zeo michello mancini

jr. producer / writer
based in Amsterdam.

Take a look at my work below:

ABOUT ME

Originally from Peru, currently working as a jr. film producer in the Netherlands. Previously, I worked as a writer, interviewer, and jr. editor in the culture section of a Canadian magazine.Raised between Peru's south and its capital, Lima, I've been now living in Amsterdam for the past 4 years. Graduated from the UvA with a bachelor in Film and Media studies with a minor in Politics, since I've always been passionate about the potential words and images can have for change. In my free time, now I write creatively, take pictures, and crochet anything that comes to mind.

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production

projects worked on...

• Documentary
• Commercials
• Fiction
• Events

To me, production is about providing a drive that moves projects forward, collaborating with directors and teams to shape a film's content and visual style. My experience includes Production Management, Coordination, and Assistance.I’m the producer of I Left My Soul, a documentary project in post-production, managing all its production stages: from funding, research and concept development, and casting, to line & post-production (VFX-coordination included) and distribution strategies.In terms of commercials, I’ve produced motion graphics projects for Royal Salute and jr. produced a live-action internal film for Nike as well as a collab between ADCN & Edson Sabajo, both with BTS photography coverage. I have worked on multiple other projects in whichever way the project needed; for instance, as the starring astronaut and PA of National Geographic’s idents, assisting and coordinating on-set for Cineville and Nowatch, or with financial admin for Adidas projects.I’ve also had the chance to produce multiple events with crowds ranging from a few dozens to a couple hundreds, including The Panics’ emblematic industry-evening Panic Room, VFX MasterClasses, film premieres, and pop-ups at larger festivals such as Playgrounds and ADCN. For these dynamic evenings, I managed sponsorships, guest lists, coordinating teams, and overall logistics.My love for filmmaking comes from being quite observant and having an eye for detail, as well as an interest to see the world both through the eyes of other's and also through the relatable eyes of the alike. But mostly, it stems from a phrase my best friend’s mother used to say: “The word is a powerful force of creation”. I believe media -and film specifically- is the most impactful way to allow us to visualise and mould a world we should strive for. A future that’s more sustainable and welcoming, for everyone.

fiction projects

Lilith

SHORT in pre-production

Set in a futuristic Amsterdam, women face their traumas and reclaim power. LILITH was inspired by the mythical figure from Jewish and Mesopotamian mythology, the demon that today symbolizes the liberated woman. Pulp Noir with a touch of mystique and a strong feminist soul - a visual spectacle in which dance, music and symbolism come together.Directed by: Ashanti Vreden & Leila Sahir
Written by: Ashanti Vreden
Producers: Chev Productions
Function: Production Coordinator

many others in development... coming soon!

documentary projects

I Left My Soul in the Locker

DOCUMENTARY SHORT in post-production

Developed with director Lisa Smidt, I Left My Soul explores the diverse ways in which identity can be formed through gender, in society and in a space such as the gym.Directed by: Lisa Smidt
DoP: Seretse Fulani
Function: Producer

40 Years of Dutch Hip-Hop

DOCU-SERIES

Golden Generation by Out of Home

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

projects worked on:

events produced:

photography types:

(click images for more)

People/Event photography

More of my photos can be found here.

Behind-the-Scenes On Set

Portraits

Landscape & Scenic Photography

writing:

reviews / reseñas:

interviews / entrevistas:

A series of interviews to actresses and actors, as well as famous figures and directors,
held via video calls and written by me between 2020–2021.

Omari Douglas
from It's A Sin

Ester Smith & Rafe Spall
from AppleTV's Trying

Larry Saperstein
from High School Musical:
The Musical: The Series

Claudia Karvan & Nathalie Morris
creator and protagonist of Australian series Bump

Amy Watson
co-director of Deep In Vogue

Queen Priyanka
winner of Canada's Drag Race

Torleif Hoppe
creator of Danish series DNA

Lydia West
from It's A Sin

Jasika Nicole
from the Punky Brewster reboot

Anjali Bhimani
from Special and Modern Family

features / artículos:

news articles / noticias:

textile art:

