Leonardo Valenti

1. To begin, could you tell us a bit about your background and how you first became interested in filmmaking?

My educational background has nothing to do with film, but telling stories has always been a passion; cinema was the medium through which I wanted to tell my stories. Forty years ago, however, there were no truly effective film schools in Italy. Following in the footsteps of 1990s indie filmmakers like Rodriguez or Smith, I decided to dive in and just shoot things, using my cinephile background and a video camera. My school was making short films.

2. What was the moment—or project—that made you realize you wanted to pursue filmmaking as a career?

I remember the moment in my life, but not a specific film that pushed me to do it. It was in late adolescence, when I had to choose my university studies. I wanted to go to the US to study at a film school, like the Tribeca Center in New York, which at the time offered an interesting training program. When my dream of studying in the States didn’t come true, I decided to shoot my own stuff without attending any school.

3. Who were your early creative influences, either within cinema or in other art forms?

Without a doubt, the films of Spielberg and Lucas, followed closely by Italian-style comedy and Jerry Lewis’s comedies. But Japanese and American animation also had a huge influence on me – I’m thinking of anime and the Looney Tunes. It’s no coincidence that my first short is a fantastic slapstick comedy…

4. Can you describe how this current project originated? What sparked the idea?

Being born in the 1970s, I’ve seen how the relationship between people and television has changed – how it went from being an object you passively received to an object you wanted to appear in. The seduction of the image gave me the idea of a man who lives inside a television set but wants to escape from it, because there is nothing in there (a metaphor for the emptiness of fame without talent). That’s where the story of TV Man comes from.

5. What references—cinematic or otherwise—did you draw from while developing this film?

The sources are more or less the same. If you look closely at the short, you’ll find slapstick comedy, anime, the fantastic, and even some directorial choices that bring it close to Spielberg’s cinema.

6. How would you describe your creative process from concept to final cut?

The initial idea was mine, but I didn’t get very far with it – I couldn’t find a key. The two main actors in the short, Fabio and Marco, stepped in to help me. They were used to improvising together, so they took the situation and improvised what later became the central part of the short. Then we reworked the script, adding a first act and an ending. We shot with a single S-VHS camcorder, no additional lighting, just natural light, no extra microphones, recording live sound, and then I edited everything using two VCRs – no professional editing suite. The sound mix was done with a four-track audio mixer I used for playing music (at the time I was split between music and cinema – I was also writing songs).

7. What were the main challenges you encountered during production, and how did you overcome them?

Working with zero budget and in complete independence was the biggest challenge. I overcame it with a mix of simplicity and inventiveness. I planned everything in advance so we could shoot as quickly and smoothly as possible, using only non-professional actors.

8. When working with your team (cast, crew, editors, etc.), how do you approach collaboration?

I haven’t worked on a set for a long time now because I work as a writer, but my relationship with the co-writers I work with is comparable to that on a set. The main rule is that I hold the overall vision and the final say, but everyone has to have their voice, because this is a job that feeds on other people’s insights.

9. Your film has been (or is intended to be) part of the festival circuit. How has your experience with film festivals shaped your career so far?

To be precise, this short is doing the festival circuit this year even though it was shot in 1997. Twenty-eight years ago, after making a couple more short films, I decided to devote myself exclusively to writing. The rediscovery of this very first short felt like a sign of fate – and it felt even more like fate that it is enjoying an unexpected success at festivals. The one who pushed me to try the festival route was Fabio, who plays the man in the TV. At first it seemed like a pointless attempt to me, but he was right to push me. And to go back to your question: this festival run and the reception that this almost thirty-year-old, no-budget short is getting are giving me the desire to get back behind the camera…

10. Which platforms or services do you typically use to submit your films to festivals?

I practically discovered the existence of festival-submission platforms only this year, and I’ve tried pretty much all of them. I started with WFCN, then quickly discovered Shortfilmdepot and Filmfest, but once FilmFreeway and Festhome came my way, they became my main reference platforms.

11. What do you look for in a festival when deciding where to submit your work?

I gradually realised – also by making some early mistakes – that what mattered to me wasn’t a prize or a laurel, but that the short was actually seen, either on online platforms or, even better, screened in person. I also understood that the most suitable circuits were underground festivals, fantastic-film festivals or those specifically dedicated to comedy. I don’t submit to big festivals where I know I won’t be selected, and I don’t submit to festivals that don’t guarantee any real visibility, etc.

12. What genres or cinematic styles do you personally gravitate toward, either as a filmmaker or as a viewer?

I’m quite eclectic and versatile, and sometimes what I like to watch doesn’t match what I like to make. As a viewer, I can go from Kore-eda’s minimalism to gore cinema without any problem. As a screenwriter, I’m known for my crime scripts. But when it comes to imagining a story, I want to direct myself, my mind inevitably reaches for the fantastic and the absurd. I love exaggerated tones and crazy ideas.

13. Are there directors, films, or movements that have significantly shaped your vision for this project?

As I mentioned above, yes: Spielberg, Cronenberg, the Looney Tunes, Italian-style comedy, and the independent, self-produced American cinema of the 1990s. If there’s an element of originality in my short, it’s that, starting from 90s DIY cinema, it looks for a completely different path: it doesn’t go down the road of minimalism, and it doesn’t approach the fantastic through horror, but through the absurd and comedy. If you look at the DIY “shot on video” films of the same period, most of them lean towards splatter, gore or pure minimalism. My short is different.

14. How do you hope audiences will interpret or connect with this film?

As a message coming from the past that speaks to the present. The themes touched on, in a comic and absurd tone, are extremely topical and have only grown more extreme today. Now we all have a screen within arm’s reach thanks to smartphones, and through it we can (or at least have the illusion that we can) be the protagonists.

15. Looking forward, what kinds of stories or projects are you most excited to explore next?

I’m toying with the idea of making a sort of sequel to my short. But one that pushes the dial of absurdity, fantasy and comedy even further, and that goes deeper into the reflection on the relationship between human beings and screens…