WALT GRACE’S SUBMARINE TEST 1967 

Virginia Mori lives and works between Pesaro and Milan. She studied animation and illustration at the Istituto statale d'arte in Urbino. The techniques she employs in her work are principally pencil, ink, and pen on paper. In 2008, she won the ‘SRG idée suisse’ Award at the Annecy International Animation Festival’s Call for Projects in France, which enabled her to produce her first short film, Il gioco del silenzio. The short has won awards and been selected for international festivals, marking the outset of her career as a director of auteur animated shorts and as an illustrator.

Pierpaolo Loffreda

Virginia Mori, sister of illustrator Mara Cerri, whom we have known and appreciated for years, and of talented archaeologist Laura Cerri, hails from Pesaro. She attended the local science high school, after which she completed her studies with a diploma in illustration and animation from the Scuola del Libro in Urbino. Most of Italy’s leading animators come from this school, including Roberto Catani, Stefano Franceschetti, and Anna Pagnini with whom Mori studied and experimented. She divides her time between Pesaro and Milan. Her body of work has a distinctive style and ranges from film to graphics, from advertising to music videos. We are looking forward to the film on which she is currently working, scheduled for release in a few months. She mostly draws with a ballpoint pen (Bic) or pencil on paper.
Her language is shaped by irony and lightness, but also black humour and the grotesque. Her works draw inspiration mostly from the realm of dreams and its unfathomable depths, filtered through historic Surrealism, René Magritte (the seminal figure that comes to mind when viewing them), Maya Deren’s visual inventions, the spirit of Pop Art and of the New American Cinema Group (which included experimental animators too, such as Robert Breer, Bruce Conner, Stan Van Der Beek, Marie Menken, and Willard Maas) as well as the graphic work of Leonardo Cemak. The poetics of David Lynch can also be distinguished. In terms of literary references, I would suggest Franz Kafka, Arthur Schnitzler, and Ágota Kristóf for the kind of suggestions they evoke. Mori’s subtle, elegant, and refined stroke manages to convey an obsessive whirl of distorted sensations and visions, outlined in icy tones. She often creates magnetic and elusive female characters who conjure up ambiguous atmospheres teetering on the edge of sweetness and cruelty. She substantially invents through the use of black and white (the realm of expression that is as cinematic and oneiric as possible and far removed from mimetic suggestions); only at times does she add a colour to her illustrations for an expressive effect. She made her debut in 2008 with Il gioco del silenzio, followed by four other films. Her 2015 film, Haircut, was selected and presented at our Festival, in this section. She has won several well-deserved awards, and she is always very active – lucky us!

by Pierpaolo Loffreda

How and when did you become aware of the value and expressive power of your drawings?
It’s a difficult question, and one to which I obviously can’t give a definitive answer; I don’t think one can ever be fully aware of it, and that is perhaps part of what makes this profession so fascinating. I have a childhood memory that often comes to my mind and which may perhaps partly explain the moment when I realised that drawing could be a very powerful means of communication and connection: one day at primary school, during drawing class, the teacher looked at my work and said in amazement that what I had drawn was an exact reconstruction of one of her poems. The next day, she brought my drawing back with her text written overleaf. I think that was the moment I realised that what we do can grow into something much bigger, and take on greater significance and power. But there’s a long way to go before you can consciously navigate that path.

What did the town of Pesaro give you?
I spent my entire childhood in Pesaro; I have very fond memories of my neighbourhood friends, whom I could still meet up with and play with in the streets or courtyards, not to mention the good fortune of having the sea right on my doorstep: it was certainly a great source of inspiration. I have fond memories of the Film Festival: I remember with nostalgia how, on hot summer days, I would slip into the Teatro Sperimentale without even looking at the programme. It was wonderful to be amazed each time by a new filmmaker, a new language, or a documentary about something I didn’t even know existed….

What was your experience like at the Scuola del Libro in Urbino?
My time at the School in Urbino had a profound impact on me: there I met teachers and artists whom I admire and whom I am fortunate enough to still be in touch with. The most interesting thing about that school is that it doesn’t teach you a specific technique or a set model, but leaves you free to experiment and find your own way. Put like that, it sounds simple, but in fact this journey of discovery, at least for me, was punctuated by minor crises, because whilst it is easy to talk about freedom, it is much harder to live it. Teachers, however, know how to help you, and they encourage young people in this long quest to find their own voice, all without resorting to obvious points of reference and by instilling an awareness of the importance of ideas and of the underlying thinking across all of it.

Once you’d finished your studies, how did you feel?
Once you’ve left, you’re faced with a very complex world where it’s not easy to find your bearings. Having only completed the two-year specialisation course, I hadn’t yet found my own distinct voice. Although I’d done a few small jobs or exhibitions, I didn’t feel ready or up to the task. The internet wasn’t very developed yet; for me, at that time, the priority was to move out of home and find my independence, so I started doing all sorts of jobs. Back then, it was easy to find work, and the wages allowed you to save a little too. I lived out of town, in the countryside near Urbino, and continued my research into drawing and animated film. Then one day I was lucky enough to win a prize in a call for projects of the famous Annecy Animation Festival (France) with the film Il gioco del silenzio, which I made thanks to the small grant on offer. From then on, commissions and serendipitous encounters followed one after another, including one with Virgilio Villoresi - I collaborated on several projects with him, including the music video for John Mayer’s Walt Grace’s Submarine Test 1967, produced by Davide Ferazza of Withstand Film, a Milan-based company with whom I still collaborate today.

What is the relationship of your graphic work with your short films?
I approach illustration and animation quite differently. Although the style is fairly recognisable, the approach is completely different: in illustration, I focus more on the space and detail of the image; in animation, instead, as I also have time and movement at my disposal -two elements that are more complex to manage - the image is simplified and I try to concentrate more on movements and their evocative power.

Which painters, film directors, writers do you feel closest to?
The list is potentially endless, and it also depends a great deal on the phase I’m going through. Among the so-called ‘historical’ references, these are the ones that spring to my mind, in addition to those you’ve already mentioned: Gustave Doré, Magritte, Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst – particularly his collage work in A Week of Goodness – Goya with his Caprichos, Lewis Carroll, Perrault… In theatre, I’ve recently been following the work of Dimitris Papaioannou and the Peeping Tom company. Among film directors, I’ve always been a great fan of Kieslowski; a recent film that really surprised me, however, was Sirat by Oliver Laxe. Among contemporary artists, I am certainly influenced by many graduates of the Urbino School, including Magda Guidi, Mara Cerri, Roberto Catani, and Alessandro Baronciani, and among other illustrators, Franco Matticchio, Lorenzo Mattotti, Anke Feuchtenberger, Gabriella Giandelli and many others…

Can you tell us something about the new film you’re working on, which we’ll definitely be inviting here?
It’s a bit different from my previous work, primarily because of the use of colour. As always with every animated film, I like to create a bespoke technique for the story being told. I usually try to tackle something I’m unfamiliar with, so that I can push myself a little further, in the hope of evolving and improving… It’s a project I’ve been able to pursue thanks to the support of an Italian-French coproduction: Withstand Film, the French company Miyu Production, and funding from the Marche Region.