Film review: The Devotion Project by Antony Osso

The Devotion Project is a series of 6 documentaries about couples and families and their stories about how they met and became devoted to each other. So far, the project of Antony Osso, American with Calabrian roots may seem very ordinary, but everything changes when we discover that all these families and couples are LGBTQ and furthermore, their stories are treated with unsual ease. 

Antony Osso travels to his origin region in the south of Italy to present his project at La Guarimba Film Festival and proves that love is love regardless of gender, race or any other difficulty. The 6 short films composing The Devotion Project introduces us into the life of gay, lesbian and transexual couples and their families. We get to know - narrated by themselves - how they met and which are their up and downs without giving further importance of their sexual condition. 

Their stories are extraordinary, brave and romantic and Osso films them carefully, sneaking into their romance and letting them showing confidence to share their experiences- Furthermore,   he shows them like if they are only a little example of the thousands of similar stories about untraditional families. Probably, the most refreshing aspect of each of the short films is that they are not 'coming out' stories. The director is not interested in how they faced they sexual discovery but how they found their devoted ones and lived together (in some cases) for over 60 years. Antony Osso is just interested in telling us 6 extraordinary, yet like all others, love stories without any prejudice.

Title: 'The Devotion Project'
Director:  Antony Osso
Year: 2013
Run time: aprox. 60 min
Country: USA

14 August 2014, by Lucía Ros Serra