Argentine directors Marcos Simon Mossello & Elias Ezequiel Gismondi set out to investigate the business of being bald, together with the residents of Tostado, an Argentinian town where hair seems to be largely absent among the men folk. The film world-premiered in Visions du Réel’s Grand Angle section. The filmmaking duo answer questions posed by Business Doc Europe.
BDE: How did the two of you come together?
Mossello & Gismondi: We know each other from the National Film University of Villa María, Córdoba, our hometown. At first, we only knew each other by sight until the last year when we took a theoretical subject together.
From the beginning we had a good connection and the bond became natural. The love for cinema, music and humour, in addition to our common baldness, made the friendship flourish.
At that time, we started filming together some sessions and video clips for musician friends from the university and we noticed that we felt very comfortable filming together.
The following year we left the university and moved to different cities. Then we met again a few years later in the making of PARAÍSO, an independent fictional film produced by Julián Palacios, where we had a great time, and decided that it would be good to make more films. together.
BDE: How did you meet Julian, the producer, and how did you finance the film?
Mossello & Gismondi: We knew Julián from the University in the film major [classes]. We took some subjects and we worked together in the university’s communication secretariat when we were students.
In 2017 we filmed PARAÍSO together where we had a very good feeling, and we had the intention of making another film, but…a project written and/or directed by us.
At the beginning of 2019 Julián notified us that there was a call for the incubator of the National Argentine Film Institute (INCAA), a development contest where he proposed us to present the [seed] idea for The Bald [Los Calvos].
We were selected and it was great news because it was our first feature film with support from INCAA. The prize consisted of U$D7,500 to record the demo of the film and carry out different training sessions with different tutors working on the script, and at the end of the year present the material at the Ventana Sur film market, where 8 of the 24 projects would obtain the funds to be produced.
We made the presentation and won the award to produce the film, but the pandemic came and the [award] was put on hold, although we continued to be in contact with the characters, developing the dramatic arcs and ideas.
Only in 2022 were we able to collect the Institute’s funds, which, although they did not cover 100%, were essential for its completion.
A few months before starting filming, we travelled to the 2022 Guadalajara Film Festival and participated in their FICG INDUSTRIA film market where we won two Awards. One consisted of the production of Color and DCP in Colombia with Estudio 2.35 Digital, and the other was a script tutoring with Marketing Movie Runner from Mexico.
Then we managed to add some institutions and companies that bet on the project, in addition to contributing our workforce and equipment as associated producers. With the budget covered, we were ready to begin filming in the city of Tostado in mid-September 2022.
BDE: In terms of co-direction, who did what?
Mossello & Gismondi: We made all pre-production, casting, locations, aesthetics and narrative decisions together, and during filming the same thing happened. We defined the framing together, as well as asking the characters or being attentive to new scenes that could be presented. And the same thing happened in assembly, since we did it together.
In fact, at first, the intention was for one to be in charge of the script and another of the direction, but the whole process came together naturally and we built it a little like that, guided by how good we felt working during the writing.
We have absolute respect and trust in each other, both humanly and professionally, so at no time were there any ego or other problems. On the contrary, we felt free to propose any idea that occurred to us, no matter how crazy or ridiculous it might sound at first.
We feel that when we are together we strengthen each other and we think that is great, uniting ideas and bringing them to the screen was truly a collective work in every sense.
BDE: How did you come up with the idea for The Bald?
Mossello & Gismondi: The idea for the film came to us from baldness itself, we believe that personal experiences are what take you to a place that gives you the possibility of telling something authentic, with substance, whether in a documentary or fiction.
Since we met, the urge to do something about a topic that seemed original/taboo to us was running through our heads (depopulated of hair follicles). Something that we believed had not been shown in the cinema or at least in the way we intended to do it. But we had to wait for the right moment.
BDE: When did you both start losing your hair?
Mossello: Since I have been aware of my image, hair has always been an important issue because I saw the ghost of baldness in my two grandparents, my father and my uncles. Besides, as a child I already had a very large head and forehead (and they bullied me) so there was very little chance of avoiding being peeled. At 22 it started to fall slightly and it continued until I was 30 when it began to fall irremediably.
Unlike Elías, my baldness is much more recent, so it is a feeling that I have quite close to the surface and the film helped me assume that I am bald and stop wearing caps or long hair with a pompom on top trying to hide it.
Gismondi: I started losing my hair at a very young age at 17 years old. When I went in to take a shower I saw a bunch of hair in the palm of my hand and said: “I’m losing my hair and I want to die.”