Zeo Mancini: headshots

Hey hey! I'm Zeo, a Peruvian jr. film producer & writer based in the Netherlands. I've been in many film shoots as part of the crew and this year started to step onto the other side of the camera, for photography and video campaigns as a featured model (Queer Amsterdam, Straat Museum) as well as for series and films (Hulu, Amazon, Netflix) as a noble-extra.

details

age: 24 (15-08-2000)
height: 180cm
top size: S/M
waist size: 29-30/32
chest: 95cm
waist: 78cm
hips: 91cm

previous work

in post-production:- video and photography campaign for Straat Museum- (noble-) extra roles for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime series & film productions

video sample

Emilia Pérez: a magnetic and joyous yet ignorant, Otherizing Gaze of Mexico’s trauma and the trans struggle

Emilia Pérez begins with a promising, vibrant musical sequence that opens a door that allows us to glance at the collective struggle of working class Mexicans trying to navigate the trials and tribulations of contemporary life and capitalism, particularly in the Global South. A door that is consequently neglected and vanished, however, as the film takes an exploitative and voyeuristic approach to Mexico’s history and struggle with the disappeared, while toying too much with the portrayal of (Latinx) transness within the violent world of drug trafficking.

Directed by the French director Jacques Audiard and co-produced by Yves Saint Laurent Productions, the Spanish-language film was the recipient of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s Jury Award and this year’s longest ovation with 11-minutes of praise from its audience. Additionally, the ensemble cast comprised by Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz were collectively awarded Cannes’ 2024 Best Actress award. As the film’s initial protagonist, Saldaña was simply sublime, taking our hand into this dazzling premise with amazing potential –greatly due to the actresses’ magnetic performances– blending the crime thriller, musical, and melodrama genres.Set almost entirely in Mexico, the film first introduces us to Rita (Zoe Saldaña), a talented yet undermined lawyer torn by her desire to break free from her unfulfilling life of aiding violent, enfranchised criminals. Rita's life changes entirely when she is kidnapped by a former drug cartel leader known by the alias “Manitas,” who presents her with an offer she cannot refuse: to free her from her morally contradictory career in exchange for helping "Manitas" escape Mexico to undergo gender affirmation surgeries in secret and become Emilia Pérez.In this process, Rita accompanies Emilia’s family –composed of two children and their mother Jessi (Selena Gomez), a second-generation Latina migrant from the U.S. and oblivious wife to now declared death Manitas– to take refuge in Switzerland. Four years after their deal, Rita unknowingly reunites with Emilia, who now carries an undeniably radiant aura. Together, they embark on a quest to bring answers to the family of the disappeared - a quest paradoxical to Emilia’s past that contributed to this gruesome system directly. Through her new life mission, Emilia meets Epifanía (Adriana Paz), a driven woman who lost her abusive husband to drug trafficking, developing together one of the film’s strongest and most enjoyable bonds.

Initially, the choreography and the sentiment within the film’s first sequence, of a Latinx collective, was fantastic. As she struggles to come to terms with the morally corrupt defendant she is working for, Rita sings her debacle aloud and is joined by the surrounding working class labourers of all sorts, who break with the quotidian urban life by playing around with their work equipment as to the rhythm of the choreography. The succeeding song giving commentary Latina women’s struggle continues to set us off on a good direction – all this criticism tarnished later on by being forgotten for most of the film. [what we or Mexicans missed] By pigeonholing Mexico solely to its struggle with drug trafficking, corruption, and violence, Audiard’s film oscillates into being trauma porn – despite the romantic, colourful approach to social justice, romance, sisterhood, that seems appreciative of Latinidad as a whole.Halfway through, I wondered if it was too ridiculous that this ruthless sociopathic drug cartel leader had become the most tender, kind, romantic person that now stands for what’s completely opposite to her past — until it hit me. (Every time we tell someone new who we are, we have the great opportunity to reframe it! rebuild it!) This is a musical!!! For it does not matter!!!!!! Musicals gravitate around the ideal of believing in something bigger than yourself, something so powerful that it takes possession of your body, unites you to others, and expresses itself through song. Though Emilia Pérez is brought to life through an unconventional merge of genres, the musical numbers –more-often-than-not– work effectively to dissect the complexities of the relationships between these four women, all of who are driven by their passions and ideals.Nonetheless, from the crime thriller and melodrama angles –which is when the genre-medley becomes troublesome–, Emilia’s psychological transformation from a murderous, aggressive criminal to a charitable, selfless social disruptor trying to right society’s (and her own) wrongs in regards to the disappeared, who is also a gentle mother, friend, and lover, does not feel plausible enough. A single scene of Emilia on her own, pre-transition, singing her feelings and the yearning to fulfil her desires and live as her authentic self, would have done wonders for her character. Regardless, in Audiard’s portrayal she still carries the heavily patriarchal, violent customs of her past life as a cartel leader. Trans viewers have criticised this trope of violence when depicting trans people; there is an emphasis in Emilia’s characterisation still holding this patriarchal, violent hunger for power within. On top of that, the time spent discussing transness is constrained mostly to a voyeuristic musical number that enumerates the available surgery options, conflating trans identity almost exclusively to the surgery itself – which is often criticized by trans people as a limited view, as it is not the only way to be trans nor an ideal they all aspire to.

