La vergine nella fontana (Short Version)

Decca Records has posted an intriguing clip of director and composer Tommaso Ottomano’s La vergine nella fontana (The Virgin in the Fountain), a film that turns on their deliriously wonderful compilation, Paura – A Collection of Italian Horror Sounds from the Cam Sugar Archive, into a film all its own.

The terrific Decca compilation takes themes from various Italian horror films and turns it into a strangely original soundtrack. Ottomano takes a handful of these themes – at least here, by Stefano Liberati (“The Prophecy”), Stelvio Cipriani (“Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea (Seq. 2)”) and Ennio Morricone (the great “Mio Caro Assassino”) – and turns it into a remarkable film all his own.

Tommaso Ottomano is a self-taught director. All his work is characterized by his great ability to experiment, combining different artistic levels, such as visual and musical - in fact, he is also a musician. He has factored significantly in a lot of high-profile European adverts in the last few years for fashion brands such as Armani, Prada, Missoni, Versace, Bulgari and Moncler.

I think he could be this generation’s David Fincher. In other words, you will see a lot more of his work coming up.

I have not yet seen the full version of La vergine nella fontana, which debuts in Italy tonight. But I can’t wait to see how Ottomano imagines this terrific collection of music as a film of his own. He is one of film’s great experimentalists and one who can imagine worlds that are beautiful and scary all at once. A perfect choice for this terrific collection of music.