Adriana Rosati, who took care of the scenography, both rightly highlighted in the review. The short is scheduled online this week at the splendid FICC – Festival de Cine de Cartagena.

Here is a translation of the text from Spanish:

The Wedding Cake narrates the drama of a woman who is forced into prostitution to avoid the jail that awaits her if she does not pay the debts of her husband, who has run away and left her alone with her two children. The shocking story is illustrated with Playmobil figurines, so a huge contrast is created between the innocence and inexpressiveness of the photos and the harshness of the narrative. There is, on the other hand, a brilliant staging, such as the wedding cake-childbirth scene, and the one that shows the inhuman prostitution sessions to which the protagonist was subjected.
The short also raises the debate on whether or not this can be considered animation, because although it uses a shooting technique identical to that of stop-motion with figurines, the slowness with which it moves from one frame to another prevents the illusion of movement from being created. I do believe that it is animation, a kind of slow and experimental stop-motion, but I understand that there are those who do not agree. In any case, inviting this reflection on its nature is just one of the many valuable aspects of The Wedding Cake, although the main one is its denunciation of the women trafficking networks, a scourge of contemporary society against which we must keep on fighting.

Interview by Ekko Filmmagasinet

Thea Torp from Danish Ekko Filmmagasinet interviewed me today, connected to my participation to the magnificent Copenhagen Short Film Festival, and it was a very interesting conversation! My knowledge of Danish language is limited but I got the most of it, and I am very pleased!

Prostitution er ødelagt kvindeliv” [“Prostitution Shatters Women’s Lives”]
Af Thea Torp

En kvinde starter med at stå glitrende hvid på en bryllupskage, men siden tvinges hun ud i prostitution i stop-motion-filmen The Wedding Cake.Instruktør bruger playmobilfigurer til at levendegøre en kvindes prostitutionshelvede i stærk kortfilm på Copenhagen Short Film Festival.
Sex er ikke altid bare for sjov.
I stop-motion-kortfilmen The Wedding Cake af den svensk-italienske instruktør Monica Mazzitelli bliver en uønsket graviditet første skridt på en helvedesvej.
Hendes mand vil ikke høre tale om en abort. Han efterlader hende med to små børn og en gæld, som kvinden må tilbagebetale. I desperation kontakter kvinden en alfons. Mod filmens slutning ligger hun i en mørk seng omgivet af midnatssorte playmobil-mænd. The Wedding Cake kan ses fredag den 9. oktober i serien Female Perspective på Copenhagen Short Film Festival.
”Langt størstedelen af de kvinder, der havner i prostitution, gør det som kvinden i historien på grund af fattigdom,” fortæller Monica Mazzitelli, der står bag prisvindende kortfilm som Dignity og The Coltrane Code.
De seneste fire år har den 56-årige instruktør og forfatter arbejdet med kvinder, der kæmper for at komme ud af prostitution i Sverige.
Her lærte hun også kvinden bag historien at kende.
”Jeg ville lave kunst ud af de historier, jeg hørte fra kvinderne. Det var for at give noget tilbage igen. Deres liv er jo blevet bestjålet dem. Jeg gjorde mit bedste for at gøre deres historier interessante og smukke. Give dem en stemme!” siger Monica Mazzitelli.

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