Month: September 2024

-What and who has inspired you most in your artistic career?

I, Andrea Natale, as a filmmaker draw inspiration from my surroundings, from everyday life. In particular, what interests me most are people, their direct testimonies, the stories of their experiences, especially if they are unusual. I try to show them at their best through new moving images.
This is probably why I feel closer to documentary cinema than fiction.

-Every true artist is also a revolutionary against power. Do you think there is still room today
to express one’s revolution through art?

Yes, I think that art can still be revolutionary today, for example, if even one person who watches a film is impressed by it and is convinced to go deeper into a subject they do not know or a culture different from their own, this is already a small revolution.
Giuseppe Sciarra and I used irony to tell a sensitive topic, going against prejudice and showing naturally that this is already part of our lives. Art remains one of the strongest means to support a revolution, which must be above all cultural, a peaceful revolution, capable of reaching minds giving rise to an increasingly necessary social change.

-We live in a world where, unfortunately, war still exists. Do you think that if there were more dissemination of art through media and social networks, the world would be more peaceful?

The most effective enjoyment should be a collective experience in homes, halls or outdoor spaces, these opportunities for exchange between people could perhaps foster a more peaceful climate. In contrast in social media, where content is enjoyed individually there is much more friction, envy, misunderstanding.
Art could be the right path if the work made maintains its own intellectual honesty by not allowing itself to be corrupted too much by the rules of the market.

-Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a sneak peek?  

After completing the short film “Canovaccio” I have been directing another short film soon to be released, titled “Charm of yesteryear.”
Giuseppe Sciarra, on the other hand, will soon be engaged in an educational and social project to raise awareness of the issue of bullying in schools.

– Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?

I was about 11 years old. Cinema has always attracted me especially when I was able to see the first films on the big screen. I have always been intrigued by the work that could go into a film, the creativity of a mind for a fantastic story and the technic al genius of special effects. That world captivated me, thinking about how the filming could take place or how a director could feel directing the film and receiving awards for a good job done. In the 80s and 90s there were no great technologies yet and fo r this reason

I was intrigued by the ingenuity of creating special effects. I really liked seeing the extra content of a film. Then certainly films like “Bram Stocker’s Dracula” by Francis Ford Coppola, “Titanic” by James Cameron, “The Neverendig Story” by Wolfgang Petersen and many others were the exact moments in which cinema entered me and in which my gender was revealed.

– When did you realize that the story living in your heart had to be turned into a screenplay and then into a film project?

There are many stories in my heart. My mind is a well of ideas and stories. I have no difficulty inventing new stories and often the night brings me ideas. Obviously, like all writers, some stories remain closest to my heart. Everything I write contains a small part of me. There may be emotions experienced, hidden dreams, the desire to get to do something that not everyone believes in, sad or happy moments in life… so many things about me. For this reason, I feel some screenplay projects in a particular way. For example, my latest screenplay “WAVE MAN” despite being a science fiction and extremely futuristic writing with special effects, contains my dream of being able to change the world and the desire to see more values in people’s hearts, but also the desire to leave a mark on this world by doing something useful and great that, in writing, has become the figure of a New Hero and his actions. Then there is my first film project “CYBERNETI GENESIS – THE WAR BETWEEN TWO WORLDS” which became a feature film and was released in theaters in November 2022. A sold -out success that became reality. When I wrote it, my imagination navigated the most hidden places of my self, in intense dark or beautiful emotions, creating fantastic figures and engaging scenes. I wanted to reevaluate locations and areas of Tuscany and create an inclusive film for people and animals within a story that told of something bigger than us that goes beyond the earthly life we live and the ephemeral things that surround us. A large project that involved a cast of over 60 people and professionals. A difficult, tiring undertaking, hindered by COVID -19 and important family bereavements, but I understood that it had to be completed because I felt the support of actors, crews and sponsors who believed in me, I saw their enthusiasm in imagining this film, I saw entire organizations and associations eagerly joining this project and I saw the esteem of people even through the media. Thousands believed in me and I could only give them a beautiful film to watch. This gave me a huge push to continue this work.

– Is there a person you would like to thank for helping you bring your project to life?

There are many people who have supported my projects and to whom I owe thanks. First of all my family and my mother who passed away during the recording of my first film, to whom I dedicated it. Then my partner who has always supported my work. I also than k my faithful collaborators who have followed me for years. My heartfelt thanks go to all of them and many others but, sincerely and without self ishness, I especially thank Anna, my being so different, complex, tenacious, ambitious, dreamy … . Characteristics that make my life difficult but also extremely interesting and intense.

– Do you think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping to turn your dream into a reality?

I think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping me make my career known to the world. I think it is helping to make people talk about me, my scripts and films and I believe it can help to reach new horizons and producers. I am a dreamer and I have big ambitions that require a lot of work but for what I said above, I hope that this Community can help me reach my most ambitious goals: to have my scripts produced by the best international producers. The love I have for cinema knows no limits. The limits are only in our minds.

– Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?

