Michelangelo Frammartino Director of ’Le Quattro Volte’

When did you have the last version of your script? Was it before beginning the shoot, or did you make adjustments during filming?

This is not a cinema that comes from writing but a cinema that comes from spaces and the presence of bodies. Writing is a productive instrument for what comes after - it is not fundamental, even if it helps. It’s a problem in Italy because all the production companies want a script before deciding to finance a project, but recently things have been changing.

What can you tell me about your work with non-professional actors?

The work is derived from human beings in opposition to other things. Man is only in the first part, after there come animals, plants and fine agricultural minerals. Working with non-professionals is challenging for me as a director; like this I lose the control and it’s really more interesting to enter into my film. With the non-professional it’s him who gives the orders, you just have to be patient, and I like that. The only professional actor is the dog. When it arrived on the set the people from the village were crazy about that dog. They decided to bring their own to mate with the female actor because they wanted the same kind of trained baby dog.

To shoot some scenes, such as the mythic sequence shot with the dog and the truck, how many takes did you do? How much time did you need to prepare it?

I made twenty-one takes for this scene. The problem was that I wanted the dog to take possession of the space, and when someone comes into his space he had to defend his territory, but he didn’t do that. So the dog trainer had to teach him by heart each place that he had to take. It was really amazing.

Can you tell me how it’s possible to shoot a scene with a goat without scaring it? In particular the kids?

The kids were born with us, so it was normal for them to be surrounded by ten cameras every day. For the adults it was really difficult to shoot, but when a female has a baby she doesn’t look at you anymore.

How did you manage to shoot outside in the mountains with a 35mm camera?

First of all I spent one year by myself with a camera to take pictures of the landscape and the goats. I wanted to observe them and the environment. Also, I wanted to know how I would shoot before using 35mm film. I wanted this good traditional image, but at the same time a very different cinematic language.

Sound plays a big part in this film. Can you explain to me how you recorded it and what it means for you?

The sound engineer’s work was really amazing. Paolo Benvenuti and Simone Paolo Olivero worked three or four hours more a day than us on the shoot. The sound takes up half of the movie. We worked with a lot of microphones everywhere in the shot, which allowed us to mix afterwards. This is a film where man is in the foreground and the sound is in the background, until little by little it takes up more space. We worked the sound in this way to find the perfect balance between human beings, images, and sound itself.

Your first film, Il Dono, is about Calabria and the lifestyle there. What will your next project look like, if you have already one?

My next project is an animation feature, it’s not about Calabria. But I think that I’ve always felt inspired by it, because it’s the birthplace of a civilization.

I come from Sicily, and have always been told that all Italians originated from there

Well you were wrong! (laughs)

By Laurie Zaffarana