Werther Germondari
Italian video artist
biography
Interview – 10 questions
15 June 2022
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background
I was born and grew up in Rimini, in Italy, by the sea. I started drawing humorous cartoons at the age of 5, then painting, and at 16 I started taking pictures. When I was 22, I started making Super8 works. At 23 I studied film screenwriting with Tonino Guerra, Federico Fellini’s screenwriter (from Rimini like me). I then moved to Bologna and graduated in disciplines of the arts, music and performing arts. In 1990 I won a scholarship to the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduated and stayed in Rome, where I still live and work mainly today. However, I also have a studio in Umbria as well.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
I started making experimental Super8 films in 1985, in Rimini, as an extension of my photographic research. Some times conceptually photography was in fact no longer sufficient to develop certain projects of mine.
3.What kind of subjects have your videos/films?
For more than thirty years I have been making mainly works on the theme of sexuality.
4. How do you develop your videos/films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
When I make experimental work I approach it a visual artist’s approach, working almost completely alone. When the project is for a fiction video I turn into a ‘classic’ filmmaker, with actors and crew.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
I work with HD cameras, HDV (love their old image), but also with smartphones.
6. What are the chances of new media for the genre videos/films in general and you personally?
Almost all of my work can be seen exclusively on demand.
7. How do you finance your films?
I fund my videos with on-demand sales of previous works.
8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team? if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
As I answered in question 4 I work both alone and with a crew. Personally, if I can, I prefer to work and take care of everything myself. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. On your own you have more control, but by doing too many things together the risk of mistakes is obviously very high. With a crew there is less effort, but it is still very tiring to follow everyone’s work so that they go in the direction we want.
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
When I was young, I began by studying mainly the works of the 20th century surrealist avant-gardes. Later I began to follow, esteem and appreciate especially those artists who, like me, liked to intertwine, to mix in their works and researches, the souls of the visual artist and those of the pure filmmaker. To give two examples, either the approaches of those who initially came from the visual arts (like Andy Warhol), or those who apparently came ‘only’ from the world of film (like David Lynch).
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
My hope is to continue to make works of ‘pure’ video art, ‘pure’ cinema, but above all more and more works that with their blended elements create mental short circuits in viewers, to the point of provoking their brains to smile.