I think this is the last of the interviews. I’m sad that they’re over but glad that they happened; so many fun conversations. My chat with Thomas Perathoner from Italy wasn’t my finest hour—I totally slaughtered and stuttered his name in the beginning & rambled a lot–but I’m not cutting anything, both because I don’t really know how to edit video and also because, again, the focus shouldn’t really be on me at all, but rather on the insightful things he had to say about the film. Also it was kind of funny, and I think I referenced it again later.
I feel like Thomas’s brief description of his film The Cuckoo’s Nest in Filmfreeway doesn’t really do it justice, so I’ll just say it really stood out from a lot of the other submissions. It’s funny, which is always welcome; it’s darkly satirical; it has a clever twist without having the entire film hinge on the twist; and it raises some troubling questions about modern psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry, and treatment for mental illness that aren’t easy to answer. Plus, it’s really funny. You should give it a whirl.
Three doctors running the psychiatric ward in a hospital are nervous because of an announced ministerial inspection. They struggle even more, as who they face is more interested in patients ́ health, than in the economics. So even social, economic, political, and religious aspects matter.
Born in 1973 in Bolzano, a multicultural town in the Alps with mediterranean climate. With a degree in commerce, studies in philosophy, career in real estate and energy business, he joined the film industry in late 2014, as a producer. A period of work on international projects followed and he started writing and directing in 2018, with his first short film, awarded in several international festivals.
Since 2019 as CEO of 44 PRODUCTION, he writes, directs, and produces international music videos, shorts, and features. Credits include Urban Sax in Bozen (2014 – executive producer); Urban Sax in Bolzano – un anno dopo (2015 – producer); Short Cuts from a Town (2018 – writer, director, producer); Das Kuckucksnest (2020 – writer, director, producer); and Amor Fati (2020 – producer).
Watch an exclusive Mental Filmness interview with Thomas *Pair-a-thoner” here: https://mentalfilmness2021.eventive.org/interviews2021
Be sure to catch The Cuckoo’s Nest (Das Kuckucksnest), which kicks off Shorts Block No. 2.
Mental Filmness 