After a brief interval on the street along with her debut movie — the tender, surreal coming-of-age story Chlorophyll — Italian director Ivana Gloria quickly started to appreciate that the movie competition circuit would solely take her thus far. Starring newcomer Sarah Brief, the movie issues a woman referred to as Maia, who discovers that she will not be like different younger individuals her age. But it surely’s not simply her dyed-green hair that makes her stand out; when she strikes to the Sardinian countryside to choose oranges for the lonely Teo (Michele Ragno), Maia begins sprouting blue flowers that give off a particular scent, and her organic clock goes haywire.
Chlorophyll made its debut on the Rome Movie Competition final yr, then travelled to the Karlovy Range Movie Competition (the place it performed in Proxima), and final week competed on the Leeds Worldwide Movie Competition within the U.Okay. That was it so far as competition bookings went, so Gloria took issues into her personal fingers, first by including a secret and “very punk” screening at a pub in Bristol. “I felt like a rock star,” she says. “I jumped out of a taxi, ran in and introduced the film, after which I acquired a beer, and did a Q&A after.” Tonight [November 12, 2024] she is internet hosting a self-arranged screening of the movie with Brief on the Genesis Cinema in London.
“I took the event to do it as a result of I used to be within the U.Okay.,” she explains, “so it was an opportunity to go to some pals and, on the identical time, [check out the reaction] within the U.Okay. too. I used to be so impressed by the individuals within the Czech Republic, as a result of they had been having fun with themselves a lot throughout the screening. I used to be curious to see how every nation has its personal expertise with it. Perhaps it can assist us get a launch. In any other case, I’ll hold going on this punk approach for so long as I really feel like.”
DEADLINE: The place did the concept for Chlorophyll come from?
IVANA GLORIA: It began with the script from Marco Borromei, and he requested me to direct it. I instantly fell in love with the script as a result of I may really feel a lot what it was all about, as a result of I battle myself discovering my very own id, accepting my sexuality. And so, I actually put all of this into the film in each scene. It’s about discovering your individual id and accepting your sexuality, discovering your individual nature, your relationship with nature. And I like the way in which the script does that, as a result of it’s a fairytale. You don’t query it, you simply settle for it, and also you go together with these characters on a visit, on a journey.
I attempted to make it an immersive expertise, so I targeted rather a lot on the visible facet, the colours. I targeted on the sharp inexperienced as a result of I wished to be related to the sharp, vibrant inexperienced you see in spring, when the leaves are born, as a result of that is what it’s all about — being born once more, blossoming.
DEADLINE: Sound can also be crucial…
GLORIA: I come from animation — I did loads of stop-motion animation and conventional animation earlier than this — and in animation there isn’t a sound in any respect if you create shifting photographs. All of it comes after. And even right here, loads of it got here after. We labored rather a lot with Silvia Orengo, the sound engineer, on the sounds. We had the entire huge staff for sound, to seek out the correct frequencies. At sure factors we use this very, very low frequency, one which type of connects you together with your intestine. That’s as a result of the character, Maia, is type of paralyzed at occasions, as a result of she’s scared. However often when one thing scares you numerous, it’s often because it’s attracting you numerous. And so, for me it was a really key aspect. It’s one thing I’ve been studying about myself as properly. It’s about going the place you wish to go, even it’s very scary. In some unspecified time in the future, you’ll go there as a result of it’s simply in your nature. Nature will do what it must do, it doesn’t matter what it takes.
DEADLINE: How did you discover your lead actress, Sarah Brief?
GLORIA: I acquired a self-tape from her agent. It was between, I don’t know, possibly seven, eight different younger ladies. And I acquired instantly captured by her approach of hiding herself behind irony, behind her smile. I preferred that as a result of it’s fairly a deep story, in a approach, however I wished to maintain it gentle. So, I actually wished to have a personality like that. And naturally I used to be very a lot captured by her eyes. She has this unbelievable, very not-so-common gentle blue eyes. So many individuals requested me if she was carrying lenses!
DEADLINE: In addition to sound, music can also be a vital a part of the movie. Who did the music, and the way did you strategy including music to the movie?
GLORIA: The music was by a collective referred to as Soha. It’s truly going to be launched quickly, the soundtrack. I met considered one of them after a screening of one other film, outdoors the cinema. I approached him, and we began collaborating. It’s a mixture of digital and ambient music, possibly.
DEADLINE: Do you take heed to music whilst you’re working?
GLORIA: Simply in my [earphones]. I had a monitor I actually preferred that I heard in one other film, an digital monitor, the one that’s on the finish of Triangle of Unhappiness [“Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)” by Fred Again and The Blessed Madonna]. I acquired impressed by that scene for a selected second in that film: It’s nightmare scene within the movie the place Maia’s carrying a wig, and she or he has a darkish hair. So, it’s type of a second in her life when she’s considering of herself as a [normal] individual, like others, however she realized she’s truly working away from herself.
DEADLINE: What influenced you to make such a surreal, dreamlike film?
GLORIA: I don’t know. I bear in mind the primary film I noticed as a really, very younger teenager that type of affected me in a wierd approach. And afterwards I stated, “What does ‘directed by’ imply? And who’s Michel Gondry? [Laughs.] I all the time was fascinated by magicians and the magic of cinema. However that is one thing associated to my previous usually. For this film, I believe I acquired moved by Border from Ali Abassi. Not that it’s so surreal. I believe that film is a little more in regards to the nature, in regards to the name to nature that we share in widespread. And there’s a name to nature in right here, it’s a name to – your nature, to who you’re. There’s a little bit of Midsommar, however that’s extra horror. And there’s a little bit of Portrait of a Girl on Hearth. I actually like the strain between the characters, and the feminine gaze in it.
DEADLINE: What has been the response if you’ve proven it?
GLORIA: I really feel typically they’re type of shocked and stunned, and typically they get very moved, which may be very surprising. After we screened it in Karlovy Range, individuals had been so moved, and coming to me crying and saying, “Thanks for making this film. I felt so understood.”
Chlorophyll screens at 9pm on 12 November 2024 on the Genesis Cinema, London E1