Fabrizio Federico is a young independent director from the UK with a penchant for off-the-wall micro budget filmmaking. He made his first feature film, entitled Black Biscuit, after getting deported from America. That movie promised to represent “The Future of Cinema” and bore with it the “Pink8” manifesto, a sort of spiritual successor to Lars Von Trier’s Dogme 95 avant-garde movement.
As described on the Pink8 website, the philosophy dictates (in part):
- Film school is poison.
- Look for street superstars to be your cast.
- Your film must be made on no budget, just sporadic money.
- The cast must NOT know what your film is about.
- Your film must be 95% improvised.
- No HD cameras.
- Mistakes are beautiful.
- Continuity is wrong.
- Bewildering, vague, self-indulgent, plot-less, risky, egotistical, limpid, raw, ugly and imperfect are perfect.
True to this mantra, Federico’s movies feature casts of “university students and homeless people, prostitutes – just random people [he] met on the street.” He says his filmmaking style spawns from his musical background and engages in a striking but polarizing punk rock aesthetic that’s reflected in his use of sound, color and imagery. This self-described “car crash” methodology even extends to post-production; sometimes, Fabrizio says, he edits his movies blindfolded. Other times, he edits on LSD.
Federico was kind enough to take time out to speak with me about his newest projects, the future of the movie industry and the tangibility of human consciousness. ~ Søren
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This podcast uses clips from the song Test Drive by Zapac / CC BY-NC 3.0.
Interview Highlights
On short films
“Making a short film is like masturbation, almost. It’s just something I can do so quickly, I don’t see the challenge… a feature movie is like going on a road trip.”
On Pregnant
“It’s like a horror film about technology addiction … It’s like an epidemic. I just see people all the time looking at their mobile phones, checking Facebook. I’ve seen girls just looking at their phones and there’s nothing there – they’re just staring at a blank screen! … It’s like a ghost town to me, so I kind of wanted to show that.”
On modern filmmaking
“A lot of movies are kinda, you watch them once and you throw them away. It’s almost like having a Big Mac. It’s like fast food movies.”
On actors
“I usually hate actors, but this guy – (Søren laughs.) I do! I think a lot of them are the biggest pussies or wimps. … But this guy [the lead in his new film] is different. He said he’ll do anything, so that’s all you’ve gotta tell a director if you want to work with him, basically.”
On what it’s like going to the movies and the potential death of the cinema
“It’s more fun to take – even if you take a girl. You know, I mean – fair enough: if you take a date home and you watch a movie at home, that’ll lead to sex. But it’s pretty cool taking a date out and then end up making out with them at the cinema. I always thought that was a great experience.
I don’t think there’ll be as many cinemas as there used to be, that’s for sure. As I said, I think everyone will just be at home on the internet watching movies, not leaving the house. … I don’t see it as being a good thing. … Social interaction is going to die out. … There’s so many beautiful things you’re missing out on. You know, as I said I’d rather go to the movies and get a b*** j** then watch it at home by myself, put it like that.”
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Pregnant was produced by Ants Productions and is set for release in 2015. Here’s the trailer:
