When I was "as long as I can remember" years old, my cousins and I were left alone in my house for hours. The oldest are almost ten years ahead, so my parents thought I was safe with them. And I was, but my will to follow the standards and capture the notion of 'status quo' was horrendously not. We made sure all that obedience was destroyed before it became a thing in our lives. The first step was art.
Two oldest girls, two older girls, four subordinate boys. A chaotic family while the adults were there; probably after an unspoken accord was placed between our looks. When the adults were gone, we transformed into a well-organised, self-sufficient and very efficient production crew, and started doing our own stop motion short films.
My mother allowed us to use her video camera, as long as the oldest were in charge. The camera was a distant skill that made us awe and wonder, but we managed to feel important; we were, at the end of the day, still younglings, so we had a lot of toys; most of them made up, built with rubbish, but a child knows no creative limits. We used every single one, and rearranged their position for every frame. It would freeze in that position for every word spoken directly to the camera microfone. During dialogues, we moved the camera; zoomed in for dramatic phrases that caused conflict between Mr. Fireman from Hasbro County and Rul'Pen, an almighty mutant that could fly using its rectangular arms that used as wings.
After that, we performed. First we would recreate our favourite movies' scenes. I was the villain most of the times, but other times I played the tragic hero that died at the end, saving everyone. At some point, my mother handed me the camera for me to use alone; it was a fantastic time. I knew since I was "as long as I can remember" that filmmaking was IT.
As long as I am doing that, in any form or enviroment, I am happy.
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I know there is no such thing a "favourite film", it is as hard as "favourite song", but here are some of the chosen ones...
