By Arianna Belloli
Sacred and profane. From suburbs to noble palaces in the historical center of Parma. A middle-aged man, who has lost his job and his self-esteem, looks back at his entire life as if it was projected on a big screen.
His name is Michele Bravi, protagonist of the latest film by director Filippo Cavalca, not the singer from Sanremo. The feature film ‘Hollywood is a whole other thing’ is currently in post-production. Its trailer was officially released on February 18th on the website of the production company Feel For Films.
“I don't know if I’m good or bad, what I do know is that in almost half century of life no one has done and will ever do more bullshit than I have”, we read on Instagram page ‘Michele the Movie’.
Michele is an extravagant character, in the docufilm he lives his life and his crazy experiences. The film – shot entirely between Parma and its province – is the second feature film directed by Filippo Feel Cavalca (Parma 1983). Cavalca has been called “artist with extraordinary skills in the field of art and music” by Iatse and the Directors Guild of America, since 2004 he has been an award-winning director of films, music videos, television programs and documentaries.
In 2016 he founded his New York-based production company called Feel For Films.
In 2020 thanks to the film ‘Being Leonardo Da Vinci’ elected Best Indie Filmmaker at the NYC Indie Film Award festival.
The idea of the second film was inspired by a meeting between the director and the protagonist. The entrepreneur Pietro Pizzarotti, Metalparma di Vincenzo Zanichelli contributed to its production.
“I met Michele two years ago, in 2020, in Parma, during the first post lockdown – says Cavalca –. I noticed him because he was always thrown out of all the places I frequented for his absurd behavior. He had curious ways, verbal and non-verbal expressions I’ve never seen before. I followed him with a video camera for three months, I wanted to make a documentary but surprisingly it shifted into a narrative film.
His world pivots around his three main interests: women, alcohol and Torino football team.
Michele actually hides depth and intelligence. He is the symbol of a generation that in the 90s thought it was going through a golden season, and then inevitably found itself lost. A character constantly poised between fantasy and reality.
The film wants to cross French cinéma vérité, the observation documentary and some aspects of Fellini, Lynch and Wes Anderson.
“When I asked Michele to make a film about him, he replied: Why not? – says the director –. And during the shooting he proved his ability of doing things that many professionals fail to do on the first take. Michele has an ordinary expressiveness. I hope you can guess it in the trailer”.
In fact Michele is not the only one who plays as himself in the movie. “A lot of people in the cast come from the street and stage their days on screen. Their lives really cross without fiction. There are female characters that Michele meets in his imagination, an angel, a demon and a doctor, three clichés taken with both hands of his absurd imagery of him on the subject of women”, says Cavalca.
One of the places in the film is Borgo delle Colonne, a picturesque street in the center, “where it all started. Where at the age of twenty I started making films, shooting my first short, Falstaff”.
Author of the original soundtrack is “Pietro Vescovi, one of the most brilliant Italian organists – underlines Cavalca – who also shares with the protagonist a great passion for table tennis, an important chapter in the film”.
The docufilm also talks about sport. Michele, with more than thirty years of experience as a ping pong player, has participated in tournaments of various levels. “He got to be noticed in that world as well. Everyone remembers of him, even the number one in Italy, by his weird outfits, a mixture between Heather Parisi and Andre Agassi, and for his extravagances during the game, unsportsmanlike and eccentric attitudes.” says Cavalca.
Filippo Cavalca is also working on ‘Pans Pandas’ film, in collaboration with the Comitato italiano genitori Pans/Pandas Bge.
For the making of the movie, eminent figures of Italian cinema worked together and it will be made in co-production between Italy and the United States. It tells about a disease discovered in the late 90s and still poorly credited in Italy, which turns upside down the minds of children born healthy and puts in troubles families who must fight to get access to rare and expensive treatments.
