Florence is for Lovers
Runtime: 4:51A fragmented encounter on a Tuscan train leads to an unsettling meditation on intimacy, violence, and communication in this part-travelogue, part-city symphony.
This experimental docu-fiction short takes the nostalgia of Hi8 tape and the emotional distance of text-to-voice translation to create a new kind of travel film.
Director - Lily Ekimian Ragheb, Ahmed T. Ragheb
Ahmed T. Ragheb & Lily Ekimian Ragheb are a married experimental filmmaking duo based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lily (American, Russian and Armenian) grew up between Washington, D.C., and Cairo, Egypt. Ahmed (Egyptian, Dutch and American) was born and raised in Cairo. Their work explores identity, feminism, cultural dislocation and domestic relationships, and they are noted for their use of voiceover and mixed media. Their films have screened at world-renowned festivals including International Film Festival Rotterdam (Tiger Short Competition), Cairo International Film Festival, Uppsala Short Film Festival (Nominated, Ingmar Bergman Award), L'Alternativa Barcelona, AIFVF, the Arab American National Museum and the Mattress Factory Contemporary Art Museum. Artist residencies and awards they’ve received include the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center, and the Gift to America 2.0 Artist Commission by SPMMMV. Together they founded the independent production company Studio Ragheb.
Directors Statement
“Florence is for Lovers” began simply as a home video: we were in Italy for a family wedding, tasked with capturing the festivities. However, as we took the train around the Tuscan countryside, researched local history, and wandered the streets of Florence, certain images began to stand out and patterns emerged in the scenes we caught on our Hi8 camcorder: couples, young and old, sharing tender moments amid the bustle; a lone glass of wine at a cafe table; life-sized wax dolls dissected for museum-goers; pigeons violently pecking at one another. Influenced by the early short films of Peter Greenaway and the exuberance of Dziga Vertov and Boris Kaufman, the film fuses highly voyeuristic documentary footage with passionless text-to-voice translation, set to the vibrant energy of Vivaldi.