This film had the latent potential to be the film of the year – perhaps if only it had been co-directed and co-written by a Mexican and/or trans person, closely backed by a Mexican/trans script consultant and a Latinx team, bringing an important discussion on the social positionality of filmmakers to light. The lack of this results in a confusion generated by the heavy contradictions placed within the title character, taking a toll on her representation; we see and hear Emilia plagued with a duality, grappling with violence and kindness, with toughness, care, repentance, love, selfishness, benevolence and morally ambiguous decisions altogether.In a similar fashion, we don’t get a chance to really see Emilia and Rita for who they are outside of the film’s intentions. Who is Rita beyond her not-fully-explored position as a working class migrant woman in Mexico? Beyond the rapid glimpse at her apartment engulfed by the enormous Ciudad de México? (Not to mention Jessi and Gustavo who are written as shallow stereotypes.) Regardless, I did love (almost) all the actresses’ electrifying performances, all in all it was an enjoyable watch. I will have to admit that starting with her karaoke scene, Gomez’ performance got increasingly brighter and more delightful towards the end act.What gets lost in the midst of it all, is that most its many songs are not memorable, nor very grounded in contemporary (or historical) Latino sounds and melodies. Telenovelas and folkloric Latino music heavily are emblematic for infusing the collective struggles and emotion into lyrics and sounds, which falls flat in the soundtrack. Although we are able to witness some hints of Mexican hip-hop and Latino ballads infused in Saldaña’s opening number, as well as attempts to materialize what characterizes Latinx culture and music. The composer Clément Ducol and songwriter Camille consulted the soundtrack they wrote in French and translated themselves to Spanish with “a Mexican-born interpreter on cultural matters” (Netflix). However, the semantic structure of the lyrics from the delightful and emotional “Mi Camino” interpreted by Gomez, gives away that its creators are not native in the language and can hinder the viewing experience for a Spanish-speaking audience. Despite their good intentions, a factor of genuineness lacks which could have been pushed further – perhaps a feat too unattainable for a European duo alone.An extra layer to the genre-convergence would be the horror I felt as the credits rolled and almost only French names came, becoming a scene that in and of itself bordered comedy, though it made some details click. Many of the critical reviewers argue the film’s fatal flaw is that Audiard attempts to converge many themes into one story and thus each of these loses their individual strength – which I actually do not agree with. I strongly believe the story’s lack is that it needed (and deserved) to be grounded more in the real, tangible, genuine experiences of Latinx people and Latinx trans women in particular, as well as the production design, the music design, and the handling of the plot line regarding Mexico’s disappeared. Ultimately, an entirely-French team treaded in uncharted waters that they shouldn’t have – at least not by themselves. Despite its lacks, there are punctual elements that do feel quite poignant, alive and real to the Latinx experience, from the untouchable, pervasively normalised lives wealthy criminals can afford to live above the law, to the marching funeral scene and the choice of the name “Epifanía” itself.Emilia Pérez heavily relies on an original and bold premise, but fails to live up to its ambitious potential due to a lack of sincere understanding on how to subvert the Male (Western) Gaze and dangerous tropes of representation of Latinidad and transness –a lack which could have enhanced the result immensely–, for we know quite well what the road to hell is paved with.Emilia Pérez will release on Netflix on November 13.