Originally setting out to make a science-fiction short film, before concluding that “sci-fi and Italy don’t get along that much”, Roberto Saku Cinardi’s enigmatic short film Christian is a film that cleverly plays with audience expectations and sneaks up on you with its slow-burning narrative. Centred around a strong performance from lead actor Gabriele Mainetti, this is a short that showcases some assured filmmaking as director Cinardi blends a gritty-drama look/feel with a mysterious storyline underlined with religious undertones.

“Aliens & UFOs, they never land in Italy”

Talking to the director via email, Cinardi revealed why he abandoned his plans for a science-fiction narrative and instead opted to tackle a story more suitable for its setting – “Aliens and UFOs, they never land in Italy: they usually like the U.S. or Russia, big countries and powerful governments. So I started thinking about something mysterious, capable of gaining the interest of an international audience and at the same time credible to happen in the Italian suburbs – finding its roots in history, popular beliefs, religious mythology and superstitions. That’s pretty much how I ended up with the idea of Christian.

We talk a lot about the role pacing plays when we select films to feature on Short of the Week and as online curators we believe we have to look at the momentum of a narrative from a different angle to that of the film festival or live-screening programmer. With the attention span of the online viewer playing on our mind, we’ll often pass on featuring slower-paced films because we fear our audience might not give it the attention it deserves. However, there’s no denying that Christian is a slow-burner – but it isn’t all about pace, its about intrigue and engagement as well and this is where director Cinardi really excels – unveiling just enough to keep us gripped until its dramatic reveal.

Shooting for just over two “very busy days” on a Red Epic equipped with Cooke S4 lenses, Cinardi’s film cost around 10k euros to create and was partly funded by the money he’d made shooting a rap promo on the same set. Currently working on his second short, a more “classic sci-fi” (which won’t be set in Italy) that will be shot over the summer, the director is also developing “a secret project which will be a natural extension of Christian – at the moment Cinardi’s not revealing anything else about this classified project, but when we have more details, we’ll be sure to share them.