Franck Trozzo Kazagui Releases Latest Short 'Lucia' on Global Arts Platform Nowness

Franck Trozzo Kazagui, DOGEATDOG and OBVIOUS premiere their latest short film ‘LUCIA’ on global arts and culture platform ‘NOWNESS’. The project pays tribute to pole dancing and ballroom culture from the perspective of multidisciplinary artist Lucia Cabrera Pedroso, as she explores the ways her craft helps her transcend societal expectations and her own journey as an artist.

Franck was first introduced to Lucia in 2019. From that moment, she gave him access to her story and the trust to write a film about breaking the stigmas of being a pole dancer in modern times. Their partnership resulted in a raw celebration of self-expression through dance.

‘LUCIA’ was shot in the Brezovica mountains in Kosovo and in Berlin. The Danish cinematographer Jacob Møller lensed the piece and utilized his expert skill to showcase the physicality and sensuality of Lucia’s art whilst complementing the film’s stunning landscape. Franck worked with an entirely Kosovan and German crew to produce the project.

The styling of the film, by Peninah Amanda, was a crucial tool to capture Lucia’s personality and sense of fashion. Lucia wears pieces from Gucci, Lanvin, Balenciaga, Tom Ford, Vetements, Issey Miyake, Alala and Ugly New Cute, to name a few. 

For the post-production, Franck teamed up with Obvious and his long-time collaborators András Gutti for the edit, Manuel Portschy for the grading, Katlas Production, Dane Armour, Léon Monschauer for the visual effects and Brit Myers for the music composition. He also used Cinelab’s state of the art D-F-D process - transferring digitally captured footage to film, and then processing and scanning back to digital, with an authentic film look applied. This process, contrasted with the 3D scan technology used to create the otherworldly landscape, captivatingly reflects the different facets of Lucia’s performance.

Harvey Ascott, executive producer at Dog Eat Dog, says about the film, “Working on this wonderful film with Franck was such a pleasure from start to finish. The collaboration process working on the creative, locations and figuring out the best places to shoot was incredibly rewarding, even when we were driving up a mountain in Kosovo and became surrounded by 700 sheep. It was a privilege to take another project back to Kosovo with long time collaborator Besnik Krapi. This was a true passion project with a team of exceptionally talented filmmakers.” 

On the film, Franck says “Historically pole dancing has been seen as a sexual and money-making activity. Getting to know Lucia in the early stage of the film four years ago made me realise how utterly wrong that perception is. She has shown me that pole dancing is an art form that gives people the space to express themselves freely, a movement to own and embody femininity, strength, and sexuality through dance and performance”