In Dovecote, an atmospheric short drama from Italian director and co-writer Marco Perego, the camera focuses on society’s often unseen citizens: the women locked up in a seaside prison in Venice. Dovecote made its debut at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and was filmed in the Giudecca women’s working prison on an island in the Venetian lagoon. The film centers on a woman (Zoë Saldaña) in her final moments before she is released. The film was also exhibited at the 60th Venice Biennale as part of the Vatican Pavilion.

Perego speaks to Deadline about the inspiration behind the short film, what it was like filming in the women's prison and how he hopes to make audiences think about the price of freedom.

DEADLINE: What inspired you to make this short film? Did you start with the idea of what the short film would be about, or did the title come to you first?

MARCO PEREGO: No, I was selected this year to be part of the Venice Biennale. That's where each country selects one or more artists to represent. Zoë and I were representing. They asked us, "Do you want to be part of this?" And I agreed. So I went to Venice and I discovered this prison, the Giudecca Women's Prison, and there are 81 women in the prison. I met all the prisoners and talked to them. It was a really beautiful process. I came home and Alex [Dinelaris Jr., co-writer] and I were in New York and we were trying to figure out how to approach this story. We thought about two questions that we would ask the women. First, we found out that all these women were sharing a room, like 10 women in one room. And when you walk through the prison, you feel the rumors [of the outside world accusing them of being in prison]. 99% of the women in that prison were abused by men. But that a lot of women in that prison like that, it was almost a dovecote, and Venice is full of doves and things like that. So, that's where the title comes from.