EYE film

ANNA short film // Final outcome

Inspired by a memory from my family.

To start I made a phone call to my grandmother and my mother (separately) and asked them to tell me about this memory.

My grandmother opened a tobacco and newsagent shop in 1965, when my mother was 10 years old.

The two of them, together with my mother’s younger sister, worked there for 40 years. In 2004 they decided to sell it as they could no longer stand the armed robberies.

In order to minimize the financial damage that each robbery would cause, they started taking the majority of the cash to the bank everyday in the middle of the working day.

As a woman, walking in the streets of Rome with a bag of cash meant being at high risk of getting mugged.

To avoid this they would put the cash in small bags or envelopes and then hide it in their bras or in their underwear.

The financial loss that came with each robbery and bag-snatching was of course one of the main reasons. But the other, just as important, reason was to avoid being hurt.

These women spent 40 years behind a counter trying to make a living.

They knew that each day someone could come in and point guns and knives to their faces.

Someone could push them to the ground to get to the cash register.

This also meant that they could never leave the cash register completely empty, they had to keep their robbers happy enough.

Early January update // NEW CONCEPT (The previous idea has been discarded)

A mundane object is the source of inspiration for a story.

A small purse made of cheap, woven fabric. An old woman folds large notes to make them smaller and tidy. Her hands are dry and dirty. She fits as many notes as possible into the small purse. Once the purse is full she hides it in her bra, under her clothing. She walks to the bank and deposits the money.

The story is told through close-ups of the actions and a voice over.

The Disobedient Body (working title) // ORIGINAL IDEA

Images: raw, fleshy, grotesque, sensual, textured, aiming at creating some sort of physical reaction in the spectator -> the spectator’s body is therefore part of the subject of this film.

Text: poetic text (work in progress) that refers to how a body may function, disfunction and appear.

Artists that are in my mood-board:

• Peter Greenaway
• Chris Cunningham
• Jill Soloway
• Sophie Calle

Production plan:

At the moment I am just accumulating ideas, images, notes and sketches on this concept.

During the Christmas break I will make a storyboard and start contacting potential performers.

January will be dedicated to shooting and finally editing.