Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: “Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter”
Genre: Biography, Art, Painting
Date: September 2020
Director: Jordan River
Producer: Jordan River
Writer: Michela Albanese
Cinematographer: Raquel Abellán
Production Company: Delta Star Pictures Inc.
Budget: 440.000,00 USD
Financing: National Tax Credit, regional support, and private funds
Shooting Format: 4K 4096×2160 CinemaScope
Screening Format: 4K / 2K / HD. Digital file/Blu-Ray/ Vimeo
World Premiere: the film festival
Awards: 4+
– Best Documentary at XXIV Terra di Siena International Film Festival 2020 (Italy);
– Best Feature Docudrama at Global Nonviolent Film Festival 2020 (USA);
– Finalist at Los Angeles Cinematography Awards (USA);
– Official Selection at Int’l Documentary Festival | Visioni dal Mondo 2020 (Italy)
– Selection & Special Screening in Spain at the Human Rights Film Festival (Barcelona) Dec. 24, 2020.
Website
indieactivity: Tell us about “who you are”?
Jordan River (JR): I am an independent producer, film director, and editor. 44 years, for about 20 years in the Cinema and TV sector.
Introduce your film?
Jordan River (JR): Filmed in 4K with the greatest passion and the most diligent historical accuracy, follows the life of this amazing 17th-century artist and takes us on an oneiric voyage through her masterworks. The work focuses on women, artists, and the most sensible human beings. However, it doesn’t just aim to be a biographical account, but, in a way, it is also an academic opus, which provides theoretical means for both the expert and the beginner, as well as an immersive experience in the emotionally vigorous world of arts, as it helps us understand the soul of a female artist struggling with the hardships of her time and with the challenges of her identity as a 17th-century woman. She is a woman who loves painting, in a time when only men were allowed to be painters. The work of Artemisia has no comparison with any other artist, for the brushes that touched her canvas, and the very colors she used, represent a mentality deeply connected to that specific time and her interior energy. The shades of her paintings don’t simply reflect Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro, but also resonate with the moment in which the light generated a new way of thinking, opposed to the material nature of the world – an impermanent materiality that could be overtaken by virtue of the spiritual force that comes from the arts. I believe that Artemisia’s life and work let us dive into the emotional power of the arts and make us understand what can be found in the heart and mind of an artist who was at times oppressed by the everyday hurdles that sometimes life holds for us.
The official trailer for Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter directed by Jordan River starring Angela Curri, Simon Gillespie, Alessandra Masu, and Melissa Pignataro
Tell us why you chose to write, produce, direct, shoot, cut/edit the movie?
JR: I strongly wanted to make this movie so that I could show the inner world of an artist and, in this case, a woman. In most art documentaries, the spiritual dimension is almost absent. I think when mature painters work on their masterpieces, they don’t simply put some colors together to decorate the rooms of the lords, but first and foremost to convey an inner vision of human existence.
Introduce your crew?
JR: Many professionals cooperated in this production. I just mentioned a few. Raquel Abellán (Director of Photography) She is a young artist and a University of Murcia baccalaureate in Audiovisual Communications. She had her MD in Cultural Studies and Visual Feminine/Queer Arts from the University Mighel Hernandez. Her work focuses on women’s visual activism. Michela Albanese (Script, Development, Production assistant) Award-winning writer, screenwriter, and journalist. Her approach to writing focuses on the strength of the word itself, rather than on formalism, to touch the most intimate strings of the human soul. Valentina Gramisci (Development, Director & Production assistant, Marketing) She has been very helpful at all stages. Antonio Lopopolo (Make-up artist and hair-stylist) He graduated from the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala. He is specialized in beauty make-up, stage make-up, movie make-up, and FX. Elena Bonamoneta (Illustrator, Concept and Graphic Designer) She specialized in digital painting and later worked as a Storyboard Artist, Concept Designer, and Illustrator on indie video games. She free-lanced and was later taken on by Delta Star Pictures as a Storyboard Artist for several international projects for TV and cinema.
The “cast” was brilliant. Melissa Pignataro is a 12 year-old girl who loves studying, sketching, acting and writing. She had her debuting role in “Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter”. Angela Curri studied acting and worked in theater, TV and cinema. Since a very early age she loved being in front of a screen. She had the main role in “Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter”.
What are your personal experiences? Tell us about the production?
JR: Following closely all the stages of development, production, and post-production consumes a lot of energy but allows you to lead the creative process and the production of a work of art until it can stand on its own feet.
How did the story develop from the idea? Why do this story?
JR: In all the movies I make, I always try to contribute to the writing process. With Michela, we wanted to tell a story of a great time and great women, who were already well-known, although not enough had been told about them. In my works, I always try to find human and spiritual aspects (albeit not in a religious way). I seek to explore the deepest corners of the soul.
Let’s talk pre-production: take us through a timeline of how you started and ended it?
JR: This project required a vast historical research and an intense study of the paintings. It started about three years ago. We worked on it in stretches, as we were also busy with other productions. We wrapped it up at the end of 2019, while in 2020 we added a few extra sequences, including some recent discoveries on the artist.
During the film production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot? And why?
JR: The most complex aspect was the ending. I wanted to close the movie with a two-folded approach and talk of a painting of Artemisia. In the end I chose her ‘Virgin and Child with a Rosary’ (hanging in Madrid, and reconstructed with the technique of digital painting). Artemisia is older now and she stands before the painting, while the narrator introduces us to this mystic masterpiece. At the same time we reveal a less-known side of the artist. It was quite hard because there isn’t much information available on this work. Everything emerged slowly and spontaneously. It might be the most intriguing part of the work. But you must make your way to the end…
What was the experience like of working with a small shooting crew?
JR: A small crew, a great strength. I really enjoy the flexibility of a small crew: it was a pleasant experience.
When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
JR: To give my contribution and consequently make a difference. Delta Star Pictures, of which I am the co-founder, was born with this vision.
What about independent filmmaking and the business do you still struggle with?
JR: It takes a lot of patience, intuition and a lot of energy…
Where do you think your strengths lie as a filmmaker?
JR: To have a “holistic” vision on things.
Let’s talk about finance. How did you finance the film?
JR: The production initially had some financial drawbacks. But we didn’t give up; on the contrary, we deployed even greater efforts. We received the support of the Italian Government, Lazio Region, and various partners.
What else have you got in the works?
JR: We have several projects in development, including “Joachim,” an ambitious project on Joachim of Fiore, a biblical exegete, Italian thinker, and prophet of medieval times. His vision had a great influence on the Western way of thinking. After a journey to the Holy Land, he also had some visions. Pope Lucius III gave him his authorization and he wrote several books, including Expositio in Apocalypsim, where he elucidates the Apocalypse and the Trinitarian mystery throughout the course of history. But also the Liber Figurarum, of which only three copies are known, the most ancient of which is preserved in Oxford, England. We are closing a financing deal at about 500.000,00 USD, but we’re looking to raise at least twice as much.
Tell us what you think of Jordan River What do you think of it? Genre? More genre? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Instagram! Or join me on Twitter.
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