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Genre cinema? Yes we can
Dario Argento and Gionata Zarantonello present sneak peeks
of their upcoming films |
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| 09/12/2011 |
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Italian genre cinema is dead. Well, maybe not dead, but lifeless. This is what film industry professionals have been saying for years, especially producers who, in times of “cultural crisis,” find it too risky to bet on any other “product” but sure-fire entertainment. Yet at the foot of Mont Blanc, in the Jardin de l’Ange and the two cinemas of the PalaNoir, it would seem that independent cinema is still alive and kicking. This impression comes not only from the usual presence at the Festival of some of Italy’s most alternative filmmakers, such as the Manetti Bros, Cosimo Alemà and Federico Zampaglione, but above all from the constant offerings in these years of films that blaze new trails through unusual languages.
The 21st edition of the Festival is no exception, and it proudly presents two projects nearing completion: Dario Argento’s Dracula 3-D and The Butterfly Room by Gionata Zarantonello. Even though their films are in post-production, both directors wanted to serve up a first taste to Courmayeur audiences.
Zarantonello, who was at the Noir in Festival 13 years ago with his first film, says: “The Butterfly Room is about Julie, a girl who seeks out older women to hit up for money. But things go differently when she meets Ann (Barbara Steele), a lonely middle-aged woman, who will try to subjugate her. Hiding a terrible secret in the room where she keeps her butterfly collection.”
Against the backdrop of the film’s trailer, the young director spoke of the difficulties he had in making the film, as well as his personal satisfaction with the results: “It took me ten years to make this film, produced by Enzo Porcelli and co-produced by RAI Cinema. I wanted to shoot it in the United States and in English because I wanted it to have an international breadth. But above all I wanted a cast that would include those faces that made me fall in love with genre cinema, like Barbara Steele.”
Argento also speaks of passion, his own since childhood for his first 3-D experiments, like Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. “[The film’s producer] Gianni Paolucci suggested I do it in 3-D,” says the director, “and my daughters agreed. Their enthusiasm about the possibility of making Dracula in three dimensions reminded me of my childhood enthusiasm for the technology.” During a 25-minute preview of the film, Argento said several times that the technology used in shooting Dracula is by no means inferior to American technology, adding that that he was more interested in the sense of depth to 3-D than in the sensationalism of the special effects.
With regard to tackling the mythical figure of Dracula, Argento isn’t worried. “Working with such a famous character is extremely exciting, because there is so much material to re-elaborate. I’ve always been fascinated by the story of love and death surrounding Dracula.” And he told us about the prism through which he chose to reinterpret the myth: “I was interested in exploring the transformations of this character, which have always been overlooked by film adaptations. In fact, in the film there are many metamorphoses.”
He is just as happy with his cast, in particular young find Marta Gastini, along with Thomas Kretschmann and his daughter Asia. “Marta was an extraordinary discovery. I’ve always loved Kretschmann’s elegant charm, which contrasts with his wicked nature. And Asia is my travel companion. It was a somewhat difficult cast to organize but they gave me total satisfaction.”
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