Monstrum: Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta
The project we would like to develop is a short film called “Monstrum: Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta”, which follows four different characters as they roll on the floor in different places of the city of Lisbon.
Inspired by the pagan ritual/myth of tarantism in southern Italy, documented in the 1962 film “La Taranta” by Ernesto de Martino, where several people who are “bitten” by a spider enter a state of trance and catharsis that leads them to balance their psychic and emotional states, Monstrum: Rosina, Peppina, Mauro & Maria Antonietta is a short-film that re-interprets the rite-myth of tarantism to a contemporary setting.
In Monstrum…, Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta are the four characters that suffer the “bite” of the spider, but, unlike the traditional myth of tarantism, where people remain in a specific place while the ritual unfolds, and where they are also accompanied by an orchestra of musicians who encourage them to “shake off” the poison of the spider they “have inside” by dancing to different music, in Monstrum the characters do not dance or shake, nor do they have an orchestra or people who accompany them through their crisis - they are alone and their movements consist solely of rolling on the floor - in this rolling motion is that they advance through different spaces, interior and exterior, private and public, of the city of Lisbon.
In the following link you can find a short video that shows part of the film “La Taranta” and other references and ideas that inspired us for our film:
Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta will be the ones who will be “stinged” and who, as a result of that “stinging”, will roll on the floor and develop erratic behaviors. They are absorbed in their different daily activities when an imaginary “spider” approaches and “stings” them (the sting serves as a symbol to point out to something that itches under the surface). As the “poison” begins to manifest in their bodies they start developing abstract and erratic behaviors. A few moments later they’ll lay on the floor in the different places where they find themselves, and begin rolling – direction: unknown.
The characters roll and advance through different areas of the city such as streets and sidewalks, commercial spaces for clothing and furniture sales, restaurants and bars. They pass through the roof of the Maat Museum, through the different wagons of a moving train, through industrial and abandoned spaces, through different parks and urban forests, and close to the people queuing to enter the Jerónimos Monastery. In all of these spaces through which they roll they accumulate and drag with their bodies the remains and leftovers of clothes and construction materials that they come across that are lying on the floor.
Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta roll each on their own. They roll through one space and a few moments later find themselves rolling through another, as if the spaces were connected to each other and made up a continuous landscape that expands infinitely. One space does not end and another begins, but rather all spaces are linked by their movements and are part of the same universe. Once each character has rolled a significant time through different spaces, they begin to appear in the same locations, to pass through the same places, to share the spaces with the other characters. First one person passes by and a few moments later another person passes by, as if they were getting closer and destined to meet. At a certain moment they begin to share the same spaces at the same time. Sometimes their bodies bump into each other, but nothing would seem to indicate any kind of response or reaction to those encounters. Bodies roll and roll no matter where they go or what stands in their way. They hit a tree or a person and just correct their direction and continue rolling.
“Tarantism consisted in the fact that, through the autonomy of its symbols, it released unresolved and latent psychic conflicts in the unconscious. The symbol of the “bite” of a spider was used to symbolize the aggression of a dark past that returns in the neurotic symptom, to the that induces to look for ” The “stinged” got through the mythical ritual the possibility to configure, evoke and liberate the unresolved psychic conflicts that in the darkness of the unconscious.
Through the cathartic materialization of the dark impulses of the unconscious, be it through screams, wild dances and/or lewd or violent behavior, they shaped the crisis, brought out what was hidden, and in this way they managed to free themselves, or momentarily appease crises, which otherwise would have found other manifestations outside the symbolic order.
In ancient Roman religion, a Monstrum is a sign that disrupts or is contrary to the natural order as evidence of divine displeasure. It is generally assumed that the word monstrum derives, as Cicero says, from the verb monstro, ‘to point out’, ‘to show’ (compare with the English ‘demonstrate’), but according to Varro it would come from moneo, ‘to warn’. Since a sign must be surprising or deranged to have an impact, monstrum came to mean ‘unnatural event’ or ‘a malfunction of nature.’
Suetonius said that ‘a monstrum is contrary to nature (or exceeds nature) with which we are familiar, such as a serpent with feet or a bird with four wings’. For Seneca, the monstrum is, like tragedy, ‘a visual and horrifying revelation of truth’.
