How This Italian Restaurant Gained ‘Nonna Approved’ Status
On a journey from the romantic landscape of Italy to Germany’s more modern setting, three nonnas set out on an adventure to become food critics. Stopping off along the way to visit Lake Garda, pay their respects at churches and wind up in the hustle and bustle of German cities, this was an adventure for not only them, but the crew on the shoot.
As the L'Osteria restaurants, alongside Grabarz XCT's CCO Matthias Hoffmann, set out to find three real, authentic nonnas and have them critique the food prepared by its chefs, the goal was to showcase the beautiful ingredients of Italy and replicate that authenticity. Starting out at the nonna’s kitchens as the master chefs prepared the food they’re so accustomed to, little moments of magic appeared as the protagonists got comfortable in front of the camera, being captured as their true selves.
Set to a backing track that mimics the romance and modernity of the two contrasting cities, the filmmaking process was approached in the style of a documentary, but using “meticulously crafted scenes” to support it. Once everything was dressed and set up, the following dialogue and moments were captured more holistically, as the film’s director Jan Vrhovnik waited for those little moments of magic.
Jan speaks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani in more depth about the process, alongside The Sweetspot’s co-founder Daniel Kottirschand, who were both present throughout the process.
LBB> Talk to us about when you first began discussing the film and what L'Osteria wanted to achieve with it.
Daniel> It was the agency’s idea, centred around three nonna's tasting L'Osteria food. Having the idea was easier for us, we were able to concept from early on and got into creating a proper script and making sure it worked as a film. The agency was happy that we could get Jan involved through the piece.
Jan> I recently did a piece for Zara Home with three different nonnas in Italy, and the L'Osteria team saw that The Sweetspot posted it. They realised that I could bring their concept to life and they started to visualise it from what they had already seen, so they greenlighted it and reached out to work on it with us.
L'Osteria wanted to create this quest through Italy, with real nonnas, to capture the real masters of Italian cuisine. I thought it was a bold move for the Italian restaurant in Germany to want to impress the nonnas with the cuisine they’re the masters of and make them the food critics of the restaurant’s food. They wanted to have the ‘Nonna approved’ stamp!
LBB> From there, what was the planning phase like? Was it a scene by scene schedule or was it a more organic filming process?
Jan> Across agency, production and myself we were aware that we needed the three nonnas as the main people to make the project a success. The casting director Irene Manicone from IM CASTING did a deep dive as the traditional casting wasn’t right for this spot. The nonnas she found were really open and willing to be part of this and were comfortable enough to be presented as themselves.
Daniel> We were luckily able to shoot in their homes and in their kitchens too, which was great.
LBB> What is your shooting style and how did that add to the characterisation of the visuals?
Jan> I went with the shooting style I’ve been developing for a few years now. We approach it with a documentary spirit but use meticulously crafted scenes. We’d shoot in the kitchen, the garden, the taxi and the restaurant, dressing the sets and doing the styling. However, once the environment was ready, we shot in a very natural way and let the nonnas be themselves. We never wanted to pretend with that, we wanted to allow the freedom to shoot in a playful and experimental way.
We also created a space that allowed natural moments to happen. My motto was to get everyone on board and know that there are no mistakes that are going to happen, everything is an opportunity.
LBB> Talk to us about incorporating the ingredients and cooking process in a natural, organic way. How did you achieve this?
Jan> The idea was to create a direct comparison between the nonna’s cuisine, kitchen and ingredients in Italy with the ingredients and dishes which are made in the professional kitchen. That was the driving force behind what we shot and it was important that nothing was overly stylised within the L'Osteria restaurants – it was real chefs who prepared the food and what the nonnas were served was what everyone else would be served.
LBB> In terms of timescale, how long did it take to capture all of the footage?
Jan> First we filmed in Italy and then in Germany – we had three filming days in Italy and just one in Germany. The idea was that Italy served as the getaway of the project and we could get immersed in the Italian way, with a visual collage of the essence of the country.
Daniel> One of the locations was Lake Garda, which is quite iconic and features in the film. I also wanted to mention that it was quite nice to be on the car journey from Italy to Germany with all of the nonnas. The production team and nonnas travelled together and it was an intense journey for a couple of days, but worth it.
LBB> You mentioned that the team and nonnas travelled together, which for one of them was the first time leaving the country. How did that add to the spot?
Jan> We wanted to make sure that we had fun and made the experience as comfortable as possible for the nonnas. We realised that driving between the two countries would be the easiest and most fun way for them, so we made it a journey where we stopped off and saw some landmarks along the way.
One of the nonnas wanted to stop and see a church that she’d always wanted to go to and had never seen before, so we made sure to ask them if they had any requests of places they wanted to visit along the way.
LBB> What was the editing process like and how did you achieve the final result?
Jan> I’m very aware that I make films three times: in pre-production when shooting and in the edit. When I create work, I make it with this process in mind so that I can have real freedom of editing in the end. There are hours and hours of footage, mainly because the camera is often just recording while we wait for that special, offbeat moment that is so precious.
Those moments are impossible to create with non-actors, so you’re searching for it constantly and when it happens, it’s incredible. The most important thing in the edit is to present everything in the most sincere way, represent everyone as themselves and do justice to the true essence of their personalities.
LBB> How did you land on this particular soundtrack and why was it the right fit?
Jan> The music was actually super tricky to find. We had to combine the two worlds of the romantic, nostalgic Italy and the more modern Germany - so it took a lot of research to find it. All the credit for this one goes to Casey Lugada at The Sweetspot, who also did the second unit camera on the shoot - he came across the track and it blended really well.
LBB> Are there any funny anecdotes from the set?
Daniel> Franka, who was the nonna living at Lake Garda, made some homemade cookies for us. In the beginning, everyone was calmly approaching the table and taking one, and by the end, we were all rushing to get more cookies because they were so tasty!
She was also the one who had never been out of Italy at all – she was born and lived her whole life in her flat - so together with us, she was experiencing things for the first time.
Jan> Franka was really sceptical, but in the end, when we arrived in Germany, she couldn’t believe it and she had amazing energy talking to everyone. As much as we explained the vision to the nonnas, I think it was quite difficult to understand till they saw it. We wanted their authentic reactions to the food!
