CARO MOSTRO / Dear Monster
Written and directed by Stefano P. Testa
Short-Experimental-Documentary, Italy, 2023, 16′
Cinematography: Stefano P. Testa
Editing: Stefano P. Testa
Sound Design: Nicola Gualandris
Producer: Andrea Zanoli
Production / Distribution: Lab 80 film
With: Alice Guarente, Romina Alfieri, Gabriele Penner, Stefano P. Spampatti
Screenings
Sheffield DOC Fest
Sheffield, UK, 2023 / World Premiere
Asolo Art Film Festival
Asolo, Italy, 2023 / Italian Premiere
Cinema del Reale
Corigliano d’Otranto, Italy, 2023 / Best Short Award
Faito Doc Fest
Monte Faito, Italy, 2023 / Jury Special Mention
Ceprano FIlm Festival
Ceprano, Italy, 2023
Garofano Rosso Film Festival
Forme di Massa d’Albe, Italy, 2023 / Best Short Award
Family Film Project
Porto, Portugal, 2023
PERSO Perugia Social Film Festival
Perugia, Italy, 2023 / Jury Special Mention
The Unprecedented Cinema
Tallinn, Estonia, 2023
Revolutions Per Minutes Festival
Harvard University, Boston, MA, 2023
FLIGHT Mostra del Cinema di Genova
Genova, Italy, 2023 / Jury Special Mention, Best Short Critic Award
Rome International Documentary Festival
Rome, Italy, 2023
FrontDoc
Aosta, Italy, 2023
Documentaria
Noto, Italy, 2023
MAGMA Mostra di Cinema Breve
Acireale, Italy, 2023
Visioni Italiane
Bologna, Italy, 2023 / Jury Special Mention
CinemaZERO
Trento, Italy, 2023
Experimental Video Screening Festival in Macao
Macau, China, 2023
Beijing International Short Film Festival
Beijing, China, 2023
Molo Film Festival
Rome, Italy, 2023 / Best Short Award
Rifrazioni – Cineforma Collective
Rome, Italy, 2024
Short of the Year
Madrid, Spain, 2024 / Best Experimental Short Award
Mediteran Film Festival
Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024
Festival del Cinema Europeo
Lecce, Italy, 2024
Girona International Film Festival
Girona, Spain, 2024
Festival de Cine Internacional Villa de Leyva
Villa de Leyva, Colombia, 2024
Re-framing Home Movies – Home Movie Days
Online, 2024
Bloom Room
Mantova, Italy, 2025
Synopsis
In 1965, Elio is eighteen years old and he attends the San Carlo College in Turin. He has been pushed away from home by his father because of his undisciplined behavior. During that year, he receives some letters from his parents, his friend Nino, and his lover, Raffaella. These letters sketch out the story of a restless and rebellious young boy living through teenage crisis and the first responsibilities of adulthood. Dear Monster is a collage of overlapping words, images, sounds that recall a long gone past, brought back to light through a grim finding.
Director’s note
Caro Mostro is a collection of authentic documents, with very few historical or biographical references to the people involved. The only elements that help outline the psychological profiles of the letter writers are their voices and handwriting. The texts are read and interpreted by actors, whose voice-overs are placed within sound environments that may hypothetically have surrounded the writing of the letters. Visually, the film unfolds through a slow layering of symbolic and evocative images drawn from young Elio’s inner world. Through the use of dissolves, the pages of the letters intersect with photographs, magazine clippings, and amateur footage from the period. The result is a stratification of worn surfaces and colors faded by time. Caro Mostro is a journey back through memory, in search of lost affections.
Reviews
● Cinemaitaliano.info
● Quinlan.it
● Cineclandestino.it
