By Michele Diomà

For anyone who dreams of expressing themselves through cinema, even with limited budgets, there are two Masters of the Seventh Art who serve as essential guides for learning what truly matters in independent filmmaking. These two Masters are Mario Bava and Roger Corman. The former inspired auteurs like Federico Fellini, while the latter, through his New Hollywood movement, discovered directors such as Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, and Francis Ford Coppola. Today, it is a great honor for WILD FILMMAKER to pay tribute to one of these two great Masters together with Gérald Duchaussoy, who has dedicated a book—and years of passionate research—to the cinema of Mario Bava.

-) When you hear the name Mario Bava, what’s the first image that comes to your mind?

I think the head of Barbara Steele with the two dogs and a thunder in black and white is a striking image with visual identity, so much beauty, attractivness and repulsion that it defines well what we expect from a horror film. This unsual face is not typical of Bava’s style who’s more attracted to colors than actors but we, as viewers, are struck by the power of a physiognomy.       

-) What did Mario Bava represent in your development as a film enthusiast?

With many directors, cinematographers and actors, it represents well a break in the way I constructed myself as a film enthusiast breaking away from American cinema and looking for something different. His universe, themes and motifs are strong and I felt that I had never seen anything like it—which is true.   

-) Great directors of the past and present, such as Federico Fellini and Tim Burton, have repeatedly stated that they were inspired by Mario Bava’s filmography. Which films from the past 20 years do you think most strongly reflect the influence of Mario Bava’s cinema?

I would say Assassination Nation by Sam Levinson in the first place—the use of colors, the intensity of the visual waves, as I would call them, and the technicality blew me away. In the same vein, The Neon Demon by Nicolas Winding Refn, which seemed inspired by Dario Argento, brought us back to Mario Bava because the colors were like actors and had a real place in the film. I’m sure that, if I played video games, I would see much inspiration from Mario Bava.         

-) As you know, I greatly admire the mission of Cannes Classics, which you have directed for years. I believe that giving attention to documentaries about the history of cinema is essential to help younger
generations discover the historical context in which certain films were created.
Do you think Mario Bava’s cinema is sufficiently remembered today?

I have the impression that we talk more about Mario Bava than about Federico Fellini, they are screened at major festivals, sold on Blu-ray so I would answer yes.      

-)Contemporary European cinema rarely inspires American productions; the last striking example can arguably be considered Mario Bava’s posthumous film Rabid Dogs, which inspired Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. In your opinion, what are the reasons why European cinema has lost its
ability to be a source of inspiration for American cinema?

This is a very good question. First, the production of Italian genre films is not what it used to be to say the least. In France and Spain, genre films are more made for platforms. Secondly, this is a matter of distribution. How can we expect to see these films today? Thirdly, there is less dialogue with artists between American cinema and abroad. There is more a global language of cinema than European being inspired by American films and the other way round.     

   -) One of the heroes who inspired the WILD FILMMAKER mission—namely, a strong focus on arthouse cinema—was Mario Bava himself, an artist who, with limited financial resources and a wealth of original ideas, changed the history of cinema.
Do you think our mission is relevant today?

Definitely. There is less money in cinema today but this doesn’t mean that we have to give up. Good luck to WILD FILMMAKER. It’s only the beginning!