Lost in the City

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Lara Celenza grew up in Vasto, a small town in Abruzzo, Italy. She holds a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Bologna and an MPhil in Russian Studies from the University of Cambridge, where she specialized in Russian and Soviet film. In 2008, she completed her professional training in film directing at the Raindance Film School in London. In 2010, she founded indie film company Kalifilm Productions and, since then, she has written and directed many award-winning short films, documentaries and music videos all over Europe. Her documentary on falconry and wild animal training "Falcong" won the DokuFilmPreis at Filmzeit Kaufbeuren 2018 and is currently available on Amazon Prime US and Amazon Prime UK. In 2017, together with fellow filmmaker Natalie MacMahon, she founded Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin, a film initiative entirely devoted to supporting female talent and gender equality in the industry. Lara Celenza lives in Berlin and is currently working on the post-production of her first feature film "Lost in the City", a drama on homelessness and social injustice to be released in 2020.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

Writing "Lost in the City" was a voluntary experience of demonic possession. Alex (the lead actor) and I created a character that had many negative traits that I don’t personally find attractive in a human being. My challenge as a writer (and director) was to let Eric Telton overtake me, pretty much like a method actor surrenders their own identity to the character they’re playing. I imagined Eric, I learned everything I could about him, and then I started to communicate with him... and ended up loving him - just because at the end of the day he, like every single one of us, is just trying to improve his life and feel connected to people. He knows that the system is rotten and that all life is imbued with dignity. However, his humanity is covered in dirt, rags, and a shady past. When Eric sees something, he either wants to eat it, fuck it, fight it, or run away from it. He is always in survival mode, and his ruthless wits are what makes him strong on the mean streets of Berlin. However, there is so much we don’t know about him. Of course, the burning question here is: how did he end up like this? Homelessness is not a condition - homelessness is a story, and Eric’s story unfolds between humour and darkness over the course of the film.