Think Cattleya co-produces the video documentary by video artist Ra di Martino The Show MAS go on, chosen at the Venice Film Festival from the section GIORNATE D’AUTORE, tomorrow awarded with the SIAE Award for Innovation.
The relationship between the production company Think Cattleya and the video-artist-now-director began long ago when the unit Think Art surprised Rome with the presentation of an exhibition at the Cattleya headquarters.
One year after the event, with the aim of finding young talents and accompanying them in cross-disciplinary fields such as direction, Think Cattleya participated in the coproduction of Ra’s video documentary project alongside Produzione Illuminati.
Specifics of the Award: “The Award for Innovation was awarded to Ra di Martino for her astonishing documentary The Show MAS go on, that with elegance, amusement, and expressive and conceptual power confirms her talent in the field of cinema, between reality and visual invention. ”
SYNOPSIS
MAS (Magazzini allo Statuto) opened in Rome at the beginning of the last century as luxury department stores. Of that grandeur, perhaps only the chandeliers in mid-air remain, some almost touching the ground now covered with torn carpet. MAS has now become the department store of the people, with thousands of square meters, unimaginable quantities of dust, and above all, a vast and colorful diversity: from drag-queens, to Romanian caregivers, young Moldovan newlyweds, to nuns picking out underwear from large cluttered bins.
The humanity that normally frequents MAS—sale assistants, clients, owners—is observed and intertwined into performances and re-enactments in order to create a sort of mirror play that tries to reflect and describe this cult place.
Director’s Notes
The humanity that normally frequents MAS—sale assistants, clients, owners—is observed and intertwined into performances and re-enactments in order to create a sort of mirror play that tries to reflect and descibe this cult place. The owner of the department store MAS, Chiara Pezone, is played by Iaia Forte who lip-synchs verbatim the owner’s real voice in an interview made before starting the shooting. She becomes our guide, describing and narrating the history and her point of view of the store, its clients and the city itself. Sandra Ceccarelli and Maya Sansa re-enact parts of the episode The After Hours from the 50’s American TV series The Twilight Zone. On the second floor we follow the three sales assistants who have been working there for 37, 25 and 15 years. Filippo Timi sings buried in a pile of bras and underwear in a scene that could slightly recall Beckett’s Happy Days.