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  “LADIES & GENTLEMAN,
COMEWELL, SEARCHWELL, DREAMWELL!”
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screenplay: Susanna Della Sala & Mike Bruce
cinematography: Mike Bruce & Susanna Della Sala
editing: Susanna Della Sala & Mike Bruce

music: Mercury Rev, Halo Maud, Spindrift, Federale, Daisy Spot, Upsidedown, Linda della Sala, Bluklein, Agent Ribbons, Dan Karrigan
produzione/production Susanna Della Sala, Mike Bruce

One house, one month, one camera, a love story.



Isolated in a house on an Italian island, a couple (the two directors of the film) struggles to find the bond that once united them, and as they attempt to reconnect with each other, they decide to stage their relationship dynamics in front of the camera as a way to dispel their fears and insecurities.

ITALIANO
Dopo essersi trovata isolata in una casa su un’isola, una coppia (i due registi del film) fatica a ritrovare il legame che aveva un tempo unito i partner, e quando i conflitti arriveranno all’esasperazione, scopriranno che è proprio la comunicazione tradizionale a impedire loro di relazionarsi a un livello più profondo.

︎ The film was presented at the 56th Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Pesaro.
︎ Winner of the Best Innovative Storytelling at Kansas City Film Festival 2020. 

DIRECTORS’ NOTES

Neolovismo is a singular project marked by a strongly autobiographical component.
We made the film entirely without the support of a crew after facing a long period of isolation in 2019. We took advantage of our unique situation with no way of knowing in just over a year every couple on the planet would be faced with the intimate interpersonal challenges we were dealing with. In this unique situation, we found ourselves dealing with with an unexpected incommunicability so we felt the urgency to stage our relational dynamics. Equipped with basic equipment we began a process of writing our issues and stage them in front of the camera, between reality and fiction, focusing on a spontaneous dialogue to be as honest and authentic as possible.

Through the eyes of the two characters, who find themselves so distant in their path to fulfillment, age and existential maturity, the film wants to reflect on the intimate nature of love, that utopian chemistry which is impossible to reach except in isolated and sometimes discordant fragments but that can become the only imaginable and filmable memory.

ITALIANO
Neolovismo è un'operazione particolare e contraddistinta da una componente fortemente autobiografica. Abbiamo interamente realizzato il film senza il supporto di una troupe dopo aver affrontato un lungo periodo di isolamento all’inizio del 2019. Paradossalmente racconta una situazione che molte coppie si sono trovate a vivere proprio in questi ultimi mesi.  Di fronte a questa situazione unica e ad una nostra inaspettata incomunicabilità, abbiamo sentito l’urgenza di mettere in scena le nostre dinamiche relazionali, tra la realtà e la finzione, incentrandoci su un dialogo spontaneo per essere il più onesti e autentici possibili. Attraverso gli occhi dei due personaggi, i quali si trovano ai lati opposti della propria realizzazione, età e maturità esistenziale, il film vuole riflettere sulla natura intima dell’amore, quell’utopica alchimia che non si raggiunge mai se non in frammenti isolati e a volte discordanti ma che può divenire l’unica memoria immaginabile e filmabile.

MIKE BRUCE

Mike Bruce, born in 1969 is an American film director, writer and producer. Born and raised in Northern California, Bruce began his career playing bass for the psychedelic rock band Low Flying Owls. In 2005 he made his first feature The Legend of God's Gun described in Popmatters - "rips through your brain and severs your synapses, shredding what you know about film and replacing it with a brand new celluloid language". His most recent film, Treasure of the Black Jaguar, was received with critical acclaim winning the Distribution Award at the Raindance Film Festival and Best Cinematography Award at First Glance Film Festival Hollywood. The Raindance Film Festival listed Bruce as one of the top ten American filmmakers to watch for in 2011. Bruce's video for Noel Gallagher's 'AKA...What a Life!' made the Top 20 Most Awesome Videos of 2011 on yahoo which was the finale to "the most successful music video trilogy of all time" according to Entertainment Weekly. In 2018 he writes and directs the rock film Stranded on the Earth for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and directs and performes in the independent film Neolovismo together with filmmaker Susanna della Sala.

Stranded on the Earth/2018/50’ 
The legend of God’s Gun/2007/78’ 
Treasure of the Black Jaguar/2010/102’ 











WRITER & DIRECTOR 


I’m an Italian writer, director and artist. Starting out as a doodler in the marshlands of the Po Valley, I found in filmmaking my most sincere and highest vocation. I graduated in Interior Design at Politecnico di Milano and at the Italian national film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.

I gained experience working in the art department of several international film productions. I write, direct and sometimes perform in my films.
My path isn’t exactly traditional and linear. I have a strong predisposition for multidisciplinary and currently work as a director, writer, editor, set designer and illustrator. In the past I have worked as an interior designer, dancer and welder. Thanks to the work experience gained on film sets, I had the opportunity to discover directing which seemed to me to be the perfect synthesis between the roles of artist and technician, creator and professional. 

Most of my films start from doodles and sketches. I like to invent worlds and characters, trying to tell unconventional and extraordinary human stories. I have always been interested in the theme of outsiders,  marginalized individuals who, by choice or necessity, lead their lives far from a traditional society. My films The Fish Doctor, Wasteplanet, Last Stop before Chocolate Mountain and Wigs explore these themes.

In my creative process I tend to look for the magical and surreal element to underline the emotional and poetic aspect of the story and the character. I like to reinterpret the metaphorical element through a visual style often characterized by magical realism and fantastic elements.
Last Stop Before Chocolate Mountain is my latest project – a documentary born from personal life experience that both tells the story and captures the spirit of Bombay Beach, a once abandoned town in the harsh California desert, where art heals people in the most unexpected ways. The film was selected to premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in 2022, it won 3 prizes at the Italian festival dei Popoli in Florence and it was shortlisted for the Italian Academy award David di Donatello in the Best Documentary category.