Interviews

Interview: Annabelle Attanasio – Mickey and the Bear

©️ Ruby Rose / Conor Murphy

Interview: Annabelle Attanasio – Mickey and the Bear

Published on November 15, 2019

How does free will exist when moral responsibility, opportunity and happenstance constantly impede on an individual’s further actions? Blending themes of attachment, addiction and trauma, actress turned filmmaker Annabelle Attanasio crafts an intimate portrait on the search of identity when a patriarchal social system and complicated father (a versatile James Badge Dale) -daughter relationship steers the burgeoning gutsy young adult (Never Goin’ Back‘s Camila Morrone) to an unknown future crossroads. Mickey and the Bear looks at role assignment, tackles the lingering effects of PSTD through the spectrum of imprints and describes what is missing from the family portrait in nuanced touches. A SXSW competition selection that has traveled to Cannes’ ACID section, Deauville, and Marrakech later this month, I had a sit down with Annabelle at the 2019 Festival du nouveau cinéma and discuss her choice in location, writing process and some of the non-film reference ideas included in her debut. Utopia release the film this week.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).