Big European, Canadian short
In an extraordinary coup, the National Film Board of Canada and Bravo!FACT will be presenting a film directed by Isabella Rossellini as part of their downloadable short film series Shorts in Motion.
Titled Oh La La, Rossellini's film is said to be an off-kilter homage to Paris and its architecture. There are sounds of sensual moaning throughout, phallic symbols abound and the whole thing ends with the Eiffel Tower and an explosion of fireworks, followed by a title card that simply says "Paris."
"It's fabulously over the top, but somehow she pulls it off," says Matt Hornburg, whose company, Marble Media, co-produced the series.
It's a risqué bent that should come as no surprise from the star who, despite her serene appearance and ageless beauty, has been drawn to such projects as David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Guy Maddin's fever dream set to celluloid, The Saddest Music in the World.
Toronto filmmaker and photographer Jody Shapiro produced and shot the two-minute film with Rossellini and a single camera along the streets of Paris.
His connection with Rossellini has been largely through Maddin, it seems. Shapiro had worked with Rossellini on Saddest Music, which he produced.
He also produced the Maddin-directed short My Dad is 100 Years Old, which was written by Rossellini about her father Roberto, the Italian cinema master.
Shapiro also produced the director's short film Nude Caboose, about an overeager, shirtless man leading a conga line, which is in the Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction series and will be joined by Oh La La.
Rossellini's Parisian film is expected to have a prominent run on the festival circuit, with Cannes and Toronto's Worldwide Short Film Festival in the spring as possible destinations.
It will then be available as a download along with the other nine films in Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction (http://www.shortsinmotion.com), the second instalment of films in the award-winning Shorts in Motion series.
In addition, Oh La La will likely be broadcast on the Bravo! TV network, following its festival run.
Hip-hop musician k-os had been slated to make the tenth film in the series, although with a new album out and all the attendant projects that go along with it, his film wasn't ready.