The latest installment in Miu Miu's short film project, "Women's Stories," which began in 2011, premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 28th.
The eighth installment of the project, this work, titled "SOMEBODY," is directed by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Miranda July. Dressed in a mix of Miu Miu's 2014-15 Autumn/Winter collection, vintage clothing and streetwear, the characters in the 10-minute work experience heartbreak, rebuild friendships, and develop a strange relationship with a dried-out potted plant.
A thirst for communication emerges. Using a mobile phone app as the key to the story, the work also depicts a yearning for the development of technology and outsourcing.
Regarding this endeavor, July commented, "It felt like Miuccia Prada was trying to portray the everyday, practical world around her with this collection. On the other hand, I wanted to analyze the structure of clothing and return to my roots."
She also worked with a team of developers to develop the app "SOMEBODY," which appears in the film. At the end of the film, instructions for registering for the app are displayed. "I see this work as a global public art project. I want people to take action by viewing the work, connect with strangers, and discuss the value of inefficiency and risk," July said.
The film is also available on Miu Miu's official website.
The project has so far screened films such as Zoe Cassavetes's Powder Room, Lucrecia Martel's MUTA, Giada Colagrande's The Door, Hiam Appas's Women of Vucciria, and Kim So-yeon's Spark and Light, six of which were screened at the Venice Days program in 2012 and 2013.
Each film has one thing in common: they question timeless themes. How do women see themselves? How do they see each other? Is the appearance that signals women's thought and intellect inseparable from sensuality and pleasure? Miu Miu has commissioned all of the films in this project to be directed by women, with the aim of creating works that celebrate the feminine perspective of the 21st century by addressing these themes.
In each film, the collection plays a vital role, sometimes driving the story, weaving together power and desire, vanity and decoration, ritual and rules, dreams and nightmares. In other words, the key is to let the clothes speak for all the moments that shape our daily lives.
