Mo Scarpelli, an award-winning Italian-American director and cinematographer of non-fiction cinema, was looking forward to filming her next documentary in Northern Italy, and spending some time introducing her partner to the very family-focused, communal Italian culture.
Italy has been hitting global headlines for weeks concerning COVID-19, with over 86,000 confirmed cases. Mo’s film production has clearly been put on hold, and she unfortunately has not been able to spend her free time on the streets of Rome clinking wine glasses over fresh mozzarella, but she is making the most of it.
She filmed an 8 minute short film for The New Yorker, capturing the essence of life in Rome under quarantine right now. It’s a chilling view of the normally bustling metropolis, now a quiet ghost town, with nothing but the sounds of birds cawing, juxtaposed with ambulance sirens.
Mo wanted to introduce a different perspective than what the dooms-day headlines were portraying about life in Italy. She believes that journalism doesn’t always accurately illustrate the complexity of human life or the balance of beauty and chaos.
In this conversation, you’ll get an insider perspective on what’s happening in Rome, and get Mo and Baktash's take on the societal impacts coronavirus will have on humanity moving forward. Mo also gives some beautiful advice on how you can best utilize this time to explore yourself more deeply.
For full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/podcast
Learn more and Mo Scarpelli and her films:
https://moscarpelli.format.com/
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Produced by: Dana Drahos
Edited by: Joseph Gangemi