Output:
The film will be shared with the wide community via online platforms, screenings in different locations in the city of Lisbon, art gallery screenings, and with the NEAR community. The short film will promote NEAR by showing that it has been created thanks to the support of NEAR, with a clear NEAR logo, helping to spread the word that NEAR supports innovative projects, with the potential of the film going viral because of its aesthetic quality and novelty in its subject matter ( four character rolling on the floor in different iconic landscapes of the city of Lisbon). The film will be shot and edited in such a way as to appeal to a wide audience. With interesting cinematic shots, upbeat tribal and electronic music, and a dynamic and rhythmic editing, that will certainly result in a film that can be shared and enjoyed by many different people, encouraging them to find more about NEAR and helping people join the community.
To extend the reach even more we will create of an NFT series made out from photographs of the characters of the film rolling on the floor, taken during the shooting of the film, and a short video to be minted on the mintbase store.
Funding request:
To pay the equipment and talents involved in the project we need:
Talents:
Director – Camera operator - @Oxum - 150 USD
2nd Camera operator - @roadworks - 150 USD
Dancers:
[milabeing.near] - 50 USD
[elenav.near] - 50USD
[emilyds.near] - 50USD
[kinonsts.near] - 50USD
Equipment:
Fuji XT3 – 2 Days - 200 USD
Gimbal Zhiyun Weebill S - 2 Days - 100 USD
Set of Fuji Lenses – 2 Days - 100 USD
Extra Expenses:
Wardrobe and makeup – 50 USD
Props - 50 USD
Travel Expenses - 50 USD
Food Expenses (6 people) - 50 USD
Post-Production:
Editor - [@Oxum] - 150 USD
Music composer [cesarb.near]– 100 USD
Sound mix and color-grading - [@Oxum] - 150 USD
Total requested: $1500 USD
The Team:
Dancers - Performers:
Elena Vertegel [elenav.near] @elena_vertegel (instagram)
Emily Da Silva [emilyds.near] @da.silva.emily (instagram)
Kino Sousa [kinonsts.near] @kino.nsts (instagram)
Admila Cardoso [milabeing.near] @milabeing (instagram)
Director and editor:
Luciano B Cieza @Oxum
He is very happy to have recently joined the NEAR community and to be a part of this ecosystem.
Luciano B Cieza, is a filmmaker and performance artist with an undergraduate degree in experimental film from the San Francisco Art Institute in California and a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts of Lisbon. He has 20 years of experience working in the audiovisual realm. As a filmmaker he has created short films, experimental documentaries, and experimental cinema. His films have been shown in many art galleries and film festivals around the world among which stand out Rencontres Internationales Paris Berlin, and BAFICI Buenos Aires Film Festival.
Some of his artistic work can be found here:
2nd Camera operator and image assistant:
Christopher Michael (aka @roadworks)
A real lens addict since 1995, when - still being a teenager - he got his first mirror reflex camera. After a corporate career and the development of an multi-national clothing / gadget brand, where he was mainly working as a designer, photographer and filmmaker, Christopher is today running a film & photography studio (CAMCAT - Film Production) only 15 minutes from Lisbon’s very heart. He is also a passionate turntablist (aka DJ Road Works). Christopher has already produced numerous videos for a variety of DAOs (muti, Arroz Criativos, Graffiti DAO).
Music composer:
César Burago @cesarburago (instagram)
Easily recognizable as one of the most idiosyncratic musicians in this rectangle, Portuguese/Angolan percussionist César Burago is known as one of Sei Miguel’s (and occasionally Rafael Toral’s) co-conspirators, making a decisive contribution to the wonderfully sparse and suspended sonic universes created by those two great artists Portugal was lucky enough to spawn. After a hiatus from live performances, he recently resumed his live solo appearances, and we can only be thankful for the privilege - because the way he interprets the pulse of the music around jazz with apparently limited resources (Small ones, effectively), and how he draws miniatures of impossible architectures and metrics makes us believe, every time we hear him, that he holds the key to the most intimate secrets of rhythm.
Timeline:
Shooting of film: Mid-September
Editing and post production: End of September
Music composition /sound score: Beginning of October
Release of the film: End of October
Release of NFT series: End of October
[Monstrum - Rosina, Peppina, Mauro and Maria Antonietta ]