Teo, this film is really different from your usual work with Dvein so please tell us how it came about – was it a collaboration with the Italian artist Giorgio Spiller specifically for this Batongo track?
Yes, you are right, the film is quite different from our previous work at Dvein, that’s why I published it under my personal name. Carlos (the other half of Dvein) and I love to experiment together as well as separately, always thinking that this exploration will enrich us personally and in the end Dvein’s work.
Batongo is the musician and also the son of Giorgio Spiller. I met him at Venice Carnival and he asked me to do a music video for his track “La Notte dei Tempi”.
He also told me about the work of his father and I found it really fresh, personal and powerful. I agreed with him that the work of his father would be perfect for the music video.
He shared with me some old tapes of his father’s performances which have never been seen by anyone, and from these hours of tape I started to work.
We’re not sure what’s going on – only that we like it lots and smiled all the way through it – so please do tell us about the deeper meaning!
Giorgio´s performance was related to the “Plato´s Symposium”, which is a philosophical text of Plato about love and sexual identity.
During the process of editing, Batongo invited me to his 41st birthday party and I asked him if his father would be there. The answer was “Yes” so I was sure there was an opportunity to meet Giorgio in person and shoot him.
The shooting was pretty crazy, the party was real, everyone was wearing a costume, even me (and I had to operate the camera), so even if it was hard to shoot it, all these facts gave some truth and freshness to the footage.
There was something really powerful in the contrast of these two moments of Giorgio Spiller, both fictional and true, both related to hedonism and sexuality, and both related to the musician.
For me it was really important to be respectful and loyal to the work of Giorgio but in the same time to make it fit with the music of Batongo. I wanted both worlds to flow together in a mysterious, dark and playful choreography, and I’m quite happy with the result.
Did you collaborate with your normal crew and editors and on this project?
This project was something personal and almost familiar so I decided to keep it as small as possible, so I edited and shot it personally.
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