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On My Radar: Elena Petitti di Roreto
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Anonymous Content London's director Elena Petitti di Roreto reveals that she's a recent PlayStation convert and highlights a Ugandan film you just have to see as she tells us what's on her creative radar.
What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?
So, apparently, Gary Vaynerchuk claims that fortune cookie messages are the new Super Bowl ads and, I have to say, I do not watch American football but definitely consume quite a number of fortune cookies, so he might get me on this one.
What website(s) do you use most regularly?
My number one website of choice for image search is Magnum Photos. It is an outstanding archive of contemporary and historical images - a beautiful mirror of society, people and places, all through the eyes of world-class photographers. Otherwise, I often fall into the YouTube/Google/Wikipedia rabbit hole and get lost.
What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?
Okay, believe it or not, since leaving home, I’ve not owned a TV. So, at the tender age of 34, I decided it was time to get myself one. A few days after, my boyfriend and his nine-year-old son showed up with a PlayStation and forced me to play... for the first time in my entire life... I swear. Since then, I’ve developed a (late) obsession for the Zelda game Majora's Mask. Here's the link to the game's first commercial which, by the way, I find absolutely masterful.
What product could you not live without?
I think, my passport. Does it count as a product?
What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?
I am in Africa right now, and my friends here just introduced me to an absolute masterpiece: Who Killed Captain Alex, Uganda's first action movie by Nabwana Isaac Geoffrey Godfrey (IGG). You can find the full film here, on the Official Wakaliwood YouTube channel where all the other movies by the same author can be found. And, as stated in the very beginning of the film, it was produced, written, directed, shot and edited by Nabwana IGG in his home village of Wakalinga. I don’t want to spend too many words describing it… it would be a lengthy love poem... just watch it!
What film do you think everyone should have seen?
Every New Year's Eve has now become a tradition for me and my friends to put in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. Everybody should watch it. Why? Because it's a testament to anti-fascism, and I believe it's always good to be reminded of the horrors fascism carries within.
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What’s your preferred social media platform?
Rather than 'prefer', I'd say I'm a slave to Instagram.
What’s your favourite TV show?
The Sopranos, no doubts. I just can’t resist James Gandolfini. I simply love him.
What’s your favourite podcast?
A bit old school but, yeah, this is what I listen to: BBC in our time Philosophy.
What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?
Difficult one. I've seen many shows recently but, frankly, I found them largely boring. I would say the most inspiring piece of art I've come across recently is the book Chronosis by Reza Negarestani, Keith Tilford and Robin Mackay. It's a psychedelic trip about the multiverse, paranoid cosmic visions, and galactic empires. Definitely worth a read.
If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?
I'm a big fan of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; a Mozart groupie, if you will. So, if I could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life, it would be him. Especially the piano sonatas played by Glenn Gould.
If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?
If there was one thing I could change about the advertising industry it would be the pitch process. It can be very frustrating!
Who or what has most influenced your career?
My friends are all artists, or most of them are. They are musicians, filmmakers, writers, painters, editors, sculptors, etc. They are the core of my research, curiosity and general approach to my practice. So, thanks friends!
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know.
I'm not a natural blonde.
