Toronto Pictures: The Present and Future of Socially Conscious Filmmaking
Bruno Pischiutta: This year, we are producing the film A PARTY GIRL FOR THE RAT PACK, which originates from the novel “Breaking My Silence” by Jane McCormick. For many years, Jane was very close to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The film will deal with the relation between child abuse and prostitution. It will be non-graphic and it will constitute a new genre due to the fact that the structure of this new feature will be something that has never been seen before. It will be filmed in Brazil and in the USA.
Daria Trifu: Also this year, we are producing the feature film WISTERIA that will be filmed in Romania. The characters’ stories develop during the season of Wisteria. In the course of three months, many lives will have a dramatic turn. The story evolves around an elite, all-female college with girls of every age, where a prostitution ring is established. The film represents certain effects of the sexual trafficking of children in Eastern Europe. The main protagonists are two young college girlfriends who come from two completely different worlds – one poor and one rich. The rich girl’s father is a US Embassy diplomat in Bucharest (Romania). He and his wife go through marital turmoil fueled by the tragedy of their sons’ sickness.
“WISTERIA also shows the effect caused by having someone very sick in the family on the life of the other close family members. The different themes of rich and poor, honest and dishonest, pure and corrupt develop in this film in a way that the viewers will not forget.
OM-Times: Bruno, you are very passionate about film being a vehicle for social change.
Bruno Pischiutta: Education is a big component of our films and most of our films’ topics consist of a social nature.
The ‘new morality’ that our CAUSE is aiming to achieve, means not only exposing problems to our films’ viewers but also doing something about them. This is why we donate back a percentage of the profits our films make. I should note that this percentage comes from our Producers’ share and does not affect the profit shares of the film’s investors.
We want for the rights of women and children to be respected. We want to fight intellectual pollution, stupidity, racism and discrimination. We want to show that nonviolent films can be commercially viable and can contribute to achieving a better world. We want to win the fight against ignorance and bigotry. We want to use the art of film as a weapon in order to improve the viewers’ lifestyle and to advance their mentality thereby enhancing their life experience and introducing the reflection about major social problems that anguish our world today through positive thinking.
