This is long overdue, as actually the UK premiere of Calladita (The Quiet Maid) was held exactly one week ago. The World of Women NFT community, of which I’m a proud holder, hosted a screening at the Shoreditch Arts Club for 30 or so lucky guests. We were treated to a specialty cocktail and invited into a small, intimate cinema. Not only were we among the first to experience the first (European) film funded entirely by NFTs, we were also treated to a short Q&A with the director, Miguel Faus.
While I can’t say I was a massive fan of the film itself, the following discussion more than made up for it. And, incidentally, imbued the film with more meaning. What made the conversation particularly engaging was the mix of crypto natives and absolute beginners in the audience. We spent the first portion of the Q&A on the mechanics of raising money from NFT sales and whether it’s a strategy that can be replicated, followed by a deep dive into the message(s) conveyed by the film.
On the former, Faus was keen to impress that we’re still early, and that while he was able to use this strategy to fundraise, it was limited to the existing web3 community. In his words, “selling NFTs to raise money from a web2 audience is still a stretch too far”. However, I would like to see this strategy – or some variation thereof – used in the future, as I see the levelling of the playing field as crypto’s biggest advantage.
This advantage was, in some ways, reflected in the film’s storyline. The event organiser and moderator described her analysis of Calladita as representative of the moralities of the crypto sector. The titular maid rebels against the “establishment” (the wealthy family who illegally employs her) in small ways, much like the technology’s application, especially in finance, offers new opportunities for the disenfranchised by disrupting the incumbents. While Faus said this wasn’t necessarily the intention, he’s on board with the interpretation.
He spent more time exploring other themes present in his film, such as the power dynamics between an undocumented migrant worker and a wealthy, privileged family who seem to be trying to out-do each other in awfulness. One quote that stayed with me is Faus’ assertion that, while the daughter was probably the most sympathetic of the bunch, “just being a decent person isn’t enough”.
Though to Faus the idea of Calladita wasn’t about crypto, the plot borrowed from the technology and, in my view, from the culture and values that have grown up around it, particularly relating to moral ambiguities such as whether it’s acceptable to steal from those who have wronged you. This reading, in addition to the topics discussed after the screening, have given me a much more nuanced understanding of the film. I thoroughly enjoyed the event, and highly recommend viewing the film, even if only to contribute your own thoughts to the conversation around it.
Swordfoosh 