DarkVeins had the pleasure of interviewing Paolo Fazzini, an Italian director, screenwriter and writer who has become known not only for his documentaries on Italian horror cinema but also for the good Mad in Italy, recently released in the U.S. under Elite Entertainment and for its episode The man in the crowd For P.O.E. Poetry of Eerie.
L: Hi Paolo, how would you describe yourself?
P: From a professional point of view, I am a TV writer, documentary filmmaker and filmmaker. From a more personal point of view I could call myself a born provocateur, but hidden by a layer of placid waters.
L: What and who instilled in you the love of filmmaking so much that you decided to become a filmmaker?
P: As a very young child, I already loved writing, sketching stories, while the idea of directing came a little later, let's say in the pre-teen years, around 13-14 years old, an age when the passion for music also came. Directing seemed to me the natural discipline to tell stories with the help of images and music. At that very age, together with friends, we started shooting our first amateur short films, first in super8, then on video, under the Gore Bros. brand.
L: You are a well-known documentary filmmaker. In 2002 you directed "Le ombre della paura - Il cinema italiano del terrore 1960/1980″ together with Marco Cruciani. Can you tell us something about that? What is it about?
P: In 2001 I had the idea to construct, filmically, a history of Italian horror cinema, and so together with Marco Cruciani (co-director of "The shadows of fear") we tried to take up the language of documentaries from the 1960s: in our opinion, what little information on horror cinema that was visible on TV was of low quality; the reports were limited in scope, no one gave an overview of the phenomenon, no one really got the protagonists to talk. With the classic language of documentary, we tried to fill this void.
L: In 2005 you made the documentary "Hanging Shadows - Perspective on Italian horror cinema," currently distributed by Elite Entertainment in America. How did this project come about?
P: The shadows of fear focused on the two decades from the 1960s to the 1980s, and of course we had planned to follow up on that work: a documentary dealing with what had happened since the 1980s. The other collaborators, however, abandoned the project and our paths parted. I had already started collecting material, interviews, testimonies, so I decided to take up the idea again and still make a documentary that, though independent from the chapter that had preceded it, would tell the story of Italian horror cinema in the 1980s, its successes and its crises. And thus was born Hanging Shadows - Perspectives on Italian horror cinema. But I was not interested in repeating the formula and style of The shadows of fear, so this new work is not primarily aimed at historically reconstructing the genesis of genres and films, but focuses much more on certain themes, while also witnessing what is active in the field of independent horror production today. I must say. Hanging shadows continues to hold surprises...it was previously released by a New York distribution, and I understand that universities like Yale and Berkley bought it to include in their cinema programs...it was then released by the Italian Beat records, and now Elite wanted to re-release it for a strictly home video market. It is a documentary with a very long life, which makes us realize how much interest there is overseas for our genre cinema that no longer exists.
L: Always Elite Entertainment has distributed "Mad in Italy" on DVD in the United States. You were also responsible for the screenplay as well as the direction of this very interesting film. How did you come up with the idea of merging the horror thriller genre with topical issues such as the economic crisis? Were you inspired by real events?
L: Thank you for your appreciation. "Mad in Italy" was born out of the urgency to capture the pervasive malaise in contemporary Italy through the fiction of cinema. It is a completely independent product, made with the financial intervention of some private individuals, and shot with a small crew; I wanted it to be deliberately a raw, dirty, minimalist film, as those shot in the 1970s were. I don't even know if it can fully fit into the horror or thriller genre, as the end result has a very particular style. It's a film born more out of the urgency of doing it than out of rational reflections on genre cinema. I have always thought that the style I chose for "Mad in Italy" is the most suitable for telling the story of contemporary Italy. Today's Italy (like yesterday's) gives us news and political stories that far surpass any fantasy ... so when I was in the scriptwriting stage, I told myself that there was no need to make the effort to invent mediocre plots when I could steal great twists from the pages of newspapers! There is nothing invented in the screenplay, it is all real, although I cannot openly say which cases I was inspired by. In addition, it must be said that I myself live the problems of the protagonist on a daily basis, as do a great many of my peers, so the imprint of the film is distinctly realistic.
