All for a dirty star: interview with Gianpaolo Gentile and Daniele Bartoli | Nic

Eroica Fenice

By Gilda Caccavale

December 5, 2024

“All for a Dirty Star” is the story of Wyatt and his journey in a moment of deep emotional crisis. There is a mysterious figure who pursues the protagonist with whom the same, through the meeting with other characters, at some point will find himself face to face, being able to satisfy an unsought revenge due to a past that comes knocking on the door.

The short spaghetti western “All for a Dirty Star” will be part of the NiC – Napoli in Cinema 2024 film festival. The independent film distribution NiC organizes the independent film festival "NiC – Napoli in Cinema" from 2022. It is a Neapolitan reality of the Avamat group which was founded in 2019 and currently has more than 50 professionals in its staff. Avamat, an independent film production studio, is characterized by its "pop" approach by focusing on original stories and with an avant-garde approach.

Since 2022, thanks to collaborations with ABANA and UNISOB, there is also a production branch (Avamat School) aimed at artists under 25 who want to make their first work that offers the opportunity for any filmmaker to get involved under the supervision of professionals. The works produced by Avamat and those proposed by external filmmakers are then distributed in the NiC festivals aimed exclusively at independent cinema. For the NiC – Napoli in Cinema 2024 festival, the programming includes the involvement of the cities of Naples, Benevento and Avellino.

“All for a Dirty Star”: interview with Gianpaolo Gentile and Daniele Bartoli

“All for a Dirty Star” is a 12-minute spaghetti western, written (and performed) by Gianpaolo Gentile and directed by Daniele Bartoli, to whom we had the opportunity to ask a few questions.

What are the pros and cons of treating a genre like spaghetti westerns today?

I believe that the pros and cons match in this case, as the spaghetti western is a genre that is no longer fashionable in Italy but therefore can seem "innovative". We actually know that it was the flagship genre of the 70s. As well as the fact that it is a period film and therefore historical, certainly this too is a pro and con, pro below from an artistic and emotional point of view, but against from a production point of view. In our specific project, it is a tribute/revaluation of the genre itself and of the location in Camposecco where it was filmed. In fact, about 60 spaghetti westerns were filmed on this location, among which the most famous is "They called him Trinity..." with, in addition to Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, also Remo Capitani, father of Massimo Capitani (actor of the short).

There are some scenes that could leave room for different interpretations, what is a clue that can help viewers look at the story from the right point of view?

The main plot revolves around the revenge not sought by the protagonist for the death of his father, in fact it is the antagonist who chases the protagonist in order to kill him too. Once they get to the duel, however, it is the protagonist who has the upper hand and there, he finally recovers the star of the sheriff who was then his father. The girl with her grandfather, on the other hand, find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. They frame the main story but then in the end it also turns into revenge.

Everything for a “Dirty Star” has won multiple awards, what do you think was the most important key that made it a winning project?

It was a winning project, probably, because we believed from the beginning in our collaboration and that, by surrounding ourselves with the right people we would achieve our goal. So, together we started a whole research work to form the right crew and to look for the right location, to convey all our passion to the future audience. We wanted to create a tribute, from every point of view, to the spaghetti western without distorting its genre. In fact, the rhythm of the story, the shots, the characters, the setting, are all elements reminiscent of films such as those of Leone, Corbucci and other directors of the time. Certainly, another important key for us was the supervision of the editing of the master Eugenio Alabiso, editor of important films such as: "For a Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and many others, even non-westerns.

Thinking of telling the plot through a metaphor, how could it be represented?

Certainly a "who does it, wait for it" or "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (quoting a western by Alberto Mariscal with Robert Mitchell) "wrong place at the wrong time", in fact the revenge in this short is repeated almost endlessly.

Would you like to anticipate something of your future projects to the readers of Eroica Fenice?

Together we would like to continue working on this genre. We are already working on scripts to see if it was possible to realize our dream of creating a spaghetti western feature film. In the meantime, each of us is working on different projects both in the film and theater fields.