My dad is bald and I knew that was where things were coming from. At that time all my friends had long hair and I was going completely bald. They were difficult years for me personally and I felt a little annoyed by my hair loss. But when I was 21, what I did one day was decide to shave my head because I didn’t want to have some hair hanging out and that was liberating. Since that moment I wear a shaved head and that is my style.
BDE: How easy was it to get the right tone for the film, not to make it too comic or too serious?
Mossello & Gismondi: From the beginning we knew that we were looking for a bittersweet tone that reflects the mixed feelings and sensations that characterize baldness, so it was obvious that comedy had to be present to laugh at our own and social complexes, and thus be able to convey an idea. of self-acceptance. But without leaving aside the drama and giving the deserved respect and importance to such a delicate condition for some of the characters.
The obsession with symmetry and framing as well as a certain fetishism for baldness subtly contributes to that purpose.
We believe that tone is also linked to rhythm, which is fundamental to our conception of cinema. We are both “musicians” and we see the structure of the film [like] a record where each small structure (sequence) is designed as an individual piece but at the same time dialogues and balances with the complete work.
Some characters are more comical while others are deeper, that helps maintain the “humorous” tone within that fine line that you name in the question. This rhythm is also present in the sound design where the sounds, dialogues, voice-overs and music have a cadence where they alternate or overlap so that the viewer can follow the thread of the situations without getting lost. Since it is an entertaining and easy-to-watch film, it requires an audience committed to viewing it.
There were many ideas that we were thinking about, some worked very well and others were missing something, but we believe that the balance of the tone also came from the characters off-screen and the hard work of editing the structure.
BDE: What are your plans for showing the film in Tostado?
Mossello & Gismondi: In principle we plan to hold the premiere in the city at the end of this year, when winter passes and we can have an outdoor screening for the entire city.
We think it will be something very exciting because it was where almost the entire film was filmed and at the same time the city gave us the possibilities to do what we really wanted. It’s going to be something very special to see the city and everyone who participated on the big screen.
There are no movie theatres in the area and it is the first time that something like this is going to happen and we want it to be an immersive experience, where the protagonists are in sports outfits representing sequences from the film. For example, one of the characters will perform a song from the movie live, there will be the ice cream cart of one of the characters giving away ice cream sticks. Another is going to be playing skill games with the soccer ball. etc
In a way, it is about giving back something of everything they gave us and celebrating cinema that continues to be a collective act and we think it is good to be able to transmit it in the screening.
BDE: Do you have distribution in Argentina yet? Are you going to further festivals?
Mossello & Gismondi: For now, we do not have distribution in Argentina.We are in contact with a Mexican producer/distributor that may join us but it remains to be seen.
We believe that the Visions du Réel context can be very beneficial in terms of international distribution. Our intention is that we can be in as many film festivals in our country and the world, make a commercial release and ensure that the film has the greatest possible visibility.
We are about to co-premiere at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) and here at Visions du Réel. It is a privilege and a tremendous joy for us to be part of this great documentary film festival and make a kind of double premiere.
It’s something we didn’t think about but it came in the best way and we want to enjoy it. Honestly, we really want the public to receive it and be able to enjoy the film as we enjoyed making it.
In the markets and festivals that we were at for the development stage, we noticed great interest from the general public, which is why we think it has great potential to be able to be in large festivals. We hope that it can take a tour that serves to expand new screens.
BDE: What are you up to next?
Mossello & Gismondi: We are currently thinking about making The Bald 2 (an ode to the bald people of the world) but in this case, the idea is to leave Argentina and expand to the world. A kind of road movie with us as protagonists who go in search of the origin of baldness in Europe.
This idea arose while we were in the research process to make the demo-teaser, we discovered that there was a lot of information about baldness and its attributes.
We came across articles that showed where the largest number of bald people were in the world and that was the trigger to start thinking about the second part of the film.
The idea is to travel to the Czech Republic, which leads with the largest number of bald people on the planet, and to Spain, which is in second position. We want to go film in those countries and discover why this happens? And what is the origin of that baldness? Why are there so many bald people and how do they handle it?
On the other hand, there is a contingent of bald Spaniards who travel specifically to Istanbul, Turkey to have hair implants done at a much cheaper price than in Europe. That is also a beautiful trigger for the film and to be able to develop it with stories.
We believe that the most powerful thing about documentary is that there is always something more to discover and that stimulates you to continue filming.We also have two fiction projects, an Argenti western called Toastado and another psychological horror, with an atmosphere in the style of The Shining. Muere Monstruo Muere is inspired by real characters called Desencarnados.
