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About Dina

Baltimore City, 2024 OTW Artist

Dina Fiasconaro is a Baltimore screenwriter and director whose work centers female characters and explores thematic threads related to womanhood, marginalization, familial relationships and mental illness. Dina's films have screened at a variety of national and international venues and film festivals, including the Baltimore Museum of Art. Dina has honed her work at MacDowell, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Stowe Story Labs, Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Labs, GrrlHaus Cinema Seminar and Constellation Incubator. She has an M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia… more

Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf

Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf is a short film based on the play by Emilie Feldenzer. Marge is a bored housewife. Rex, her inattentive husband. In an attempt to spice up their relationship, Marge employs the Queen of Meatloaf, an ephemeral concoction that seduces Rex and Marge into a state of slumber, while permeating the homes of consumers with her enchanting aura and addicting gustatory appeal.
 
Rex returns home from work to find Marge in the kitchen, where she has been slaving all day over dinner. But this will be no ordinary dinner. Tonight, Marge is serving the Queen of Meatloaf, “a gustatory experience altogether unlike ordinary meatloaf.” The Queen of Meatloaf emerges silently from the kitchen in bedazzled, human form. Rex is taken aback. Marge regales him with the Queen’s nutritional and nuptial benefits. They are so overcome by the Queen that they fall asleep at the table. The Queen, in direct address to the camera, explains her irresistible appeal. She begins to multiply, emerging in various other human forms and wreaking havoc on consumer TV sets, before disappearing with a slow buzz and a fading dot of white light on the black screen.

The film was awarded a Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Production grant and was completed in April, 2017. It has screened at over 25 film festivals, won Women's Voices Now! Best Experimental Film and was nominated for the New Filmmakers Los Angeles "Best Of" Awards: Best Comedy Performance (Aya Cash) and Best New Media (Dina Fiasconaro).


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  • Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf - FULL FILM
    12:30m experimental narrative film
  • 1. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 1
    1. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 1
    "Marge", played by Aya Cash
  • 2. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 2
    2. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 2
    Derrick claps the slate
  • 3. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 3
    3. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 3
    "Queen of Meatloaf", played by Jenn Harris
  • 4. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 4
    4. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 4
    "Please, PICK UP THE PHONE!"
  • 5. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 5
    5. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 5
    The Queen will seduce you with her gustatory appeal
  • 6. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 6
    6. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 6
    "Rex", played by Will Rogers
  • 7. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 7
    7. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 7
    Our tiniest Queen
  • 8. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 8
    8. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 8
    More beautiful Queens
  • 9. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 9
    9. Queen of Meatloaf_screenshot 9
    Psychedelic Queen

Moms and Meds: Navigating Pregnancy and Psychiatric Medication

Moms and Meds: Navigating Pregnancy and Psychiatric Medication is a feature-length documentary film that explores the options women face when they want to have children, but take psychotropic medication for mental illness. The film follows multiple women as they attempt to navigate the conflicting attitudes surrounding this issue.


Other interviewees include doctors, advocates and family members who influence, and are affected by, these decisions. The film focuses on the personal stories of the women, and the many facets, both positive and negative, of making such decisions. It addresses the struggle and emotional turmoil, as well as the hope and perseverance of the featured women, and advocates for their ability to make the best individual and personal choices for themselves and their families.

Screenings: Baltimore NOW, UFVA (University Film and Video  Association) Conference, Orange, CA, Hood College Humanities Colloquium Bioethics Panel, “Mental Illness, Power, and the Public Good”, New Day Campaign, Women’s Film Festival, Creative Alliance, Stevenson University, Healthy Babies Baltimore/Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, NAMI Baltimore, Raphael Film Center, Zoetropolis Arthouse, Culture Unplugged Online Film Festival, Overlea ArtsFest (2nd place juried prize for trailer), Indigo Moon Film Festival, Nevada Women’s Film Festival, Maya Angelou International Women’s Health Summit.

Moms and Meds is currently available on Amazon and Kanopy. Connect with the film further on Facebook.

  • Moms and Meds Trailer
    3m trailer for feature documentary, Moms and Meds: Navigating Pregnancy and Psychiatric Medication.

Pucky's Pappagallo

Pucky's Pappagallo is a short documentary/personal essay about my grandmother's hair, and the impact it had on both her and our family.

Screenings:
Baltimore Museum of Art’s “Finding Home” exhibition, Filmidio 2017, Light City 'On Demand' Showcase, Loophole Berlin

  • Pucky's Pappagallo
    Pucky's Pappagallo is a short documentary/personal essay about my grandmother's hair, and the impact it had on both her and our family.

Malocchio

Malocchio is a short experimental film which explores Italian superstitions.

Screenings:
Stevenson University School of Design Gallery’s Superstizione exhibition


  • Malocchio