Who is Cora? What is Cora?
These are just two of the questions that we keep asking ourselves throughout the film.
Cora directed by Mauricio De la Maza-Benignos is a dark thriller full of mystery.
Jessica Mendiolea is Cora, a woman as beautiful as she is enigmatic and icy.
She easily attracts both men and women but seems totally incapable of feeling any real interest or desire for anyone. Everyone wants it but no one can have her.
She leads an ordinary life next to an extremely religious husband who doesn't understand her, and a leopard cat who observe her in silence.
There is something dark that revolves around Cora, something gloomy and mysterious like the contents of the black bags that she drags out of the house every day or hides in the closet.
What do those bags contain?
Are they perhaps the materialization of a weight too heavy to carry? Or of some kind of demon to get rid of?
Cora is fickle, unpredictable; she changes hair color as she changes mood, as if every emotion she manages to feel represents a new personality.
The news is starting to talk about a mysterious killer... who is it?
Does Cora have anything to do with those horrible deaths?
Is she a victim or an executioner?
Chaotic music, absurd characters and claustrophobic editing contribute to make this feature film a cryptic and fascinating labyrinth from which it is very difficult to escape.
Interesting!
The S.S. Robin written by the brilliant Camille DeBiase is the touching story of an Italian-American family, in 70s: the DeLucas, generous people who accept to take care of Robin, a 3-year-old black/Hispanic foster girl.
We are in Brooklyn, 1971, and from the splendid description of the author we can almost smell the air of a neighborhood made mostly of white chatolic people of Italian and Irish descent; as imaginable, especially for those times, the arrival of the little Robin will highlight the rudeness and the sad lack of inclusiveness of some neighbors who, rather than feeling tenderness for a little girl in need of care, will prefer to take distance.
The DeLucas, led by mom Rosie and dad Gianni, instead prove to be the family in which we would all like to grow up, not only for their generosity and their good heart, but for the sweet and transgressive lightness with which they raise their three children - Johnny, Christopher, and Anna - teaching them to be independent and to open their arms to anyone who needs help, no matter what.
Rosie is goodness personified, the caring and feisty mother who takes care of everything. Gianni is the rational part of the couple, a calm and respected teacher in Harlem used to live peacefully with cultural differences.
The radio announcements mark the time, and the more the months pass the more we hope that this extended family will not be separated; we follow the developments of their relationship with Robin, we get to know each one of them, their own personal characteristics, and we can't help to fall in love with these fun, free and "loud" people.
A screenplay that shows us the world through the eyes of children, based on how they are educated and left free to perceive the life and emotions that they are sometimes forced to experience, albeit for a good cause.
DeBiase's writing is fluent and lively. The dialogues are funny and very realistic.
Without a doubt this would be a drama/comedy I would more than happily watch on the big screen.
A tale of Love, respect, generosity and acceptance.
This is an S.S.S: A Super Special Story.
Music can really make the difference and teleport us to other dimensions...to future too.
Symphonic Fantasy: Cine Concert with Animation and Orchestral Magic directed by Susan Mey Lee Lim, Samudra Kajal Saikia & Christina Teenz Tan is a powerful short musical that explore in an innovative way the complicated modern world made of increasingly sophisticated and advanced technologies and the disruptive loneliness that characterizes the 21st century.
Performed at the London’s Codagon Hall by the amazing Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler and embellished by the presence of the pianist Mark Bebbington and the marvelous voice of Matthieu Eymard, the film explore the companionship between Christina and Alan, a human girl and an experiment or better a plush Inanimate with a baby lion soul.
The vibrant music composed by Manu Martin catapults us into this new world where Science and feelings play the same concert.
A world where loneliness and insecurity are probably the basis of everything, but where everything is possible.
A future where virtual reality, digital sensations and artificial intelligence will be an integral part of our lives as emotional support.
Due to the growing and worrying difficulty in building true interpersonal relationships with people, this short film makes us reflect on the fragile situation of the humankind, on how cutting-edge technological innovation could be able to help but perhaps will end up to assimilate humans like the Borg used to do in Star Trek.
This ain’t just a great concert.
This is a musical about an inanimate human relation.
“This is after all... a fantasy”… is it?
First dates, as we know, are always a big dilemma and often never end as expected.
Triggered Love directed by Joell Jackson & Richard Louprasong is a short film that explores with great lightness and joy a classic date between a boy from Brooklyn and an L.A woman that reserves a surprise ending.
Joell Jackson is Surreal (the Latins would say nomen omen) a bold boy, sure of himself and his attractiveness, the classic womanizer with a veeeeery short memory ; during a date with the beautiful Samantha (Natalie Stavola) he meets or, perhaps it would be better say, he clashes with the charismatic waitress Vicky (Katisha Sargeant), a former conquest of his with whom he begins a duel with vitriolic jokes.
Maybe it's true that opposites attract but it's also true that they know how to scratch each other.
A splendid photography of Los Angeles at sunset and well-paced dialogues give life to an extremely pleasant and entertaining film, where emerge the differences between man and woman, and the affinities that can surprisingly arise between woman and woman explode!
Nice first date to everybody!
Having to describe it in two words I would say: Absolutely Delicious!
Droplet of Stars written by Camilla Martini and directed by Alessandro Orlandi is a wonderful journey made of bright colors and characters that catapult us among a special universe... like the famous Lucy in the sky with Diamonds that the Beatles used to sang...and the fun fact is that in this lovely short film the Fab Four really appear in astride a cloud!
It is the adorable story of a birth - perhaps the birth that each one of us would like to have - and the subsequent discovery of the world and who inhabits it.
The little protagonist of the film is a modern Alice in Wonderland who is dropped to earth and then pushed to go beyond the rainbow like the famous Dorothy searching for Oz, to discover her future.
Running, flying, swimming, she finds herself in front of iconic characters such as Einstein, Ghandi, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and Moby Dick.
A long ride made up of vicissitudes, dreams and hopes that accompany the little girl in this colorful world ready to welcome her with a smile, a sweet and naive smile like the one of Gelsomina of La Strada, the Fellini's masterpiece which, like this short film, combines poetry and fairy tale to explain the bittersweet reality of life.
The song written and sung by Alessandro Orlandi is a gentle caress, a poignant lullaby that accompanies the child in this "space and earth oddity" illustrated by Carlotta Raimondi and animated by Maurizio Piraccini.
Amazing Job!
In a famous film by Blake Edwards there'a song that says: "But out in the Midwest, Is the city I love the best: A town so smart it's spelling stars
With: C - H - I - C...Chic! Chicago, Illinois, is like a shiny toy!"
I have never been to Chicago, but this music video - directed, produced and starring the award winner Rudy Strukoff - gave me the feeling of having visited it joining the two protagonists in the back seat of their car.
Born in Chicago ain't just a song but also a declaration of love, a carefree ode to a city and all its many facets.
A road trip to retrace memories and rediscover the roots of a life.
Rude Dog ( Rudy Strukoff ) and Automatic Slim (David Carreon) are the perfect "double trouble" that every music video need, and while the compelling song by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band acts as a background, nostalgia and lightheartedness alternate following the rhythm, pulsing like a heart.
Railroads, highways, city lights, billiard games and laughter.
5 minutes made of beautiful music and images to pay tribute to one of the most fascinating and dynamic city of the world.