Director's Statement The rites existed before our history and also resist in secular societies. Death is one of the crucial moments in which human beings find themselves on the fundamental aspects of their existence. That time, marked by the rite, is one of the most sacred moments in everyone's life. This film brings to light the discourse on death. Through the pain of loss, we want to tell the beauty of that bond that unites the world of the living with the world of the dead. During the preparation of "Holy care" short film, I received help from several funeral homes that allowed me to witness the thanatoesthetic rite. I was their apprentice for a few weeks. With the leading actress, Selene Caramazza, we witnessed various preparations. The study of the lifeless human body was at first a shock, then a peaceful coexistence, which oriented the story and the work with the actors.
With Daniele Ciprì we have chosen warm light to tell the deceased, cold light to tell everything that is outside. Hot for the realism of death and cold to turn on the light of the imagination.
Techno music characterizes the character of Gaia, not only because it gives her an identity: it is sensorially what brings us closest to her contact with death. Despite the pounding rhythm and the alienating sounds, I am fascinated by the meditative state in which this kind of music can put you. In the second part of the film the sound is emptied, the music emerges from the sound background. The sound is in fact the most laborious part of the film: the words are the sighs and the silences.
