PODCAST |Chiara Nicoletti interviews Carlos Alfonso Corral, director of the film Dirty Feathers.
Carlos Alfonso Corral has been a member of director Roberto Minervini’s crew since Stop the pounding heart and with the italian director as mentor and producer, at the 71st Berlinale, Corral presents his debut film Dirty Feathers on two homeless lovers’ journey and their world of forgotten people. Shot in Black & White, Corral decided to take a narrative direction for the film but to be carried away by these people’s stories and testimonies. Dirty Feathers was inspired by by the sudden death of Corral’s paternal uncle who had lived a fast life filled with binge drinking, heroin, and gambling, vices that frequently bankrupted him into homelessness, the director reveals. This whole happening led him to the homeless shelter in downtown El Paso, called The Opportunity where he met his protagonist Brandon and started develop his film. Thanks to the Empathy lesson given by Roberto Minervini, Corral knew how to become part of these people lives, listen to them and create room for their adventures and tales to be told in front of his camera.
Dirty Feathers: With two homeless lovers’ journey as the through-line, Dirty Feathers weaves in and out of an overwhelmed shelter and a forsaken landscape with fervent echoes of the unheard and neglected: a grieving father who lost his child is paralyzed by unshakable guilt; a veteran living under a bridge recalls his past glory serving the very country that has long abandoned him; and a 16 year old girl who has seemingly transcended trauma embraces life on the streets with a holy righteousness, becoming the haunting conscience of the film.
To discover more about the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.
The Lovers Film Festival celebrates 40 years with 70 films from 26 countries, international guests and tributes to LGBTQI+ cinema icons. Directed by Vladimir Luxuria, from 10 to 17 April at the Cinema Massimo in Turin.