A Study On Behaviour

EXT. ANGST is an independent film label created by Mara Palena and Jessamine-Bliss Bell. They have a deep interest in making experimental films, with no purpose other than to explore areas of film making and ideas they feel there is limited space for in the industry. Mara has a background in the fashion industry, she then moved on to photography and videography work exploring mostly the themes of identity and memories. She has a deep knowledge of cinema and a very unique aesthetic identity as a film maker. Jessamine is an actress who studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. She has worked internationally and explored many types of film making. She aims to implicate and explore elements of the method on film, through EXT. ANGST. She also writes the projects about themes that feel relevant to her and to her place in society. Together, they aim at making films that not only exercise their curiosity for the themes of the films, but study the human behaviour and particularly that in the context of our society. EXT ANGST aims at making films freely, always searching for the truth of the moments whilst staying true to the narrative of each project. A Study on Behaviour has been exhibited at Recontemporary curated by Micaela Flenda in Turin, September 2021.

“An expressive power that is amplified by the total absence of secondary elements in the profilmic, choosing to abandon a narrative approach to adopt a purely documentary and minimalist one”

“A trilogy of short films to reflect on social anxiety and its defects on our psyche”

David Rui - 1977 Magazine

Sequences Of An Ordinary Day

Explores the differences in behaviour one exhibits in a public environment versus a private one, following the time frame of a day. The idea is that the subject’s way of completing a daily activity is influenced, in our very socially structured society, by the presence or lack of others. This is emphasized by her being clothed/naked. Culminating in a dream like sequence where the subconscious takes over and privacy and exposure become one.

FILM Minidv, bw, sound, 06’ 28″, 2018

The film has made in collaboration with PYLOT Magazine.

Crew

Directed by……….. Mara Palena

Starred by…………Jessamine-Bliss Bell

Styled by………….Patricia Villirillo

Grooming…………Camilla Romagnoli

Stylist assistant……..Gilberto Genco

Music…………….Frédéric Chopin – Prelude in E-Minor (op.28 no. 4)

Costumes………….GENCI, MAGLIANO, SLIM BARRETT

Location…………..FIORIARTIFICIALI Milano

Awards

Indie Vision Film Festival – Official Selection, 2019

BLOW-UP International Arthouse Filmfest Chicago – Finalist, 2019

Sequences Of Performangst

Explores the feeling of anxiety and how we deal with it in social contexts. Essentially it is ‘how we feel’ vs ‘how we act’ and to what degree we perform to hide how we actually feel. We use for context a day in an actor’s life, but the sentiments should apply to anyone.

FILM Minidv, colour, sound, 04’ 59″, 2020

Crew

Directed by………..Mara Palena

Written by…………Jessamine-Bliss Bell

Starred by…………Jessamine-Bliss Bell

Styled by………….Claudia Cerasuolo

Grooming…………Bianca Bagnoli

Music…………….Gioacchino Rossini, William Tell Overture

Sound Post………..BENZENE Hugo Escuriol

Awards

FLICKFAIR Film Festival – Official Selection, 2021

Independent Shorts Awards – Winner, 2020

Cinema of the World International Film Festival – Winner, 2020

New York Cinematography AWARDS (NYCA) – Finalist, 2020

Kosice International Film Festival – Finalist, 2020

Indie Short Fest – Finalist, 2020

Los Angeles Cinematography AWARDS (LACA) – Semi-finalist, 2020

AltFF Alternative Film Festival – Semi-finalist, 2020

London International Motion Picture Awards (LIMPA) – Official Selection, 2020

Feel The Reel International Film Festival – Finalist, 2019

In Isolation

A Study On Behaviour, In Isolation” is the third film in the trilogy. Set and shot, in 2020, during the lockdown for COVID-19 directed remotely from Milan to London via different digital and streaming devices, it marks a clear unprecedented moment in time. It is a product of the confinement period, technically and creatively. We aimed to work with the constraints and boundaries that came hand in hand with quarantine. This film draws elements from both previous films in the series ; the private behavior one exhibits when aware that no one is watching, and the frustrations and highlights that are products of this. It is set retrospectively, our subject reflects on the period as a memory but we still feel as if we are with her in real time as she narrates her experiences, emotions, struggles and delights.