“As a child we lived at my father’s studio and I was surrounded by portraits,” says filmmaker Chiara Clemente, daughter of Naples-born painter Francesco Clemente and director of this intimate look at Atelier Persol, the artist-in-residence group project in Florence, Italy that carries on our new Shorts on Sundays season. “Growing up around very strong visuals definitely influenced the way I look at things and the aesthetic I’m drawn to.” The film features eight artists, one for each day it takes to make a pair of Persol glasses, carrying on where last year’s collaboration 8 Days of Persol left off. Clemente’s work often discusses her subject’s story and here captures the week-long creation, completion and presentation of new pieces by Vanina Sorrenti, Kolkoz, Sebastien Tellier, Robert Montgomery, Futura, Fabio Novembre, Random International and Mathilde Monnier. “I try to let people go back to a memory, to have a sense of looking back,” says Clemente of her interview process which often forms the backbone of her films, as seen in her first documentary feature Our City Dreams that told the story of five female artists living and working in New York, including Marina Abramović,. “I’m truly curious; I get such a thrill from having conversations. It helps to be instinctive.”

Atelier Persol Part Two premieres on NOWNESS on November 3.