GREEN PORNO
Robert Redford saw My Dad is 100 Years Old and purchased it for Sundance TV. He also encouraged me to keep directing. It was the start of the YouTube era and he had the intuition to produce short films, just like in the early days of cinema. He proposed for me to direct a series of films of no more than two minutes each, on the theme of environmentalism. That’s how Green Porno came into existence. Short stories about animals mating, on which I was the screenwriter, costume designer, lead actor and director. The series was a great success and I went on to direct Seduce Me, on the different mating strategies used by animals, and Mammas, on the maternal instinct. The Green Porno series was imagined for the “fourth screen” (the first being cinema, the second TV, the third computers and the fourth smartphones). At the time, people were starting to watch the news and films on their phones, and Robert Redford asked me to direct films specifically designed for smartphone screens, of short duration and without long shots or depth-of-field. (Isabella Rossellini)
DIRECTOR: Jody Shapiro, Isabella Rossellini
NATION: USA
YEAR: 2008
RUNTIME: 36′
CAST: Isabella Rossellini, Johann Benét, Roberto Rossellini, Louis Giacobetti, Ona Grandey, Dallas Giorgi
SEDUCE ME
I always prepare a script prior to shooting, like during the silent era, and as I learnt from my father. Dividing the page in two, on one side I write the dialogue and on the other side I sketch the scene: close-ups, long shots, dialogue, movement. This helps me to visually imagine what my films will look like, because cinema is firstly image, then words. I am always more enchanted by what I see, than by what the characters say. Méliès has always inspired me. I don’t understand anything about technology, but thinking of Méliès and of how he was able to make such funny and poetic films, with such rudimentary means, and without even moving the camera, helps me to believe in myself. Of the great masters of silent cinema, I have had one other important reference: Buster Keaton. He indicated to me the tone I ought to use: despite being dressed up and made up to look like a fly, I should never laugh, but remain serious, impassive, as Keaton would have. Keaton and Méliès helped me to find my voice, to not be distracted by all the technical difficulties and to focus on how I should interpret the animals. (Isabella Rossellini)
DIRECTOR: Isabella Rossellini
NATION: United States
YEAR: 2010
RUNTIME: 20′
FOX FILM
Fox (Volpe) is a little film that I made, absolutely alone, during the lockdown caused by COVID. It is very, very primitive, but it addresses a scientific topic that fascinates me: taming animals. In particular, I realised during the lockdown that “narrating”, talking about what fascinates me and sharing it with others is a necessary, essential act for me. And so, with the very few means I have I make a film and am fascinated by how ideas can be expressed. (Isabella Rossellini)
DIRECTOR: Isabella Rossellini
NATION: United States
YEAR: 2020
RUNTIME: 5′
Original version with subtitles