Monica Dugo

Sicilian actress, but also dancer and director, Monica Dugo is a well-known face, above all in Italian fiction. In 2005 she made her film debut in I LOVE YOU IN EVERY LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD. Among the many films we remember: QUESTO È IL MIO PAESE, UNA MAMMA IMPERFETTA, ROMANZO SICILIANO, BORIS GIULIANO - UN POLIZIOTTO A PALERMO e THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN SUMMER. In 2016 she directed and wrote the short film DOMANI SMETTO with Marcello Nodo. In 2022 she presented at the Venice Film Festival (Biennale College Cinema) LIKE THE TURTLES.

My film started with an image: an empty wardrobe. I wondered if a woman, overwhelmed by unsustainable and unexpected pain, could have stuck inside it. And I smiled. The images inside the wardrobe immediately took shape, the doors like eyes, what would have filtered through their cracks. And on the contrary what I would have shown of its interior. And this is the "surreal" part of my film, with non-classical shots, with a wardrobe built with movable walls, spying on the protagonist while she hides her state of mind without color, through colored blouses. And the possibility of dwelling on noises, squeaks, knocks on the wardrobe. The wardrobe becomes a character, assists and welcomes, lights up and goes out, inside and out, once its mission is over, it can even die.
Around the wardrobe, the house, and a story to be told in the most classic way possible, albeit in a unity of place. The theatrical system is inevitable. As well as linked to my experience as a dancer first, and as an actress later, trying to focus on a style that gives value to the composition of the shot, in which there is not too much space for improvised shooting. I like to alternate images of the actors with images of material things, ornaments, the closet door that becomes a confessional. The handheld camera is used to follow moving characters in the corridor or on the street, while still and square images in the cameras. The "theatrical" shots alternate with close-ups in particular moments, confidential exchanges, glances. From a visual point of view, the film will have a realistic approach to the story, even in the most surreal moments. In any case, as always, the first (and only) rule I give myself is to take things very seriously, but never take yourself too seriously. I don't want to dwell too much on the pain, on the drama. Make it feel and feel, but look away from it a moment sooner rather than a moment later.