In Andrea Ciavatta’s new short film, Imprinting, a man goes on a voyage into his subconscious and reckons with personal history. The man at the film’s core is its creator – who acted as director, producer, and co-writer of the project, as well as playing a version of himself on screen. An abstracted, musically influenced journey, the film was clearly a labour of love and has now found itself Oscar-qualified ahead of the 97th Academy Awards which will take place in March 2025.
The Film Verdict caught up with Ciavatta in November 2024 to discuss the making of the film, the role of music in the production, and the process of translating your own experiences to the screen.
Imprinting is evidently a very personal film. I’d love to know a little about the film’s inception. What was the starting point for you exploring this idea in film form?
“This project comes more from motivation than anything else. We’re experiencing such a dark historical period; young people today have big relationship problems, they don’t believe in themselves, they are confused and afraid. I know this feeling because when I was a kid I suffered from attention deficits, I didn’t believe in myself either. I was afraid. I couldn’t study and it was a very dark period of my life. This project is a message to young people: they must never lose the hope.”
You produced the film through Andrea Ciavatti Films, what was it like pulling the whole project together yourself?
“The role of film producer is always an incredible adventure. You don’t have any kind of pressure, you can totally realize the imagination you have. You’re completely free, so it was great to be able to decide how to spend all the money. This experience was fundamental in my career and very fun.”
Did you always know that you would play the character of ‘Andrea’ yourself or were you ever tempted to cast someone else in that role?
“Yes I always knew, right from the beginning of pre-production of Imprinting, that I would play the main character because the story is very personal. The film incorporates a lot of my past life, of my healing process, of my growth.”
Given its autobiographical nature, was there anything new that you learned about yourself either in writing the film with Leo Barbato or during the making of the film?
“Leo Barbato is like a brother to me. We started this experience together a few years ago and he was fundamental for me. He and Andrea Tosi helped me a lot because they composed the music I wanted. They were very patient, very serious, exceptional artists. They had a lot of patience towards me because I have never studied music. It was been a very creative success thanks to a great and courageous relationship.
It was a cathartic project because today I see young people suffering, they cannot find their way, they have strong identity crises. I went back into that pain when I was also young, so the production of the film was also very painful. I relived that pain in an intense way, but at the same time it made me feel strong because I know there is always a way out and that is what I wish for all young people today.”
Music clearly plays a major role in the film – can you speak a little about working on this element?
“I’ve listen to music since I was a child because my father is a musician of rock’n’roll and blues and my mother loves cinema. I love music that goes from the ’40s to the ’70s. I really like old black American music and one of the most important influences on my life was Elvis Presley. His voice was the third after the voices of my parents. Music has always played a fundamental role in my life and in my films. The soundtrack of Imprinting is based on all this old sounds with some modern elements.”
There are stunning locations throughout the film – what was the process of finding and securing these locations like?
“The film has a taste of a wind fairy tale and even the scenarios had this characteristic, so the research was spasmodic: we searched all of the locations first via internet, and then we took planes or reached them by car. I really love also being a location manager for my films.”
What were some of your cinematic and musical influences while making the film?
“My creativity is got from my father because he’s always been a creative man. He’s worked in the fashion industry all his life. He was the ‘King of Jeans’ during the ’70s ’80s and ’90s.”
Read our review of
Imprinting here.
