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Writer/Director Gabriele Fabbro and Actress Ludovica Mancini talk to Fest Track about emotional depth, the use of classical music and finding moments of connection and intention in regards to their film "The Grand Bolero" playing the Narrative Feature Film section at the 2021 Austin Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

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Transcript
00:00Music
00:05Music
00:06Music
00:08Music
00:36It was the most important thing
00:38in the scene because music talks for Lucia.
00:46Was it hard doing, you know, especially in your first acting gig?
00:51It was important the contact tie.
00:56And we see each other, we feel each other.
01:01And yes, it was like we were playing together during the film.
01:11And she helped me a lot.
01:15One of the beautiful moments that I always will take with me on set,
01:20it was when we were doing the Bolero sequence.
01:24They had to play the music, the orchestral,
01:29because we didn't have the arrangement back then.
01:31But they played the orchestral version of Bolero.
01:34And, you know, they were dancing over it, you know,
01:37and they danced for like the whole, you know, 14 minutes of that crescendo
01:43just to get, just to feel each other, you know,
01:45and they would start screaming to each other.
01:47At first they were gentle, then like they were screaming,
01:48you know, like there was this, you know,
01:51it was really them getting to like, you know, getting in sync,
01:54you know, like emotionally.
01:55And then once they were there, we roll the camera.
02:33And it's, it's funny because while they were doing this,
02:36we are so scared because you know that when the music is going to finish,
02:39we need to be prepared.
02:41So Jessica was like, Oh my God, I need to hurry up.
02:43The lights, the lights.
02:45Yeah.
02:47That will always take it with me.
02:50Well, but, but see, that's a great way to get to that.
02:52I mean, because there's certain moments, obviously,
02:55that's that are reflective of Kubrick, the director, Stanley Kubrick,
02:59but it's also, well, because the way, because of the way the edit works,
03:04the way he used classical music, but in what you're talking about,
03:08you use the music to get to a certain point.
03:10It's funny.
03:11We bring that up because I know I study him a lot and yeah,
03:16I know that he does that.
03:18And I, it's weird.
03:19I never think I've never thought about that while I was shooting,
03:22but yeah.
03:23Yeah.
03:24No, but it was, well, cause you're using very specific location.
03:28And they gave us this giant Oregon that is from the 1700,
03:32the one that you see in the movie, the, the, the inside one.
03:36That's, that's all original.
03:37And like, it works, you know, like you, you can, if you plug it, you know,
03:41it will play, you know, but yeah, they did help so much.
03:46But getting back to your question about the claustrophobic.
03:50Like I always feel that like the,
03:53all the movies that I really love are the ones that have like a small world.
03:58And they really explore the worlds, like in every possibility they can,
04:03you know, I think, you know, I'm really fond of those movies that like they,
04:07they, it's almost like, you know, they, they cut their legs off, you know,
04:12and they need to find more interesting ways, you know, to tell a story.
04:16You know what I mean?
04:17Like instead of having like a huge budget,
04:19like all the scenes that I want to like all the extras, let's cut that off.
04:23You know, let's work with like few things and let's really try to make the best out of them.
04:27You know?
04:28So for this movie, I was trying to do that.
04:31You know, like I was trying to, for myself as a director,
04:34I was trying to like put myself in that situation and say, okay,
04:37you need to, you need to improve.
04:39Like, it's not, you know, this is not working, you know, like,
04:41I think it will expect.
04:43And that's where Italy, the co-writer came in.
04:46We were both really like meticulous about what to put on screen.
04:50And is it interesting enough, you know, like, and does this move the story forward?
04:54You know, like, so that pushed us a lot.
04:56Yeah, I mean, the editing actually, it's, it was actually the easiest part.
05:01Of course, we had like many edits.
05:03Okay. But like the structure, it was really defined by the writing, you know?
05:08Yeah, I felt like when I was editing it, I was really getting back to like the storyboards
05:13and the script itself. It was, it was all there, I feel like.
05:17And yeah, there are very few scenes that we discovered, you know, in the editing process.
