NYIFFaces is a photographic project that portraits many of the NYIFF guests under particular shooting conditions. It is a project that I developed in conjunct collaboration with the Festival’s Board of Directors during the 11th and 12th annual edition of the Festival.
The goal I try to reach while portraiting is always to read and interpret people’s personality and their character at my best. I focus on their weak points and strong sides, on their body image and the ways they feel about themselves.  
I am used to work surrounded by a “full-optional” photographic studio for this kind of portraits. This allows me to dedicate all my attention and concentration on studying and decoding my Subjects.
NYIFFaces had been made in a very different way.

THE SPACE
My purpose is always to destroy the automatic attitudes of acting in people like actors, dancers, directors and writers that are used to split or multiply their personality while at work. The shooting sets I used were so odd and haphazard that were quite inadequate to put my subjects at ease. Such a peculiar type of setting turned out to be a perfect occasion for capturing them in their everyday life mood instead. However, despite the unusual settings, I forced everybody I portrayed to show me the “presence” they usually carry out when they perform in a photographic studio.

The people I was shooting at, had to fight against themselves in front of my camera in order to obey to my requests: “do not act”, “look at the camera and feel inside yourself”, “lower-turn-incline your head”, “close your eyes and open them quickly” and so on. All this was happening in a totally awkward scenario: a crowded Cinema with its traffic of people going from the staff workers to the festival’s guests, the spectators and the journalists. I was shooting on the stairs, in the theater kitchen and cellars, in the hallways, in the main room and in the warehouse while everybody else around was crossing my path and the space around me. I was moreover working under very different lights like neon, near a window, in the darkness of the underground rooms, in front of light boxes used for movie posters, on the stage with the projectors switched off and many other settings.

THE TIME
It usually takes me one or two hours to study the subject and to decode it. Photographic portraiture is a matter of mood and psychological bond with the subject. The person needs to be calm and feel at ease, sometimes it might take a lot of wording and some other time just absolute silence. Photographic portraiture requires concentration. And time.
During the NYIFF I had to do all the portraits in a few minutes or even less. It was a match against time, an instantaneous and soft war against whoever was in front of me.

I spent 3 minutes with Salman Rushdie, leant against the backstairs wall and lit by a dreadful, green neon light. I spent only 2 minutes with Mani Ratnam and Suhasini: they were inattentive, their bodyguards were rushing me, fans were waiting for them and, on top of that, the Cinema's underground kitchen looked a little bit anomalous to be used as a shooting set. For being an Artist that is interested in people’s soul, in their deep essence, I had to make my camera slip exactly in there, and one hundred and twenty seconds were very few... but I got it!
All of this was difficult and exciting at the same time.

Nevertheless, the mission impossible still had to come. During the 2011 edition I caught Mira Nair in 25 seconds...
Theatre Hall, Asia Society, NYIFF closing night. I am exhibiting here my 20x28 inches portraits. Mira Nair is in front of me, tens of voices are acclaiming her. I know I have to perform as a perfect sniper: one shot or nothing, and under the worst light that a photographer can imagine for a portraiting shoot. She is distracted by lots of people around her. I know, Photography is all a matter of waiting: I look through the camera’s viewfinder, waiting for that right facial muscle move, waiting for something to happen in her eyes, waiting for an harmonious and evenly balanced shape of her mouth, waiting for something I consider meaningful. That coveted one thirtieth of a second fortunately came along and... Click! But suddenly, out of nowhere, Rishi Kapoor and his wife Neetu were right in there: “Please, Mr.Kapoor, one minute please”. Surrounded by acclaiming persons that were praising them with enthusiasm, there it was... I had to hypnotize two stars in a few seconds. The lift is waiting for them, the doors have just open, they are in a hurry. “Please Mr. Kapoor, Mr. Kapoor”. He looks at me but I don’t like his facial expression, I can see his wife out of the corner of my eye, I turn a little and... Flash! I take the photograph. I immediately perceive Mr. Kapoor has the perfect expression, I catch his eyes, I switch off the flash using my left hand and.. Click! The photos are done. 15 seconds in all, I feel as a sniper without guilt.

In the development of a Photographic project, one generally keeps both techniques and formalities constant through all the shooting sessions. The particularity of NYIFFaces, on the contrary, is that all the pictures are so different from one another, up to the extent that one could imagine they are made by different photographers and belong to different projects. Nevertheless, how could my shots be similar if every person I portray is different, every shooting condition was different, every mood was different?
Nowadays the original Language of Photography is easily manipulable if you look at colors that can be digitally modified, a sort of contemporary Mannerism. The black and white technique, on the other hand, can’t lie, it cannot veil the Photograph and the Author’s intention.

NYIFFaces original project consists in 60 big faces printed out on canvas 59x87 inches sized. Up to date I never had the chance to exhibit such a big Art work and I regret I would not be present in New York for the 2012 NYIFF to keep working with what I started. Hopefully I’ll be able to participate for the next year to come.
For this project, I was honored to work with a very young and talented photographer: Giulia Iacolutti.

Please, feel free to contact me for any additional information (info@albertomoretti.it)

BIOGRAPHY
Alberto Moretti is a freelance photographer that was listed in the top ten shortlist of the 2008 Sony World Photography Award.
His work has been the subject of a Ph.D. dissertation on the History of Dance Photography, held at the University of Venice (Italy).
His pictures are published on trade magazines, industry catalogues, calendars, posters and stage playbills all over the world:  from Europe, to Asia, South America, China and India.
His photographic exhibitions were shown around several European theaters and galleries as well as in New York City.
Many of his pictures have become part of both public and private collections.