Director Eitan Pitigliani On How a Mother’s Love Allows a Man to Move On in ‘Sissy’

A mother’s love will never die even after she passes. That lesson is a hard one to learn for those still steeped in the grieving process, but director Eitan Pitigliani wanted to honor his mother with the enduring, playful short film, Sissy. An unexpected encounter will change a man’s perspective forever.

Luca is living on the street and dealing with his own sadness after his mother dies. When he goes home to visit his father, Antonio, he is visited by a spritely little girl who says she is the younger version of his mother. This young girl, named Sissy, allows Luca to look beyond his own grief in order to move on. A mother wouldn’t want her son to drown themselves in their own tears.

Pitigliani was able to drawn on his own experiences after his mother passed, and I don’t know how he was able to do it. He confidently told me about how storytelling is a way to connect with an audience and hear their truthful reaction. Everyone will experience some form of loss in their life.

“After you experience such deep and profound grief, I was already done with suffering. I wanted to share something with the world knowing that there is a whole variety of people out there. Some people feel more than others, but I wanted to share this story. You and I share a similar story and people can empathize with that. They can feel the loss. You don’t know this kind of feeling until you have to face it. Some people can be entertained by a story like this, because there is still life out there. When you feel that loss–and it doesn’t have to be a parent–it drives me to tell stories with an audience. An audience has the power to decide if a film is communicating something powerful to them.”

As Sissy, Dea Lanzaro holds you in the palm of her hand. The way she bounds around the room reminds us, the audience, of that childhood freedom that we once had. We can experience grief, but it cannot overtake us.

“Dea was the hidden director–she was directing me directing her. She is the same little girl that I bumped into a few months after my mom passed. I was able to come alive again, and she is very special. From the moment that I started talking to her, I knew there was something special there. I just started thinking about this story and I put things together. I had to give a voice to the little girl who helped me pull my shit together. She is kind of a diva in the way that she is a real actor. It was amazing to see her bouncing around the room like a princess, and she does captivate the lead actor from the first moment. It’s thanks to her that this guy can finally embark on a transformation.”

One of my favorite lines in the film is when Sissy comments on Luca’s scraggly beard. She says, “I didn’t make you to be this ugly.” It’s such an honest, motherly line, and it captures the spirit of the relationship between mother and child.

“She wants him to get off his knees and rise up. They made it possible for us to live. They gave us life, and they don’t want us to destroy ourselves because they aren’t here. It’s hard to say that. When you are alone with yourself in silence, it’s not that easy to keep on going without that most important person. It’s really tough.”

When Sissy arrives, Luca’s small room if flooded with color. You don’t notice it right away, but it perfectly encapsulates that warmth that a mother exudes. You easily find love in the peaches, purples, and strawberries that Pitigliani showers upon us.

“Sissy leads the movie even though it’s about what the man is going through. It can be about the bond between sons and mothers and daughters. I don’t mind when people ask if he is Sissy or is she Sissy? It is a color that doesn’t just come from Sissy–it comes from him too. She is a gentle soul that takes a shape, and he has the color pink within himself. Because of her, he can find that color within himself. And the color keeps changing. When she says goodbye at the end, the objects in the room stay the same. She leaves something behind, and she makes it possible for him to experience her coming back. It can all be in his mind, but I wanted to leave it open.”

As we leave Sissy, we get the sense of Luca’s new mindset. Pitigiliani shot his final scene in a place that had huge, emotional significance to him, and it makes his film resonate all the more profoundly.

“I wanted to have that scene as a final goodbye–she is watching over him. That location is actually where my mother spent her last summer, and I was lucky enough to involve the people who helped me make this film. They owned the place, and I was very happy to film the final scene there. It was where she wanted to be, and that is where my mother’s ashes are in the sea.”