L: In your work madness and horror run hand in hand giving the viewer intense emotions. Tell us about the tortures that are inflicted on the victim. In your opinion, which ones impressed the most?
P: I must specify that this is not a torture-movie, a genre I do not like, although the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim is very close. What is perhaps most disturbing is the psychological violence that the woman suffers, as well as this unhealthy bond that the maniac establishes with the girl. There are also outbursts of violence, this yes, but compared to other films in the genre, in Mad they are more contained, calibrated and functional to the story.
L: Among the degradations suffered by the girl you also included a "forced" parade. What was your inspiration for this idea?
P: Reviewing that scene at times, I have often wondered how I came up with such an idea--and I have never been able to give myself an answer. I do remember, however, that it was there from the very first script draft of the film.
L: At the moment Mad in Italy is not yet available in Italy. When is it scheduled for distribution in our country (if at all)?
P: There is interest from a couple of Italian distributors but I don't know if and when an Italian release will be decided. However, I must say that the dvd edited by Elite is very well made, full of extras, viewable in any area and with Italian audio with English subtitles.
L: In 2012 you took part in Domiziano Cristopharo's P.O.E. Poetry of Eerie project with The Crowd Man. How did the choice of this short story fall on your part? Why?
P: "The Man in the Crowd," the short story from which I drew my episode, has always been the Poe story that has stuck with me the most; actualizing it was easy, because it was already very relevant. As soon as I decided to participate in the project, I immediately thought of working on that short story, to which, however, I wanted to add a final twist, something I came up with together with the screenwriter. Besides, I really like shooting at night and using a lot of music, and this was the perfect context to do both.
L: How do you rate this collective experience? Is there a possibility of seeing you involved in group horror again?
P: It was a good experience to get in touch with other independent filmmakers. One thing that is very lacking in this field is support among colleagues, there is little exchange. However, it is also true that now, after "P.O.E.", Italian episodic horror films are multiplying, precisely because it's a great gimmick to cut costs and package a feature film...I hope the formula continues to come up with interesting things and doesn't become a mere trick to grab some space.
L: By the way, you are a writer. Your publications include "The Artisans of Horror" (2004) which you dedicated to Italian genre cinema. Can you tell us about it?
P: "The Artisans of Horror" was the first book I published, made after my first documentary "The Shadows of Fear" so it could be called a kind of continuation, by other means, of that film project. By meeting all the main characters of Italian horror I had collected a lot of material that I was sorry to be left out of the documentary, so, further expanding my research, I tried to package a volume of it to have an even broader and more articulate view.
L: Your past shows a great attention on your part to the history of homegrown horror cinema. Which old-time directors are your favorites? Which current ones? How do you think Italian horror cinema has changed in these decades? And its audience?
P: I have always been a fan of thrillers and noirs, although then I am an omnivorous viewer. I like horror films, but also art films or comedies, when they are well written and acted. Undoubtedly, however, the fantastic is an old passion of mine as a spectator, which then also pushed me to make several projects in this area. I wouldn't have been able to do as much referring to westerns, for example, or detective stories. I like old-school directors, the pissed-off ones who want to tell the reality around them even using seemingly minor film genres: I am referring to Romero, Carpenter, Fulci, but also to directors such as Elio Petri, Fernando Di Leo, just to name a few, but there would be so many. In my opinion, the way of making scares in cinema has not changed much, the drives, the mechanisms are the same... what has changed is the technological landscape that has evolved CG, special effects, tools. However, I would like to see that along with this highly evolved form comes content that is a bit more thought out and deeper, something I can rarely find in contemporary products. I always necessarily have to look for independent products to find something cross-cutting and challenging.
L: What are you currently working on? What are your future projects?
P: About to be released on DVD (on Goodfellas label) is my latest documentary entitled "Let my cry come to you" focusing on the 1960s beat mass phenomenon, and I'm writing my new feature film, but it's still a little early to talk about it.
L: An opinion of your own on this interview?
P: Among the most comprehensive and detailed that have been done to me.
L: Leave a message for DarkVeins readers!
P: I thank everyone who had the patience to get to read this last line!
L: Thank you for your helpfulness!
