CREDITS:
Starring: Annamaria Moramarco, Marco Celli, Micol Martinez, Marzia Gallo, Pier Luigi Perino, Neal Dhand
Directed by: NEAL DHAND & MIKA JOHNSON
1 ad: Tommaso Montaldo
Dop: Charles Anderson
Stadycam operator: Pat Sage
Gaffer: Peyton Johnson
Focus Puller: Nick Wilson
Art Director: Gabriele Alario
Live sound engineer: Francesco Maccario
Script and continuity: Rose Waterman
Production: https://panta.uno Simone Dipietro / Martino Zattarin / Kat Clauhs
Co-Production: Roberto Almagia
Production Coordinator: Florian Piovano
Supported by: Genova Liguria Film Commission
The world might be ending, but it doesn’t matter for Alphonso. He leans into fate
and throws a dart at a map that lands on Genoa. Alphonso rips off his ankle
monitor, kidnaps his daughter Lily and hops on the first plane.
Genoa. A magical place, a hot place, a very Italian place. Alphonso enjoys some
relative calm with Lily - and plenty of the panic of “how the hell do I dad?” - until
paranoia sets in: he’s being shadowed by Paolo, an Italian PI with a splendid
mustache, hired by Alphonso’s wife, Francine, to get Lily back. When Alphonso
smashes Paolo’s face in, he ushers in a surreal world, one where he suddenly
speaks Italian and people mistake him for Paolo. They include Silvia, a sexy lady
with a briefcase which houses Morgiana: a talking, decapitated head, who
Alphonso falls in love with. Alphonso, who seems to be becoming Paolo,
accidentally kills them both just as Francine, who may also be in love with Paolo,
arrives in Genoa.
and throws a dart at a map that lands on Genoa. Alphonso rips off his ankle
monitor, kidnaps his daughter Lily and hops on the first plane.
Genoa. A magical place, a hot place, a very Italian place. Alphonso enjoys some
relative calm with Lily - and plenty of the panic of “how the hell do I dad?” - until
paranoia sets in: he’s being shadowed by Paolo, an Italian PI with a splendid
mustache, hired by Alphonso’s wife, Francine, to get Lily back. When Alphonso
smashes Paolo’s face in, he ushers in a surreal world, one where he suddenly
speaks Italian and people mistake him for Paolo. They include Silvia, a sexy lady
with a briefcase which houses Morgiana: a talking, decapitated head, who
Alphonso falls in love with. Alphonso, who seems to be becoming Paolo,
accidentally kills them both just as Francine, who may also be in love with Paolo,
arrives in Genoa.
Genoa, it seems, is a place where weird things happen, one of which just might be
the (re)formation of a family as the world crumbles to an end.
the (re)formation of a family as the world crumbles to an end.
SYNOPSIS
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I hadn't written a new script in awhile when I arrived in Genoa, but it's a city where
myth seems to lurk around every corner. How haven't there been a million films
shot here? I was also thinking a lot about time. My daughter is 18 months old at the
time of this writing. How do I hold onto this moment? How come everything that is
present becomes past so immediately? It was these two things that brought the
script Genoa to life.
Mika and I worked together on a short film, RAT, and I really wanted to do
something with him again. This seemed like a perfect fit. Inspired by plenty of
filmmakers we both love (Buñuel, Jarmusch, Rohrwacher, Reygadas...), Genoa
teeters on surrealism and magical realism, but it's rooted in real relationships we
both understand - I as a new father, Mika pondering becoming one.
I wrote and directed RAT before Petra was born. That short was about angst and
desperation verging on paranoia. Genoa still is! The more things change, the more
they stay the same. But there's also a real love running throughout the film. Its
secondary title is Capacity For Love. I've been stunned for awhile - 18 months, to
be exact - about the capacity I have to love someone.
Genoa is magic. The city and this film. There are severed heads, mystical
apothecaries, telepathy, and doppelgängers. It's only through these enigmatic
interactions that Alphonso, the main character, can become a real father. Because,
how else does one cope with that responsibility?
myth seems to lurk around every corner. How haven't there been a million films
shot here? I was also thinking a lot about time. My daughter is 18 months old at the
time of this writing. How do I hold onto this moment? How come everything that is
present becomes past so immediately? It was these two things that brought the
script Genoa to life.
Mika and I worked together on a short film, RAT, and I really wanted to do
something with him again. This seemed like a perfect fit. Inspired by plenty of
filmmakers we both love (Buñuel, Jarmusch, Rohrwacher, Reygadas...), Genoa
teeters on surrealism and magical realism, but it's rooted in real relationships we
both understand - I as a new father, Mika pondering becoming one.
I wrote and directed RAT before Petra was born. That short was about angst and
desperation verging on paranoia. Genoa still is! The more things change, the more
they stay the same. But there's also a real love running throughout the film. Its
secondary title is Capacity For Love. I've been stunned for awhile - 18 months, to
be exact - about the capacity I have to love someone.
Genoa is magic. The city and this film. There are severed heads, mystical
apothecaries, telepathy, and doppelgängers. It's only through these enigmatic
interactions that Alphonso, the main character, can become a real father. Because,
how else does one cope with that responsibility?
