Mamihlapinatapai is the first short film made with the rearview camera of a car, specifically, a Skoda Octavia.
A completely new approach for an automotive campaign allowed me to exploit a wholly unprecedented tool to narrate an encounter, a glimpse, which becomes a sort of “Stargate” for the two protagonists.
The general setup allowed me to employ a very wide camera but with very little detail: something exceptionally bulky, and yet with excellent possibilities for movement. Specifically, the four wheels of the Skoda and the tailgate on which the camera was mounted.
For these reasons, I thought that the dynamics of the camera and a symbolic, minimal and, above all, functional scenario were the most important elements to make the most of a “camera” with four wheels. I shot most of the short film in a small airport on the outskirts of Rome. It was exhilarating to develop these very long trips with the focus on infinity, and the two performers always at the centre of the action.