Our winner for October comes from Switzerland, and is called Like a Shadow in the Dark. We had a talk to its director, Alessandro Gessaga, to find out more about the impressive project he was involved in.
JL: Alessandro, many congratulations for your wins! You’ve racked up an impressive number of awards – did you expect such an overwhelming response before releasing your film?
Alessandro: The work is initially designed to receive personal satisfaction, often my works have a cathartic need, or because of the desire to communicate a precise message. Being a small production it’s not all perfectly controlled and in the editing phase you have to make so many compromises, reason why we didn’t expect to receive so much feedback from festivals.
JL: What inspired you to make this film?
Alessandro: We were inspired by the world political landscape and what strikes me as my own country, Italy, but has been extended to a much broader and more general theme, such as corruption.
JL: What is the message you would like to send with your film, if you were to sum it up in one sentence?
Alessandro: Even with a revolutionary idea such as passing political candidates through a psychological assessment, human nature will always lead to corruption.
JL: How would our world look like if all decisions were based on objective factors – or at least without influential politics behind?
Alessandro: Boring, I think… and Kafkaesque.
JL: How often would you say something like the story presented in your film happens around the world, on a daily basis?
Alessandro: Human corruption, being inherent in our nature, always happens with everyone, and people can commit an error of this derivation, even smaller in scope. However, the effects of these fallacious decisions – those of greater magnitude – are visible to everyone
JL: Daniele Marcheggiani won the Actor of the Month award, and in fact all your cast performed fantastically! Have you worked with any of them before?
Alessandro: I worked a year ago with Daniele, and I was very happy to know that we were able to still work together on a new project. I think he is a very gifted actor with an enviable stage presence as with his ice eyes he can pierce the screen in a beautiful way. I didn’t know the rest of the cast, it was entirely chosen by casting.
JL: Laura Bertoglio won Screenwriter of the Month – our sincere congratulations to her! How did you find the task of translating her screenplay into film format?
Alessandro: With Laura it is the third project that we carry out together, now everyone has learned to know the style of the other. Making the story together has helped with the realization of the whole project.
JL: What are you most proud of, within Like the Shadow in the Dark?
Alessandro: I am proud to have worked with so many talented actors.
JL: Do you have any upcoming projects? If yes, we’d love to see them when ready.
Alessandro: For the moment only music videos and commercials, the next short film will happen maybe in a few months, but I can’t wait to open the door to the next project!
JL: Alessandro, thank you so much for talking to us. We wish you all the best for all future endeavours!
Alessandro: Thank you for your interest in this story, see you next time!
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