The Black Book of L.

The Black Book of L. is a dark tale inspired by an imaginary black book that holds all the tragic events of the protagonist's life. A woman descends into the darkest, most harrowing moments of her past viewing them through the prism of age.

  • Ilaria Di Carlo
    Director
  • Ilaria Di Carlo
    Writer
  • Ilaria Di Carlo
    Producer
  • Mia Read
    Key Cast
  • Jutta Wieser
    Key Cast
  • Ilaria Di Carlo
    Key Cast
  • Enrico Ticconi
    Key Cast
  • L.H.O.O.Q. Films
    Production Company
  • Aha Postproduction International Media Gmbh
    Associate Producer
  • The Post Republic Gmbh
    Associate Producer
  • Cine Sound Studio Gmbh
    Associate Producer
  • K2 Film
    Associate Producer
  • Mahir Duman
    Director of Photography
  • Martin Aaserud
    Film Composer & Sound Designer
  • Olivier Militon
    Music Score Composer
  • Maryna Shuklina
    Editor
  • Viktor Brim
    Assistant Director
  • Rebecca Shein
    Production Manager
  • Ilaria Di Carlo
    Production Designer
  • Gesine Kaufmann
    Costume Designer
  • Xar Lee
    First Assistant Camera
  • Bastian Schneider
    Second Assistant Camera
  • Luca Leinemann
    Second Camera
  • Christopher Vehse
    Dolly Grip
  • Sofie Lehr
    Costume Assistant
  • Elisa Nicolò
    Costume Dresser
  • Moran Sanderovich
    Mask Artist
  • Margarete Laskowski
    Make up Artist
  • Charlotte Reibell
    Set Dresser
  • Argyro Karatolou
    Props
  • Sascha Töpfer
    VFX Supervisor
  • Martin Breine
    Special Effects
  • Sally Shamas
    Colorist
  • Karsten Ray
    Re-recording Mixer
  • Gunter Krüger
    DCP Mastering
  • Laura Riondo
    Catering
  • Demi Anter
    Documentation
  • Jan Gießmann
    Still Photographer
  • Lucie Drouin-Meslé
    Graphic Designer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, drama, Mistery
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 15, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    Other
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, RED Cinema, DCP 2K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 24th L'Étrange Festival XXIV Edition
    Paris
    France
    September 12, 2018
    Official Selection Short Film Competition
  • 3th DIAMETRALE FESTIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
    Insbruck
    Austria
    April 18, 2019
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Ilaria Di Carlo

Ilaria Di Carlo is a visual artist working in the fields of filmmaking, scenography, and the performing arts. Raised in Italy, she graduated with honours in Scenography from the Fine Arts Academy in Rome and holds a Master in Scenography from the prestigious Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London. She subsequently studied Digital Film Production at the SAE Institute of Berlin.
Her current artistic work focuses on making moving image films that explore the theme of journey, the language of identity and metamorphosis in contrast with landscape and architecture. Her films are highly visual and aesthetic, inspired by the influence and impressive symbolism of the scenography.
As a director, she has staged the durational performance Double/Act and the site-specific performance Booloohoom – Nocturne I, loosely based on James Joyce’s Ulysses. Her performance The Black Book inspired her to make her first short film, The Black Book of L. Her filmography includes the short films In Search of Lost Time and The Divine Way, filmed in 50 different locations around Germany.
She has worked as a set, lighting, and costume designer for theatre and film, and as an actress in the total radical fiction theatre ensemble of Vegard Vinge & Ida Müller since 2011. She was also Vinge’s director assistant for the piece 12 Spartenhaus, performed at the Volksbühne in 2013.

She lives and works in Berlin.

www.ilariadicarlo.net

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Director Statement

When I approached the idea of a metaphorical Black Book that records all the tragic events of one’s life, I wanted to explore the involuntary emotional states that trigger impulses of self-destruction and violence. The central theme of the film -and of the Black Book- is love. Love as the inexorable instinct triggered by the state of limerence that ripples through our identity and transforms us. This cathartic process first kills our inner child, and through repetition, erodes adulthood into old age. Through the Black Book, the protagonist stares at her demons reflected in a visual representation of the horror of her mental state that belongs in the realm of lyric poetry. The sheer power of the impulses and the inability of the protagonist, of ourselves, to curb the fear of abandonment and obsession with the loved one echoes the despair of classical tragedy. Reifying the Black Book adds a sinister undertone to the self-exploratory journey into the maelstrom of the inner self the film depicts.