Fabrizio Fusco’s short film THE SKY IS LOST / Il cielo è perso caught the eye of our guest curator Jukka-Pekka Laakso, and made it into his contribution to the 2025 T-Port Lighthouse Selections.
In this interview, we find out the inspiration behind his film including the joys of a writing partnership, “angels” in the casting room, and how he took upon marketing his film.
Hi Fabrizio, could you introduce yourself?
I am twenty-nine, born in Italy and live in the south after having traveled half the country between study and work. Probably my nationality is starting to influence my cinema only now, when you are younger you reject every institution and tradition.
If you could watch one film forever on a loop – what would it be?
It’s cruel to have to choose just one. My childish side would choose “Alice in Wonderland” from 1951, my adult side would probably choose either “Accattone” by Pier Paolo Pasolini or “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer” by Yorgos Lanthimos.
How many films have you made before this one, and what did each new film teach you?
This is my first short film with a real production behind it. Before this I shot many experiments and exercises that certainly helped me learn aspects of the craft.
How did you first start working on this film? What was the process like and what first sparked the idea to make it?
The film was finished in early 2024, the first ideas were born in 2021. I wanted to make the productive leap from all the student works I mentioned before and I was looking for a story that could support the weight of this ambition.
The first thing that came to mind were some images: two twins who live in a wonderful place who somehow end their story in a metal factory where everything is horrible. With this little starting point I went to the person with whom I write all my stories, a brother to me, who looked at me in a slightly strange way (haha), but somehow we managed to make it all work.
What were the biggest challenges you encountered during making your film?
Finding the two protagonists was a feat. We needed someone who had both a certain physicality and a strong emotional sensitivity. A few weeks before the set we had no one, then two angels fell in the casting room and everything was resolved.
What did you find (or still find) as especially lacking in the process of distributing and promoting your film? What was especially challenging?
This is a sore point. As I said, it is my first experience with something so real and distribution is really a world that I did not know from the outside. Understanding who to turn to for distribution that really believes in the project is the hardest part, so far I have not had any luck from this point of view. Luckily I found T-Port on my own initiative. This selection is definitely the thing I am most proud of.
Where are the gaps in the film industry?
I am no one to give such a universal judgment, I speak about my experience. During film school I was taught a lot about the artistic side of how to make a film, very little about how to move in the industry. I think that today a filmmaker must also be an entrepreneur, an accountant, a thief, and many other jobs at the same time.
What’s next for you?
My second short film will be shot towards the end of June and I’m in the process of writing a feature film.
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