Screentime: Elisa Cucinelli, Video Artist

In this month's Screentime, video artist Elisa Cucinelli tells us which TV show to avoid, her favorite dance film, and which movie snacks are best to sneak into cinemas.

Have you ever walked out of a movie theater? If so, which scene made you say “I can’t watch any more of this”?
Yes, it was for La Mome, a few years ago. It was overplayed and felt very cliché, so I got bored and left. I don’t understand why people were so crazy about it and why Marion Cotillard achieved such international acclaim. Apparently she is also trying to become a singer with Metronomy. Whaaat?!

In your opinion, which season of which TV show was a complete waste of time?
Haha, I have the tendency to forget something right away if it’s boring, which is probably a good quality in this case. Last one I remember was the second season of Girls. It lost its freshness.

In the biopic of your life, which scene should be filmed in slow motion?
Crying in the middle of IFC in Hong Kong, in front of the Shu Uemura shop, then a proper blond foreign family with kids walked by staring at me.

What’s the movie that you haven’t been able to find on DVD?
I’ve been searching for movies from Ulrike Oettinger, a German female filmmaker. She’s a mix of Matthew Barney, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and John Waters but without their success. She did films about midgets before David Lynch and Werner Herzog, I think. She is insane and very inspiring. I don’t understand why she didn’t get more international recognition.

Favorite dance film?
Fish Tank from Andrea Arnold. More a film about passion than about beautiful technique but so strong.

What is the slowest paced movie you still enjoyed?
I really like slow movies! That’s why I’m interested in Asian cinema. I like Nobody Knows, The Taste of Tea, Tokyo Sonata, and so many more.

What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
Jurassic Park! I remember going with my older sister Nadia who was already annoyed to bring her little sister to the cinema with all of her girlfriends. She warned me but I wanted to do what the cool girls were doing. I remember it feeling like the first time on a roller coaster, when you only want it to stop without killing you. I spent the length of the movie hiding myself under my jacket and probably spent two weeks afraid that a Tyrannosaurs Rex or something similar would be under my bed.

What snacks did you used to sneak into the movie theater?
Everything I could. I was pretty big at that time.

Look out for Elisa Cucinelli’s camera work on the film Fidan, currently in production, or see her short films and photography at elisacucinelli.com.

Read previous editions of Screentime here or more stories by this author here.

Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com
 

Photo: Schnepe Renou