Vittoria Rizzardi Peñalosa

I first met Vittoria Rizzardi Peñalosa while she was studying her Law degree in London: she and I were attending classes at the same actors workshop, though in different classes. And while we circled around each other for nearly a year, ironically we never truly talked about work until she had left the country. During her time in London, I remember her as an actress, and a stunning one at that, with a powerful presence and a fluidity of movement that seems to evade all but the most secure individuals. It’s this power and fluidity that has carried forward into her work as a Producer, Director and Writer.

Since then she has moved from London and lived in New York, Los Angeles and intertwined of course with her native Verona, Italy. It has come to my attention that she is not just taking on the world geographically- in every city she has lived in she has left her mark as an artist. In Verona she wrote and directed a piece that has just recently been screened in Italy following the descent of a teenage girl’s night out, questioning and voicing her own concerns of the availability of alcohol to underage drinkers in Italy (where the drinking age is 16). ‘Fairweather’ - her film released last year directed by Laimis Bilys - was the Winner of the London Independent Film Festival and of the Euro Short International Film Festival. And this year ‘Millennial Mob Film’ was premiered at the New York City International Film Festival in February. California not to be forgotten, having just finished Post-Production of her latest film ‘Clarity and Chaos’ which she has written, directed, and produced.

‘I have things to say, and I started saying it. And now I can't stop. I just have so much to say that no matter how hard it is I will keep doing it.’ Vittoria states, matter of factly. And she means it, this is a artist who has a distinctive voice that merges a brutal honesty, with a surrealism that mirrors the surreal international situation our world is currently in. ‘I always try and incorporate a tone of surrealism, as that's what I'm really passionate about. Even in my video art that I'm developing right now, it's an expression of how I feel about certain things in the world, and then pushing them to the extreme and creating realities around that’ It makes for powerful watching, as a viewer you can find yourself absorbed in a world that is so clearly a commentary on very relevant topics, and yet surpases them into a depth often missed my most short film makers.

One of the topics she’s vocal about is the understanding of gender and the restrictions we as societies place on it, which is prevalent in her work especially in her upcoming ‘Chaos and Clarity’ but also may explain her move to taking more creative control behind the camera. ‘Living here in LA right now we're talking a lot about the #MeToo movement, alot about race and gender. And I think we are having the right conversations but I think especially in the Film industry its changing in front of the camera but it's still really patriarchal behind the camera’ She is completely right, it is wonderful that the end products in Film are starting to show more diverse casts, and more diverse stories- but this is not typical of 95% of the production process. Almost every department in Western film is dominated by men; expect for Wardrobe, Make-up, and Production- and every department is traditionally been sourced by one ethnicity (three guesses which one, and yes I know I am white but that doesn’t mean I can’t see white privilege in action). In fact in the UK the television industry was listed as the second most exclusive industry after Medicine.

But Vittoria has not let the institutional foundations restrict her creation, and she encourages other artists to do the same ‘If your an artist don't be scared to go there, so many times many people feel this need to express themselves but think its stupid, they think it won't make any money, which maybe it won't. But at the end of the day, especially now, there's never been a better moment to go for it because there's so much space for new ideas. There's an audience for everything right now. So why don't you just go for it?’ and go for it she has, with such rigor and tenacity it makes me tired just thinking about how much she has created in the last year. But it makes sense when she has to create the place she is happiest ‘I just want to be able to do what I love endlessly and forever. The moment when I’m happiest and the adrenaline is really hitting, and I euphoric and stuff is when I'm on set. When I'm there on set and directing. I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world. Or be anyone else than me...

I don’t care where this movie is going to go. I am just so grateful that I was able to create art. All day. With like 30 actors who were relying on me, and it was just this teamwork, and everyone gets so excited when you get the shot. Being on set for me is magical.’