Director Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli of recent European Dramatic Short submission "The Center" has a new spin on the old mannequin.

By Katie Tillyer

Q: What is your film about? Can you summarize what happens within it, briefly?

"The
Center" is about the violence of our contemporary societies; the
violence we passively absorb through images thrown at us any possible
instant of our everyday life. It is a provocative tale about men unable
to recognize the reality of their gestures, men gone beyond the
capability to discern real from unreal, a human baby from a baby-doll.
The protagonist is a plastic baby, taken away from New York City so
that he can grow up far from the wave of violence which erupts from the
thousands of windows opened onto the world, to then return to the
global city once an adult. A mysterious “mentor/kidnapper” figure
brings about this escape. We will meet this figure again at the end,
still in New York, when the child has become an adult. A newborn
mannequin will be given to him to be saved from the jungle of the
global city.

Q: What was the source of inspiration?

The
first source was the music for a Harvard ballet performance written by
my friend composer Asaf Sagiv - the piece was called "The Center". The
idea was to write about a subject using the listening of the musical
piece as a starting point. The script was then further developed with
research, in today’s world, of the concept of “center” around which
Asaf and the choreographer had based their communal project. New York
City represents the contemporary necessity of a new center of
reference. NYC was another important source of inspiration. Q: Tell us
a little bit about the casting process--how did you choose your actors
and actresses? The casting of the main roles was done, for budget
reasons, following neo-realism precepts. The man is an Italian
artist-photographer I know well. The mother is a friend of mine. Both
had the right qualities I needed for the characters. The man had to be
detached from reality becoming almost like a silent hero, half human
half god, while the mother had to resemble the human capability of
adapting to the environment, in this case wearing a plastic mask,
embodying the physicality of a mannequin.

Q: What were some of the major difficulties that you encountered while shooting?

Shooting
mannequins. I would never have imagined it could have been so
difficult. I had a very hard time in the little boat with the
eight-year-old mannequin. Then having to place the tripod without a
permit in NYC and shooting a man with a baby-doll wrapped in a blanket
in the underground without being noticed.

Behind the scenes: Filming on water.

Q: Can you tell us about the use of news and CCTV footage within the film?

I've
always been shocked by the violence we find on-line and by how many
worlds and private lives can be discovered or accessed with a simple
click. I believe this footage, taken from the web, represents well our
contemporary life where visual communication has the fastest impact on
us, with all its negative effects. Technically speaking I was really
fascinated by the challenge of working with material that didn't belong
to the script trying to make it blend harmonically with the footage I
shot.

Q: What were the different locations in the film?

New
York City - Upper East Side and Downtown, Rockaway beach - 40 min. from
Manhattan and Favignana, Sicily for the eight-year-old mannequin on the
boat and the man pulling the boat in the sea. Q: The film depicts
scenes of violence, often with children present. Can you tell us some
more about the role of children within the film? Kids are everything.
They are treasures of our existence, meanings to our future. We can't
allow them to be in contact with the brutality of adulthood. It is our
task to protect them from what we create or generate. Kids become
mannequins. Could it be the only way to save them?

Still from "The Center".

Q: Tell me about your next project.

I am
working on the script for a feature film to be produced in US. It is a
family drama freely inspired by a Flannery O'Connor short story.