Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Attoinese.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
If I think back it’s no surprise I’ve spent most of my life behind a camera in one way or another. As a kid I was the vigilant documentarian of the family road trip we took every summer from New York to Oklahoma. I’d hold my microphone up to anyone who would talk to me, “the audience wants to know how you liked your burger Dad?” My father’s reply was always the same “good, now shut that dam thing off!”
I moved out the day I turned eighteen. My two younger sisters started fighting over my room and my mother cried. I skipped college and went right to work.
After various office jobs (which I was not very good at) I landed a position at Ally & Gargano Advertising in NYC. I ran the projection and conference room(s). I learned so much huddled in the projection booth listening to the agency new business pitches. At night I’d shoot portraits of family and friend’s which lead me to my career as a fashion photographer. I hauled my cameras around New York, Europe and Australia determined to teach myself the language of film and how to make an image speak.
Years later I was featured in an article focused on photographers transitioning into directing. I had the great fortune of being included besides Arthur Elgort, Robert Farber and Jean Baptiste Mondino based on my photo work and first short film “Running Out Of Grace,” a moody black-and-white film that told the story of a woman torn between a man and her love for another woman. I moved out to Los Angeles and hooked up with Propaganda Films who had no idea what to do with me. I went on to make my next short film, “May I Recommend The Swordfish” with my dear friend Richard Goodman from Ally and Gargano which lead to me shooting and directing long and short-form “behind the scenes documentaries” for Roland Joffe (director) and Jake Eberts (producer).
Each film always starts with an unexpected image I can’t shake, sometimes for years, alongside an unexplained love of a character, story or place. My indie feature “Zoe” started with image of a young girl walking across the desert in the form of a vision quest. My short film “Snail” the image of the “hump” on my back reflecting my camera bag in a window, “Girl Knight” (short film) the image of a young girl clanking around her lonely life in a suit of armor and my current project “Lady Liberty” from my own awakening of the branding of the American flag.
Like most artists, film has always been a home for me. I love the challenge of pitting dark comedy up against surreal truth which calls out the elephant in the room, where what’s not being said, is more powerful then what is.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Overall Productions – what should we know?
I work with a great team of collaborators, fellow filmmakers, cinematographers, editors, etc. We shoot film and digital, video interviews, corporate, branded long and short form content, documentary and narrative. Anything you might need for your creative elements. We love the process and have fun working together.
I’m thrilled GIRL KNIGHT just found distribution on a great new LGBTQ streaming platform called REVRY which is really exciting.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.deborahattoinese.com
- Phone: 310 880 1616
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: deborahattoinese
- Facebook: www.facebook.deborah.attoinese
Image Credit:
©2019 All photographs copyrighted by Deborah Attoinese
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