I produced and performed my short film "Burning Tape" in 2016. David Bowie died in January of that year. I do not repeat how much and how his death struck me deeply. He was so important for me ever since I was a young girl and his music, his being, broke into my life.
When the journalist and director Rita Rocca launched the idea of “Bowienext” with the intention of creating a docu-film about David Bowie open to the contributions of fans from all over the world to tell with images, music, movies, the influence that the artist, the myth, had had on them, I conceived my short film “Burning Tape”. I thought of it and I imagined it as an act of love for what David Bowie was and for what he represented for me. I told of how I grew up, of what I lived and acquired for myself in my life, in my being. In my short film I didn't want to advertise anything about my stages. Nothing concerning my artistic activities, except as a reflection of the doubts, of the passion, of the human effort by a person who seeks his own way: a person who lives and changes by will, but also for a series of circumstances, events and sometimes-unpredictable encounters. Sure, there is a plan for everything, I think.
I found in Valerio Burli the director to whom to tell my idea. Together, we made on his screenplay. It was really a commitment: the locations, the preparation of the sets, the furnishings, and the equipment for the filming, the lights, the make-up, the costumes, the search for the actress who played me very young. A short film, sure, but a challenging job. Hours and hours of shooting, patience, haste, unforeseen problems to solve, running changes, and finally the editing. We worked on it from June to October 2016, when it is ready. Valerio and I deliver it personally to Rita Rocca. I was quite anxious about her judgment, but my doubts melted when I saw her expressions while she was watching my video. Her sincere and emotional embrace was at the end the ok I was waiting for and that repaid me for the time, the effort, and the expenses incurred.
Finally, on June 13, 2018, after almost two years since then, "RAI5" and "RAI Cultura" TV broadcast "Bowienext" in prime time. Until then I kept the commitment not to publish my short film before the release of Rita's film. Due to production and editing needs - as I saw later and understood - Rita was not able to include the contributions chosen to make part of the film Bowienext in their entirety: not only mine, but also his own film.
Anyway, we are there and I am more than happy about it, above all for the context in which Rita's film - which has taken on for sheer passion a heavy commitment, bringing it to fruition with stubborn conviction - has finally seen the light.
I then published my entire short film on You Tube. I can only say one thing: it is all true. During the shooting, I said to Nicole, the actress who played me as a young girl: “remember that Ambra was not a sad girl, but pissed off, hard, attentive to change and already with clear ideas about to hear the future coming.”
I hope you enjoy my movie. Thanks.