Fabrizio Federico is an independent experimental, avant garde film director and artist based in the United Kingdom. He is the director of Black Biscuit, and is responsible for the independent film movement called Pink8.

Early Life

Federico was born in the town of Derby, Derbyshire in the UK. He was raised in the Italian / Caribbean part of town. Him and his family moved to Italy in 1989 after Federico narrowly escaped death in a house fire when he was 5 years old. He was rescued by his father Antonio. Only Federico and a photo of his late grandfather Damiano Federico escaped the fire. While living in Italy he was exposed to the neorealism

Neorealism

Neorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations, outlined by Kenneth Waltz in his 1979 book Theory of International Politics. Waltz argues in favor of a systemic approach: the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior, so that only states whose outcomes...

 films of Roberto Rossellini

Roberto Rossellini

Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...

, Paolo Villaggio

Paolo Villaggio

Paolo Villaggio is an Italian actor, writer, director and comedian.-Life:Villaggio was born in Genoa in 1932. His jobs included being a clerk for the Italsider steel major which inspired his character "Il ragioniere Fantozzi Ugo", "the accountant Ugo Fantozzi"...

, Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...

, and Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...

. By 1995 he moved to America to live in Boston, MA. Federico learned how to play guitar and was a part of the nascent music scene in Alston, a hip section of Boston. He joined the local band Ochmoneks.

Federico was deported back to the United Kingdom in 2006 for lack of proper immigration papers.

Early career

After his return to the UK, Federico's interest in filmmaking was sparked by a viewing of Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette is an American film director, writer, editor and actor. Caouette is the director and editor of Tarnation , an autobiographical documentary, and director of All Tomorrow's Parties about a cult music festival.-Films:...

's Tarnation

Tarnation

Tarnation is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Caouette.The film was created by Caouette from over 20 years of hundreds of hours of old Super 8 footage, VHS videotape, photographs, and answering machine messages to tell the story of his life and his relationship with his mentally ill mother Renee...

, an experience he described as "like taking ecstasy, acid, death and freedom in one go - I was high for a very long time after watching that movie." With no formal training, education or experience, Federico embarked on his career by producing and directing his first feature film: Black Biscuit.

The shoot was not a smooth one. Because of the location shooting, Federico had several run-ins with authorities and the public. Several of the actors were addicted to mephedrone which created a very edgy and tense form of acting. There was no budget, and much of the funds came from Federico life modeling, and going from door to door asking people to donate ₤1 in order to raise funds. Most of the filming was done using mobile phones and childrens cameras which allowed Federico to film unsuspecting persons, and situations. Local homeless people were featured extensively in the film. Improvisation was the key to the film.

Federico coined this shambolic form of cinema "Pink8",, the cinematic equivalent to lo-fi

Lo-fi music

Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...

 and punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 music: his muse being scratchy, raw, wistful, dreamy and introspective.

Influences

Federico's style is influenced by maverick directors such as Paul Morrissey

Paul Morrissey

Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...

, Vincent Moon

Vincent Moon

Vincent Moon is an independent filmmaker from Paris mainly known for his field work music videos of indie rock related musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists like Tom Jones, R.E.M. or Arcade Fire. Besides making music videos he also makes experimental films and documentaries...

, Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette is an American film director, writer, editor and actor. Caouette is the director and editor of Tarnation , an autobiographical documentary, and director of All Tomorrow's Parties about a cult music festival.-Films:...

, Harmony Korine

Harmony Korine

The story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia, played by Ewen Bremner, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog...

, Julien Temple

Julien Temple

Julien Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, Absolute Beginners and a documentary film about Glastonbury.-Temple...

, Vincent Gallo

Vincent Gallo

Vincent Gallo is an Italian-American film director and actor. Though he has had minor roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies, including Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, did the music for and starred in; The Brown Bunny, which he also...

, and Donald Cammell

Donald Cammell

Donald Seaton Cammell was a Scottish film director who enjoys a cult reputation thanks to his debut film Performance, which he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg.-Biography:...

. Federico cites musical influences from the likes of Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...

, Chet Baker

Chet Baker

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...

, The Sex Pistols, The Doors

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

, any of several doo wop girl groups, The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, Oasis

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...

, The Libertines

The Libertines

The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...

 and The Horrors

The Horrors

The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...

. He lists Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

 The Last Movie

The Last Movie

The Last Movie is a 1971 drama film from Universal Pictures. It was written and directed by Dennis Hopper, who also played a horse wrangler named after the state of Kansas. It also starred Peter Fonda, Henry Jaglom and Michelle Phillips...

 as his favorite film.

Themes

Society's outsiders and outcasts form a recurrent theme in Federico's work. He speaks of them as "Street Superstars". For Black Biscuit if Federico saw a person with star quality walking down the street he would approach them and convince them to appear in his film. The homeless, S&M mistresses, children's cemeteries, exorcisms, headbangers, and glue addicts all feature in his works. In Black Biscuit Federico covers the subjects of child death from trip and fall, careering, prostitution, religion, immigration, exorcism, voyeurism, cults, sexism, concert violence, the death of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, benefit fraud, media, drug abuse, mental illness, humiliation, homosexuality, self harm, celebrity & pop culture, S&M, homelessness, and money

Other Works

Federico has also worked extensively in the field of music and photography. Ants Productions is a collective of guerrilla style projects. His photographic collection Six Pretties is a photo essay on modeling hopefuls. Federico has also assembled a photo collection of vomit he saw frequently on the city streets on early Sunday mornings. He is also a member of the New Suburban Crackers (NSC), an ironic rap group. Members Chris Brown, and John Greene live in the U.S. and all contact is made via emails, and files.