COMING 2023
Filming the parade of the fercolo in front of the Cathedral of Saint Agatha
Devoti Tutti began production in 2012 while Bernadette was finishing another documentary film, The Good Breast, which examines the medical and personal experiences of women who have lost their breasts to cancer. The crew went back to film in August to further the development of existing characters and storylines.
The film combines the footage from Catania alongside a modern recreation of the myth of Agatha, which seeks to understand the woman behind the cult, not as a saint or a martyr, but a person who stood up for herself, even in the face of great brutality. Bernadette recreated the myth of Agatha and Agatha's point of view through the process of filming video, and animating layers over top of it, or rotoscoping.
Bernadette directs her daughter, Charlotte, who plays Agatha.
Bernadette interviewed Angela, a Catanian woman, and her family to gather information about the Festa and their personal lives in relation to the cult of the saint.
A drone was used to capture aerial footage of Catania and of the crowd during the Festa.
BRINGING AGATHA TO LIFE
Side by side still images comparing the raw footage to the animations.
Agatha's breasts become her companions during her imprisonment.
She documents her story, painting by candle light.
St. Peter is greeted by the breasts outside the cathedral.
ROTOSCOPED SCENES
On April 23rd of 2022, Bernadette, her family and her film team gathered to shoot the final live-action footage necessary to animate Agatha's escape. This behind-the-scenes video documents their day of filming.
Production wrapped in October of 2022, concluding the filming of Devoti Tutti, ten years in the making. These last shots were used as backplates for animation.
