Alessandro Amaducci

1- How are you? Could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about who you are,
where you are from, and what you do?
 

My name is Alessandro Amaducci, and I am a professor at the University of Turin, a video
artist, a director of music videos, a maker of video installations and video-mapping.
Occasionally I also make fashion films. I live and work in Turin, Italy.
 

2- Your film The Bytes Dreams Are Made Of was selected to enter our festival. Could you tell us a
little about it?
 

The Bytes Dreams Are Made Of is a film that imagines that  "inside" the computer monitor there is an autonomous and creative world that, constantly in contact with our visual imaginary, has
developed a technological unconscious capable of creating hybrids between our visual archetypes
and the icons of digital language. The body becomes the place par excellence of the encounter-clash
between the natural and artificial dimensions.

3- How does your creative process work?

 

In very different ways: sometimes I rely totally on my unconscious, sometimes I design very
meticulously. I am also the author of the music for my visual works, so often the music track
becomes the structure around which I visualize the themes and suggestions that form the foundation
of the visual architecture of my works.
 

4- Why experimental cinema?
 

Cinema is a tool for creating a world, not for imitating it or mirror copying what we see in the world
we live in. Research and experimentation are the two necessary tools to build a visual universe that
communicates directly with the viewer`s unconscious and emotions: it is a ritual, a celebration of
creativity that can analyze in depth in the world we live in, or foresee a new one.

5- What are your goals within experimental cinema? How far do you want to go?
 

As far away as possible, still being aware that experimental cinema is, and always will be,
something far from the general audience: it is a small island populated by innovative proposals.

6- How do you see the present and the future of experimental cinema?
 

The present and the future of experimental cinema depend on how far the authors are and will be
able to go beyond the experimental film stylings of the past, and thus to leave behind the
experiences of New American Cinema and, in general, of the 70s, a period about which a veritable
cult was created that generated a form of academic "tradition" that is very difficult to question. We need to confront digital technologies above all and begin again to do what visual artists have always done: experiment with the medium (now digital), seek innovations, look to the future and not to the past.
 

7- What is your advice for those who want to make experimental cinema?

Constantly wondering what it means to experiment and research, to abandon clichés, to listen to
one's unconscious, to be free to investigate new imagery. To be visionaries.
 

8- How do you see the current panorama of world cinema?
 

In the world cinema there are interesting things and less interesting things. But there is also the
whole field of video art and New Media Art that constantly come up with innovative proposals. I
think experimental cinema should have these latter experiences as a reference point.

9- What are the strong and weak points in the current Italian cinema? And what could be done to
improve it?
 

The most obvious limitation of contemporary Italian cinema is the intensive exploitation of regional
dialects, which makes Italian production very local and unsuitable for distribution in an
international context. It is a classically narrative cinema, conditioned by the past, not very visionary
or courageous, dominated by the spoken word and dialect, precisely. But there are isolated cases of
interesting experimentations.
 

10- How has the repercussion of your film been? Has it been worthwhile?
 

I only recently submitted this film to Experimental Film Festivals. I am also submitting it to
mainstream film Festivals to understand if it can be selectable or not. It is still too early, but a good
portion of Experimental Film Festivals are selecting it, so for now I can declare myself satisfied.
 

11- Talent, effort or luck? What counts more?
 

All three. The first one especially.
 

12- Who is your favorite filmmaker? Why?
 

It is difficult for me to single out one filmmaker, because I often like one film by one author, not his
entire filmography. However I find the Gaspar Noé`s "digital period"very interesting, the works made from Irreversible onwards.

13- What are your five favorite movies of all time?
 

1): Gaspar Noé, Enter the Void
2): Godrey Reggio, Nakoyqatsi
3): Peter Greenaway, Prospero’s Books
4): Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo
5): Luis Bunuel, Cet obscur objet du désir