Fingerpicking

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Fingerpicking (Diteggiatura)

Fingerpicking (Diteggiatura)

original title:

Diteggiatura

directed by:

cast:

Silvia Costa, Compagnia Marionettistica "Carlo Colla & Figli"

screenplay:

Riccardo Giacconi, Andrea Morbio, artificial neural network Megatron 11b

producer:

production:

Slingshot Films, supported by Artists’ Film Italia Recovery Fund, Fondo per l’Audiovisivo del Friuli Venezia Giulia

country:

Italy

year:

2021

film run:

18'

format:

colour

status:

Ready (28/07/2021)

festivals & awards:

The «Carlo Colla & Figli Puppet Company» is one of the most ancient and famous puppet companies in the world. The Company’s Atelier in Milan houses more than three thousand puppets. Each has a face, a body and specific characteristics, which makes it unique.
«Diteggiatura» recounts, in a reverse chronology, a year spent in the Atelier of the Colla Company, following the rituals of a community called upon to accompany the life of anthropomorphic objects.
The film is based on a text, performed by actress and director Silvia Costa and written by an artificial neural network.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
"Your feet are bound with white cloths, and your hands are bound behind your back. A mask covers your face, and you are placed on a stage, alone".
The film begins with this quote. I chose it for two reasons.
First of all, because it is the point of view of a puppet - a non-human being in front of an audience composed of humans.
And then, because it wasn’t written by a human being, but by a machine. More specifically, it was written by a text generator based on an artificial neural network that, starting from a textual input, is able to produce a text of any length, on any topic.
It seemed fitting that a film about the Colla puppets - machines built to move like human beings - should be written by a text generator - a machine built to write like a human being.