An ambitious short film, dedicated to the life and times of Gabriele D’Annunzio, directed by Kenta Crisà.

While the eccentric poet needs no introduction, this work concentrates on the final years of his life, with D’Annunzio looking back at his own life in nostalgia.

The realisation of the short film, gave us the opportunity to discover more about the projects, thanks to its creators.

I would like to start by asking you about the genesis of this project, entirely dedicated to D’Annunzio.

The project was born by our desire of producing cinema in Italy. For this reason, we started looking for a rich and ambitious subject. Therefore, we thought about D’Annunzio, an extreme writer who had always tried to make a work of art out of his life. He is also an eccentric artist and this might be the reason why he has never been very popular in the cinematographic art. The choices in narrating a man like D’Annunzio instead of a fictional one are certainly a challenge.

What do you think could be the reasons why of a newly found interest in such an important political and literary personality of the Italian history?

I honestly couldn’t give a scientific motivation. We can definitely say that D’Annunzio’s life isn’t thoroughly known by the general audience, with the exception of scholars. There are many words in the Italian language that were invented by him and – by analising his works – it is obvious that his ideas are still relevant and up to date.

How did you decide to start a crowdfunding project?

Our crowdfunding project was born to create interest around our project and to gather the necessary funds to complete it and release it. It is still open and it will allow us to pay our resources. It seemed like the most equal way to share the project with all potential interested parties.

How did you use computer graphics to help you develop your story?

We have decided to rely on computer graphics a lot for the historical setting, for two reasons: after having decided a budget and analised all costs, we noticed that rebuilding all the settings would have been too expensive; secondly being able to involve students from the Politecnico of Torino, working on a subject from their curriculum studiorum, seemed like a wonderful opportunity for the both of us.

Answering the question on a purely visual basis; the director Kenta Crisà decided to use computer graphics to enrich each scene of the short film, particularly those that will evoke the tableaux vivants of the XIX century, giving the viewer rich chromatic scenes and a variety of visual elements which are unique in their genre. In line with the eclectic D'Annunzio’s view.

Is this a starting point for a wider project dedicated to D’Annunzio?

We don’t want to think too further ahead, but we don’t hide the desire of giving a future to this project. Kenta Crisà, author and director, has already started thinking about it. For the moment, it is more like a dream and we are well aware that we need more that ambitions and well-motivated collaborators.