Fashion, Freedom and Film Craft with Massimiliano Bomba
Director Massimiliano Bomba was born in Rome but now lives in Milan, where he mainly directs fashion films and short documentaries, exploring aesthetics without too much editorialising or imposing of narratives. Sometimes he edits art books through his publishing project Rawraw Edizioni.
LBB’s Alex Reeves caught up with Massimiliano to understand his aesthetic philosophy.
LBB> What were you like as a child? Where did you grow up and what sort of things were you interested in?
Massimiliano> I think I had a happy childhood. I always liked to draw. I always had this strong contact with any artform. I liked comics, especially those where the images spoke for themselves. I started drawing very early and it's something I still do today. I believe it is a practice that helps me a lot in my work, especially to synthesise shapes and ideas.
LBB> Looking at your reel, it seems that you're clearly interested in both filmmaking and fashion. How did you become interested in each of these?
Massimiliano> I think I'm not interested in fashion too much, what interests me in fashion is its hybrid character and its intrinsic freedom of the aesthetic and narrative codes the fashion brings together. With fashion I feel the possibility of being able to work on the plastic strength of an image, as if it were a moving sculpture.
LBB> What was the biggest lesson you ever learned?
Massimiliano> Do not create any kind of distinction between life and creative and professional production. Living in a continuous creative process. I think it's the best way I have to generate my personal imagery to work with.
LBB> Which film are you most proud of and why?
Massimiliano> Honestly I don't have one in particular, in all of my works there is a big part of myself. Every time it's the process that counts, and every time is very different from the previous or next film. If I really had to choose one, today I would tell you AFTERNOON [POMERIGGIO], because it was made with very few resources but I think we were able to communicate a very simple and timeless idea of beauty. I believe that today the word in a certain artistic fields is overrated. An image or a scene can be more powerful than a hundred words.
LBB> What is your most enduring memory from one of your film shoots?
Massimiliano> To be in a castle in France and directing 12 contemporary dancers aged between 18 and 24 from all over the world. It was very intense but it gave me the opportunity to test myself in creating a true visual and conceptual link between the history of art and free gestural expression. The film will be released soon.
LBB> How do you feel about the current state of fashion filmmaking?
Massimiliano> I generally believe that it is an interesting and prolific moment for fashion filmmaking, there are some talented directors who work on their own visual languages and this is very interesting, the other side of the coin is a slight aesthetic homologation and a lack of depth in creating one’s own style. And to create one's own style I believe is the basis of everything.
LBB> What do you like and what frustrates or annoys you? Where do you turn when you need inspiration?
Massimiliano> I like to find creative ideas from areas far from fashion, such as sport, history of art, art cinema, cooking. I like to mix the contemporary with our cultural archetypes. I don't like to stage something we don't need, I don't like frills.
LBB> Are there any other filmmakers who you admire - the sort of directors whose work you see and you wish you'd directed it yourself?
Massimiliano> There are quite a few, even from the world of theatre and contemporary art, as I said before, I like directors who work on their own worlds ideas, even if sometimes they are far from our way of seeing things.
