Dovecote

Directed by: Marco Perego

Principal Cast: Zoe Saldana, Marcello Fonte, Gaia Scodellaro, and twenty real inmates as her co-stars from the Giudecca Prison in Venice

Country: Italy

Time: 17:30

Synopsis: A small boat navigates the canals of Venice, Italy only to stop at a women's prison where an inmate is poised to rediscover freedom.

The film was inspired after you watched the final hours in the life of a pigeon on the streets of NYC. What was it about this moment that propelled you to write a screenplay set in a woman's prison set in Venice?

I was invited to be part of the 60th Venice Biennale this year and the pavilion was at the Giudecca Women Prison, thanks Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine the curators. I interview all the women was so important to understand them. The majority of these women will prefer to be part of the community inside and be seen and not be part of the outside world and feel invisible, this film is about them.

The film is set in the Giudecca Institution of Detention in Venice. Where was it actually shot? How were you to gain access for this shoot?

The cast are real prisoners. In the film, twenty of these woman are in jail at the Giudecca. The idea was to shoot inside the Jail of the Giudecca, and with the collaboration of everybody there we were capable to shooting inside and have the chance for all these women to be in camera with Zoe, was a special experience to see how resilient women are and how they build community and a place to belong, was a very special experience - something I will always remember close to my heart.

Alexander Dinelaris (Oscar-winning screenwriter Birdman, Producer of The Revenant) co-wrote Dovecote with you. How did you two come to meet and do you have any more projects planned together?

Alex is like a mentor to me, a friend, brother. I learn so much from him. He always tries to find the true in a character. I send an email to him and I was lucky he was so generous with his time and read my script for my new film and decide to come on board and now we are writing together State of Motion, my new film. I feel very grateful he is in my life - a true gift. Everything started with the script.

Was your wife, Zoe Saldana always down for the lead role?

Zoe is a true artist - a raw sculpture. She is a special soul - my ride or die. She is also one of the artists of the Venice Biennale this year.

During the long tracking shot through the crowd of incarcerated women, we see these serious, steely faces staring back at us. What was the casting and choreography process like?

This is the most important shoot in the film. These women represent all the women incarcerated. The majority of those women are women in the prisons. Every night they would give to us (Me and Zoe) letters and poems they were writing. After the shooting, we were reading them in our rooms and understand how vunerable these women were with us, and I really hope I did a film that really represents them and their own feelings.

You talk about exploring the boundless depths of the human spirit, what do you want people to take away after seeing this film?

I can't tell you how you need to feel. I just hope we are open about conversations about this topic and how important is to be seen and belong, to create a community and help each other, and see the people feel invisible and be there just with a small gesture of kindness.