Academia brings back Paper Goblin

Rumors to the reason why Lala Drona has been off the radar have finally emerged.  Lala Drona has recently finished a screenwriting/directing workshop at L’école des métiers du cinéma et de la tv / The International Film & TV School – Paris  (EICAR ).  Along with other writers and film directors, she studied the art of screenwriting and directing films.  When asked about her incentive to take the course at the EICAR, she explained that she is researching different media in which  she can bring the universe she is creating to life. However, the artist hasn’t completely dedicated herself to the reel just yet.

Je suis… exhibition. Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/www.jesuis.xyz?fref=ts

On the contrary, the course has inspired her to write the first book based in The Lala World.   “The Lala World is a world rich with details integral to its existence.  It deserves a book before it’s adapted to film,” she said.

Paper goblin

While taking the screenwriting course, Lala Drona wrote her first screenplay, a short film called “Tape Monster.”  The screenplay is inspired by the self-portraits she is currently painting for the Je Suis…

exhibition (taking place this October at The Maison des Ensembles) and by the Paper Goblin created in 2013.  “[The film] is about identity.  About accepting your inner monster and collaborating with it in order to create something beautiful.” The film “Tape Monster” is set to be released by the end of September 2015.  Shutupi is rumored to be the director of photography on set, and Lala Drona is said to be working with a prominent figure in the music industry for the soundtrack. Based on a Fact Tina Flint, student at Western College of Film Studies

L.D. Times Interview: Art Games

After her debut in L.D. Times Magazine last year, Lala Drona appears again, revealing her Muse tendencies.

Click to see the full article

Shutupi Origins

Despite  Lala Drona’s squeamish attitude towards the media, there are still an impressive number of images of her released.  Surprisingly, almost ninety-five percent of these images come from the same source.  We’ve seen his name in the media, his photos of Lala, but who is the man behind the camera?  Based on a Fact investigates.

Shutupi (formerly Shutupi Sutaki) is a Japanese photographer with a missing index finger.  Coming from the Sutaki family, a family of famous calligraphers, Shutupi was the only member in history to deny his calligraphic duties and follow a “calling.”  

Legend says that Shutupi was never gifted in the art of calligraphy.  As a teenager, Shutupi spent most days practicing calligraphy with his best friend and cousin Beradon’na. During a boating accident, he saved Beradon’na, creating a Purotekutā, or protector. According to Sutaki family code, one is indebted to their hero, destined to live out the rest of their days protecting their savior, until the savior decides to release him/her.

Beradon’na and Shutupi discovered the camera at the age of sixteen.  From that moment on, Shutupi craved to see the world through the eye of the camera, or as he calls it, his “Chokkan” (third eye).  Of course the Sutaki family did not tolerate the artistic digression, and forebode the use of the apparatus.  One night, Shutupi’s father found him photographing the family’s work, a heinous crime under the Sutaki family code.  His father showed no mercy when disciplining his son. In a fight to protect Shutupi, Beradon’na was killed by her uncle.  Shutupi’s father then amputated his son’s right index finger, forevermore thwarting Shutupi’s attempts to take pictures (in the conventional way).

After eight years in the shadows, Shutupi appeared again in France in 2012.    Shutupi met Lala through mutual friends in the art community and was instantly enchanted.  It was then that he began to take pictures again.  Following Lala’s growing army of Drones, he stumbled upon and joined a team of paparazzi also looking to infiltrate the emerging community of art alter-egos.  The interest between Lala and Shutupi was reciprocal and Lala too began asking questions about the photographer’s past.

Lala already aware of the Sutaki family code, and the concept of the Purotekutā, invited Shutupi to dinner, where she poisoned his food with toxic berries. As he bordered death, Lala nursed him back to life.  Forty-eight hours later, Shutupi woke up to Lala Drona rubbing his stomach, now destined to live out the rest of his days at her side, or until the day she releases him.

Shutupi Origins, Based on a Fact

On the outside looking in: Lala jail letter released

Lala Drona was released from Paris Art Prison at 10am last Monday morning.  Since, the artist has refused to talk about her prison experience, in turn raising the interest of investigative journalists everywhere.

The PAP mailroom was infiltrated by an unknown masked perpetrator last Sunday and many of Lala Drona’s records were made public.  The documents made public consist of an expedited mail list and a personal letter from Lala to Shutupi.  The records show that Lala wrote to Shutupi twenty-five days out of thirty in art prison. The letter exposes a relationship perhaps more intimate than previously assumed between the photographer and the artist.  It reads, “So I count.  I count the hours in every day.  I count every time you cross my mind and I count the days until we can start our projects again.” 

Lala also admits her true feelings about the Art Guild in this letter, perhaps plotting against the authority that put her away.  She writes, “…revenge is a dish best served cold.” Names on the mail list record also include Pancho Panoptes, Fred le Chevalier and Lans Thorne, strangely all of whom are existing members of the Art Guild.  If Lala is plotting against the Art Guild, why would she write to its members?  Perhaps their friendship transcends her deep seeded hostility towards the organization.  Or perhaps it is part of a grand scheme to bring down the institution.  Stay tuned to read about what happens next in the world of Lala Drona.

 

Lorenzo DaSilva, journalist at BOAF