THIS WEEK’S FEATURED FILM PRESENTATION: "Routine Seasons” (Sept 8-14)
WATCH THE TRAILER (CLICK IMAGE ABOVE FOR THE FULL MOVIE)
Gabriella’s mother suffered a stroke that left her half-paralyzed and unable to care for herself in the country where she immigrated. For the last ten years, Gabriella has been mostly unable to leave her home. Routine Seasons explores how the love and sacrifice we offer others and impose onto ourselves can evolve into guilt and resentment. Paul Ballerini enters this house alone and creates a piece that explores, using in-camera techniques, the hidden experiences in this home and how reality can be perceived by the individuals living it. Distorted viewpoints, the passing of seasons, politics, the juxtaposition of public and private space and a filmmaker's obsession all converge to dissect the family’s predicament.
Runtime: 15 minutes, 58 seconds
Best Viewed: Any Screen, Cinema Presentation, Projection
Director Biography - Paul Ballerini
Paul Ballerini is an emerging award-winning Italian-Canadian filmmaker from Montréal, Québec, who is interested in the blurred line between fact and fiction, memory and storytelling. Experimenting with reenactment, repetition, interviews and soundscapes, he glides between themes of family, obligation, re-examination of the past and the unreliability of perception. His work spans the spectrum of documentary and narrative filmmaking, and his films have been screened on the festival circuit as well as broadcast on television. He holds a Film Production BFA from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, where his graduating film, Forgotten Man (2016), won the Susan Schouten Documentary Film Award. His films include Cotten (2015), which was selected at the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québécois (RVCQ), as well as Nothing Special (2019), which premiered at the 14th annual Cinema On The Bayou festival, in Louisiana and won the Best First-Time Filmmaker at the Canada International Film Festival. He is currently an Master of Fine Arts candidate in Film Production at Concordia University, where he entered with a full scholarship. His present research-creation project, Home as Alone, is funded and supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec.
Director Statement
Routine Seasons is a short documentary film that aims to explore the world of caregiving in first and second generation immigrants. With a specific focus on the story of my family, I am interested in exploring the physical home of my mother, and how it changes, along with her identity, state of mind, aspirations and regrets. Should one repeat the actions of previous generations? How is identity affected by caregiving? What is one's identity in society when one is isolated from it? What is the relationship between physical objects and memory? Through experimentation with form and its relation to the delivery of content, Routine Seasons tries to subvert perception to enhance the wider truth of personal stories in subjective cinema.
Credits & Specifications
Director: Paul Ballerini
Key Cast:
Gabriella Fallone
Pierina Vitale
Carlo Ballerini
Completion Date: December 12, 2022
Country of Origin: Canada
Country of Filming: Canada
Language: English, French, Italian
Shooting Format: Digital
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
