E.S.I.E. (Eng. Version)

"Until it came in, I pretended it didn't exist" is the main motive force of my short movie. There are several neurological diseases all around the world, but epilepsy is the most common.  Despite recent scientific progress, it appears mysterious to us, and it is a source of dismay. As of today, epilepsy still is hard to understand and even harder to treat. As a nightmare, it fades away. Sometimes it returns after years and other times it never leaves you; so its time and its space are often on hold. For me, its dimension is cinematically fascinating, and the subject is captivating for storytelling.
 Watching this film, I want the viewer experiencing who share their life with epilepsy, their mind and body's reaction, thoughts or words, deep sensations and actions of people.
 A second chance is sometimes what can save us. The principal narrator is the real character in this story. He had a seizure in front of his classmates when he was younger, and he decided to run away far from everything. His sensibility hurt during a period of life when we are the most vulnerable. Time by time, he becomes a lonely writer. Storytelling is now his breakthrough. He creates the character of Eloisa.
A woman, in her early 30s. She got a job, a lover, a house and a peaceful, ordinary life and her dream was to be a mother. Un unpredictable enemy, named epilepsy, yanks her life. Like the narrator, she even decides to run away when she finds out about her pregnancy. 
I came across the delicate condition of an epileptic woman to become a mother when I chose the subject of my screenplay. I was living in Rome, where I was studying in an acting Academy. I had to move out, and I found a new room in a shared apartment. The second night after I moved in one of my flatmates, a girl in her late 20s, had a seizure. She passed out a couple of days, and afterwards, she asked us to go with her to the gynaecologist. She was more terrified than when she went to see the brain specialist since she was trying to get pregnant with her significant other.   
An epileptic person follows a daily pharmacological treatment, that might cause malformations in the fetus. 
 Each pregnancy it is delicate in its way. Every woman should be free to choose whether to be a mother or not. Still, these specific circumstances which entail such a risk would be a burden to any woman.
Fortunately, the tale of Eloisa is a story born from the pen of an author: the lonely writer. He, therefore, decide a happy ending to this story which makes us reflect on the critical responsibilities we have towards our loved ones once those face this kind of situation. 
In my first short movie, I aspire to introduce something that I always appreciated in cinema: different levels of reality. Dimension of dream and duality of time between the real world and the unreal one captured my imagination. I noticed that we mask our past, and we fear, desire and act the present illogically. At last, I decided to leave a suspenseful ending because the future always is uncertain.
 After a long casting process, I decided to play the lead female character. I chose a guy from my acting Academy as coprotagonist, whom I knew very well working together many times. We had to interpret an emotional relationship that must be at the same time, cool and warm. In my hyphenate role, I scheduled two weeks of acting coaching and rehearsals ahead of the shooting time while we worked on the characters' and plot's arc. The rest of the cast was new to acting. However, they eager to be engaged in this project, and they followed my guidelines thoroughly, simultaneously having a great time. Our experimentation and the given opportunity gave off a great happiness to me.
I'm glad to show you up my first short movie about a neglected social issue.
I hope it will help to reduce the stigma around epilepsy.

Screenwriter & Director 
Noemi Cusato
noemi.isidefilmproduction@gmail.com
(+39) 3930723642