A woman experiences the suffering of her parents due to some unnamed event perhaps a war. The animation is based on an instinctive line about how a woman’s body carries a narrative. The veils suggests the many veils a woman puts on in her lifetime. In addition the transparent veils reflect the many levels an animator works with while studying movement.
The song accompanying the film is from Songs from the Quechua (a collection of folk poetry from Peru and Bolivia)
Il Messaggio
Ho ciesto ad una farfalle,
(la farfalle, quelle farfalle)
di trovare mio madre,
di cercare mio padre.
E tornata la farfalle,
(la farfalle; quella farfalle)
dicendo sta piagendo tua madre,
sta soffrendo tuo padre.
Sono andata e ho,
Quardato in me stessa,
Edera vero il messagio.
(della farfalle, quella farfalle)
La mio madre stave piagendo,
Il mio padre stave soffrendo.
The Butterfly Messenger
Translated by Mark Strand
I asked a butterfly,
I sent a dragonfly,
To go out to see my mother,
To go out to see my father.
The butterfly came back,
The dragonfly came back,
Saying, your mother is crying,
Saying, your father is suffering.
I went myself,
I took myself there,
And it was true my mother was crying,
And it was true my father was suffering.
Translation: Mark Strand
Performance: Michaela Gentili
Performances:
American Academy in Rome June 2003
Villa Massimo July 2003
300 Exposition du Frac Picardie, France