A Comic Appointment with Independent Cinema
“Satirical sketches depicting independent cinema, an industry in which young directors’ aspirations and dreams have to cope with the producers’ economic stringency. We could say they are an explosive mixture which generates incredible paradoxes”.
This is how we can summarize the basic idea of Lobagge, a television-mini-series successfully broadcast between July 24-August 6, 2017. on Iris channel, winner of the Roma Web Festival Award as best Sketch/comedy in November 2017.
The comedy series is written and interpreted by Andrea Muzzi, in cooperation with Silvio Di Giorgio, and directed by Claudio Piccolotto.
As “ogni scarrafone è bello a mamma sua” (that in English it would sound like “every child is beautiful in the eyes of his mother), Corrado Miccali considers his films as a turning point in the movie industry and he cannot understand why no producer is willing to believe in and financially support his work.
The director would do anything to realize his dream and turns to the Capone Brothers to obtain the necessary financial support. They are businessmen running a gully emptier company with no cinema or literature knowledge, whose only interest is to make money out of this collaboration. As they are unaware of the costs for producing a film, they set a very tight budget (a “low budget”, where the ironic title come from). And so, with a funding of 22, 53 or 66 euro Miccali had to re-write his many entire script, re-adapting the settings by choosing not too expensive and far away locations, which implied having to modify the plot and the moral of the story, leading to a totally unexpected conclusion than the one initially planned.
Each episode lasts 3 minutes and all the sketches develop well known stories, which in this case are re-interpreted and simplified, with a totally different and unexpected conclusion from the one the audience knows. The first episode tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth who is set free by Pilato, then we are presented with a version of Romeo and Juliet, whose families are not in conflict with each other; Snow White does not have to worry about the Witch, that willingly accepts the Mirror’s response. Miccali is convinced that he is able to convey an innovative and positive message through his short but effective works.
Last but not least, the backstage detail that concludes each episode is given by the actors that advertise commercial products during the shooting. The second season will present an alternative cut by presenting the setbacks due to the director’s inability. For example, there will be a short dedicated to Cristopher Columbus, where the leading character is seen walking along an Alpine path and receiving directions to reach a ski resort. The Columbus scene will inevitably be cut.
Starring: Andrea Muzzi, Vania Della Bidia, Riccardo Graziosi, Marco Fiorini, Lallo Circosta, Alina Person, Danilo De Santis.
Criminal Puppet
A web-series created, written, directed and interpreted by Lillo and Greg, Pupazzo Criminale (Criminal Puppet), released in September 2014, presents extremely particular characters, that is puppets that act in the crime business. Produced by LSD Edizioni – Mupazzi Show, Pupazzo Criminale, whose title ironically refers to Romanzo Criminale – La serie (an Italian television series about an Italian criminal gang), proved to be successful on the web right from the beginning, especially on YouTube. It is made of brief episodes (40 so far) lasting about 2 or 3 minutes each, in which the life of these dubious criminal puppets animated by the authors themselves is told in a pulp-fiction style. In every sketch the characters talk with a Roman accent and the stories stem from misunderstandings presented in a humorous and ironic way. The main characters are Sorcio Secco, Paperello, Primavera, Cocco, but also Er Giraffa, La Rana, Er Mammola and Er Ricetta, this latter interpreted by Paolo Bonolis. In 2016 the series by Lillo and Greg was invited to participate in Ciao Darwin, an Italian tv program, hosting also Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti.
And yet he was such a nice person
A comedy series that ironically presents daily news, where a cliché, such as “he was such a nice person, I would never have imagined he could something as bad as this” and many others are narrated, where local crime news is turned into a show, enriched by absurd interviews and reports. In the first episode we can see how an unpleasant event, such as the request for a receipt in a bar made by a polite person above suspicion is followed by a series of interviews to this person’s friend and family members.
A comic description of reality which apparently makes you laugh, but at the same time makes you think.
