REPLICA, 6min., USA
Directed by Marta Renzi
A house, a replica and its inhabitants, both somewhat removed from reality. Tenderness, delight and quiet companionship. How much is imagined? What does the future hold?

http://martarenzi.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/marta.renzi.54
https://www.instagram.com/renzimarta

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

The first inspiration was in choosing the dancers who are decades apart in age, live on different continents, and didn't know each other!
But I knew their verve, their humor, their sensuality, their physicality makes them cousins / twins / anything but lovers!

The last quieter section - to Sylvan Esso music, was a gift to Arthur who had experienced a hard summer, and could use some tenderness.
The balloons were a lucky break - a beloved elder in the neighborhood had celebrated her 98th birthday in the performance space the night before.

BAAD! in the Bronx is a wonderful place, Arthur's home away from home, and completely affordable.
https://www.baadbronx.org/

When I decided we should shoot there, I knew the blank back wall would feel too theatrical or empty.
So I went poking around for on the Internet Archive for some footage to enliven that wall.
And then, since it was near Halloween


2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

A few months. Selina was arriving from Berlin to NYC for a brief stay. So we had 2 days of rehearsal and 2 days of shooting which ran from about Halloween till Election Day 2025 (that dark day.)
Then a few weeks of editing by myself, at home on my computer. For once, music permission was a breeze! Come to think of it, a few months later, I went back in and laid in some more sound effects. Next time a real designer!

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Goofy. Sexy.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Doubt is almost always the biggest obstacle.
I guess a nagging doubt that it wasn't good enough.
One friend - who I love, but who is wrong - suggested it wasn't worth completing!

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

Delight.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

When the equipment - computer, camera, software - was cheap enough that it was feasible - around 2006?

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

By now it's probably Summer 1993, by Spanish director Carla Simon.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
The feedback videos are a gift. For me, trophies are completely beside the point.
I'll let you know if I think of something.
Would I be interested in a feedback video that also suggested what DIDN't work??

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Excellent.

10. What is your favorite meal?

The better question is with whom?

11. What is next for you? A new film?

I have a few in mind:

a portrait of a R&B singer in my town who absolutely deserves his own movie

a dance film with two very different Taiwanese dancers who I don't know personally but who I would "commission" to work together, ideally shot in the parking lot above Port Authority NY with tall buildings all around.

time spent in a run-down horse stable in rural Pennsylvania with an extraordinary woman who is disabled by long chronic illness and is fiercely, poetically determined not to be pitiable.