| As
the father of a son who is half Jewish and half Italian, I experienced,
first hand, the sometimes dramatic and oftentimes comical differences
between the two cultures. With “Spaghetti and Matzo Balls”,
a period piece comedy that begins in 1969, I tried to take these
contrasts and flex and twist them together in ways never before
seen on the screen.
The 22 minute film is an extraction
from the feature script I'm writing (called “Mob Yoga:”)
which was designed to be short enough to qualify for film festivals
while at the same time being sufficiently long and complex enough
to function as a “concept piece” for the larger
story. Though its the most expensive medium, we chose to shoot
on 35 mm film because we felt that would best display our skills
as storytellers and help achieve the respect necessary in order
to package the feature project.
As a narrative short comedy, our goal
as filmmakers was to take the audience on an emotional roller
coaster ride with over-the-top outrageously funny scenes designed
to tickle the viewers funny bone while at the same time maintaining
a serious narrative thread that rises to the surface to yank
at the viewers heart strings in key moments. |