05:26I told you, you'll never, never touch my thing without.
05:30No!
05:31Stop! Stop!
05:32No!
05:33Stop it!
05:35Ankling this mess.
05:37I don't want to hear another song from you tonight.
05:39Is it clear?
05:44Stop it!
05:47But we were talking a little about, about Primal, you know, and this character, this girl.
05:53Could you talk about what you found, what you glommed onto that you liked about her?
05:58Or what was her truth, per se, that you liked?
06:02The back story of Lucia, obviously.
06:08With Gabriele, we talked about it, we said that Lucia is always fascinated by the organ and
06:16she loves the organ and wants to learn to play.
06:22And so, the fact of being in a church and being in a church and being able to learn from
06:29an
06:30teacher is a very exciting thing for her.
06:34It's what she wants.
06:36And really, even though, I found myself in front of the organ,
06:40the wheels, I really found that curiosity.
06:45In the scene in which I find the camera and touch that giant wheel, I'm really attracted
06:52and fascinated by it.
06:54I was asking Lydia about the details that really let her connect.
06:57You know, and when she's looking at, like, pictures that you've drawn, like the drawing
07:01she does, there are so many little things.
07:03What details did you pick out of?
07:06I used...
07:08Sicuramente il lavoro sui sensi mi ha aiutato molto, quindi anche cercare proprio di trovare
07:16un contatto sensoriale con il tatto degli oggetti.
07:21I tried to discover, in reality, the things, the materials, the sensations that the material gives me.
07:39Stop!
07:41Stop!
07:43Stop!
07:45Stop!
07:47Stop it!
07:49Stop it!
07:50Don't touch it!
08:03Don't touch it!
08:05we're talking about beauty versus the um the illusion of beauty there's so many different
08:11things going on here well again like the the obsession is at the top right so that's like
08:16oh that's that's what i started for um but yeah did that come from a specific reason was it
08:23influenced by the music was it influenced by what was going on i mean the man the organ the organ
08:30world and like the organ sound is the most obsessive thing that i ever heard you know uh it's to
08:37me
08:37that's that is obsession and like i feel like um yeah those heavy yeah exactly you know there's
08:45there's a sound to it and that is really like drag you know like i met a lot of organists
08:49and they all
08:49tell me like you feel the vibration you know like they're all about like feel the vibration of this
08:53instrument you know i'm like i of course like i'm a little like skeptical about it uh you know but
09:00i feel that like once you myself too i feel like once you enter the world it kind of like
09:06sets you
09:06up you know and you gotta be careful because you really lose connection to reality
09:12you
09:34a lot of the organists they are like great people but you know they become so obsessed about this
09:38organ uh the you know like the the inspiration for roxanne came from a real organist that we met
09:45during the pandemic and he lives inside pipe organs he doesn't have a house uh and he goes from church
09:50to church to repair them you know that's like how crazy is that you know um so like you see
09:57to me i really
09:58wanted to make sure that that was like the main uh focus you know um and this theme of like
10:04you
10:04know like not touching you know like this this is really what is important to me to come across like
10:09i really wanted the fear of touching to be you know there to be there you know like i feel
10:15like
10:16i think that helps like my climactic scene where like roxanne gets what she wants let's say you know
10:22yeah but there's still the sphere is present you know like it's everywhere you know every time is
10:27like present um so that's i think i would want to focus on that there are many themes that like
10:33connected to like the you know the different age of the women you know like but there are so many
10:36things that are tackled on you know like the the bolero the fact that like the piece itself it's a
10:42crescendo and a repetition of one theme 40 minutes of a crescendo where like the instruments build up but
10:47the theme stays the same you know that represents the movie you know like it's like we we try to
10:53do
10:53that this custom raise up of tension you know like that's why we call it the grumble era you know
10:58because it is at the end that movie it is that music you know like it's so connected and um
11:05like to me i
11:06i wanted that to be like the main focus you know all the other themes they're tackled here and there
11:11you know like i'm the story there's the covid aspect you know like it's there are many things you
11:16you know but they're really all you know swimming around this like giant obsession theme
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