Lost in the Woods

Making a film represents one of the most challenging experience I’ve ever faced.
Crafting a piece of art from scratch to the final product, dealing and learning to manage a so wide range of roles throughout the production pipeline was a true grueling challenge to me, but along this creative journey I’ve find out, just like the protagonist of the story, that the path of Art and Living is paved of challenges and responsibility: is a continuous learning process that push the artist going beyond his limits and find new awareness of himself and his potential, as a creative and individual too.

I’ve decided to make this film not because I could, nor I wanted to do...
but because I needed to.

I have given all of myself and the passion I am capable of into the creation of this opera:
I’ve tried to do a respectful adaptation from the amazing original masterpiece released on Nintendo 64 in 2000, especially regarding the atmospheres and the iconic elements that made The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask a “one of a kind” in game history.
At the same time I made significant changes, due to my personal sensitivity towards the opera and the themes it deals with, not least the need for adaptation to the cinematographic medium.

The first time I played Majora’s Mask I was just a kid of 10 years old, but I’ve ever felt there was something “under the skin” of this game that seemed to whisper at the deepest part of me, like echoes of a hidden meaning, concealed in plain sight.

The plot of Majora’s Mask deals with an extraordinary variety of thematic and narrative elements, sinking its roots into the origins of fairy tales and their social function since ancient times and their evolution through different mediums, as I’ve examined and demostrated during my graduation in Set Design for Cinema and TV from Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 2017.

The film deals with various themes that define a layered narrative plot that has its roots in the historical origins of fairy tales, in the social function of ancient rituals and the process of psychological and spiritual growth, which accompanies the hero protagonist during his own evolutionary arc, also dealing with issues such as the elaboration of mourning and the loss of a loved one, the concepts of free will and the existence of a predetermined fate, society and integration, highlighting the danger represented by alienation, discrimination and loneliness, the importance of listening and feeling empathy for others, the concept of mortality and immortality: the relationship between reality and representation, between the face and the mask, along the journey of the human search for one’s own identity.

“The face under the mask... I wonder... is that... your true face?”

These topics are just a few examples of the layered storytelling of “Lost in the Woods”, an epic dark-fantasy film that well reflect the complexity of the time we are living, restoring the importance of art and culture in our life, that remind us of our best part, made of feelings and empathy: our humanity.

All my love and truly deep gratitude to my parents, family and friends: they’ve always supported and believed in me,
even in this difficult period.

I also wish to warmly thank producer Shigeru Miyamoto, directors Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, artistic directors Yusuke Nakano, Takaya Imamura, scriptwriters Mitsuhiro Takano, Shigeru Miyamoto, Yoshiaki Koizumi, music composer Koji Kondo and all the incredible Nintendo staff for sharing with the world their legendary inspiring masterpiece.

Last but not least I want to mention the outstanding potential of Unreal Engine, a powerful tool developed by Epic Games that played the lion’s share in the animated sequences of the film and on recreating the world of Termina and its whimsical landscapes and atmosphere:
it really gave to my dream the wings to fly and shine bright.