I was lying on a sheep skin rug on the living room floor, watching television. Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Wild strawberries was on. The film made a strong impression on me, and it has accompanied me throughout my whole career as a filmmaker. It describes a journey through time and space, where we get to accompany the elderly professor Isak Borg as he approaches death. Wild Strawberries touches upon the the most important existential questions of life and death. I clearly remember a scene where a young actor Bibi Andersson (Sara) puts a mirror in front the old man as if in a dream. He doesn’t want to look, but she insists and says: ” “Have you looked in the mirror, Isak? You’re an anxious old man who’s soon going to die.” The mirror here is a painful vehicle of self awareness: the glass mercilessly reflects the aspects of the self that the person reflected wishes to ignore.

 The film makes a journey through life where darkness and light are painted in beautiful black and white. Maybe this is why I often make my films in black and white?

– When did you realize that the story living in your heart had to be turned into a screenplay and then into a film project? 

My film project Not without gloves was born out of boredom and isolation during the covid pandemic. My thoughts went back in time to the place I was born. I am like Ingmar Bergman in this respect: it starts with an image in my head. Not without gloves problematizes the romantic approach to nature through distortions, and asks questions about the original place. We get to go into a magical world where I poetically treat the covid pandemic and the changes to the environment of today.

Originally, I am an artist. I started art school early and got my master’s degree at a young age. I was doing paintings but much to the dismay of my teachers I took up photography and film. Still I consider myself a painter, painting my stories and try to push the limits of what film and art can be. When I created Not without gloves I was supposed to have been curating a large exhibition of art from the 90’s, but because of covid the exhibition had to be moved forward to a later time, and I got time to experiment with a project of my own, poetically framing the pandemic. I don’t work with a script in the traditional sense but rather make my way forward through experimenting with pictures and sounds. Eventually a script emerges and I know exactly what I want to express. I paint the story rather than tell it in a traditional, linear fashion.

– Is there a person you would like to thank for helping you bring your project to life?

For many years I have worked with the philosopher, art critic and musician Conny C-A Malmqvist. He makes new compositions for me that I can use however I want to. I am very greatful for this cooperation and it is very artistically advantageous to me that I am able to decide on my own how the story gets to evolve in a visual and aural respect, since I do all the editing myself. I put down a lot of effort and energy into the process of editing the film. It is a central part of my artistry. I love everything about the process of film making, from meeting the actors, who often influence the films, to the shooting and finally, my big passion, cutting and honing the final shape and form of the film. I work with film in many different ways, as sculptural works or part of the public space, or more traditionally. There are no limits.

– Do you think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping to turn your dream into a reality?

Yes, definitely. Through the collaboration my film has gained a completely different impact internationally, which I am very happy and grateful for. I have met several like-minded film makers that I can discuss life, art, poetry, literature and film history with through Wild Filmmaker Community. These topics are very close to my heart. As a film maker and artist I want to erase the boundaries between different art forms and genres. Maybe we can only do that together.

Blind Truth

BEST THRILLER SCRIPT & BEST AMERICAN DIRECTOR

The Vieil

BEST ORIGINAL SUPER SHORT FILM

Flint&Ema

BEST INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION PROJECT

Omnipotent Resolution

BEST DANCE FILM, BEST SONG & BEST INTERNATIONAL SINGER

Artists & Aliens

BEST SOUNDTRACK

Baby in the Basement

BEST INDIE NARRATIVE SHORT

Roses are Blind

BEST THRILLER & BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR

The Sea of Hope

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Appointment With The Plague Doctor, Lester Haywood

BEST INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM

Arménia(s), Time for Artists

BEST INDIE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE & BEST DIRECTOR (Category: Documentary)

The Dead Ringer

BEST INTERNATIONAL ORIGINAL SCREENWRITER

What a Match

BEST ORIGINAL ANIMATED SHORT FILM

But I Want to Leave the Party

BEST ACTRESS, BEST ORIGINAL NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT

Two Stoners

BEST DIRECTOR (Category: Super Short Film)

Atlas of Uncertainty

BEST EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT & BEST SOUND DESIGN

The Geranium Deaths

BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT

Albuquerque Mosaic

BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Brothers of Babylon

BEST FEATURE SCRIPT OF THE YEAR

Precious the Baby Dragon

BEST ORIGINAL INDIE WRITER

The Horror Filmmaker’s Handbook Creating Terrifying Cinema

BEST ORIGINAL BOOK OF THE YEAR

Soul

BEST INDIE DIRECTOR & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA

Halloween (Rabbit Well Episode 6)

BEST INDIE ANIMATED PROJECT & BEST ORIGINAL COMEDY

In a Whole New Way

BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM

Thankful

BEST INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITER

Lacrime di Vento

BEST EUROPEAN FILMMAKER

Sinestesìa

BEST INDIE MUSIC VIDEO & BEST ORIGINAL SONG

A Pilgrimage Into Tibet

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT DOCUMENTARY & HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY

Spike Game

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Lost Village

BEST ARTHOUSE PROJECT & BEST INDIE CINEMATOGRAPHER

The Stones of Rome

BEST ACTOR & BEST INSPIRATIONAL DIRECTOR

The Pathos of Hamlet

BEST EXPERIMENTAL NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST INDIE FILMMAKER

2020: life and death of a virus

BEST EUROPEAN ARTHOUSE SHORT FILM

From Afar

BEST ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT

Bat Sheva (The Daughter of 7even)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA

Routine

BEST ARTHOUSE NARRATIVE SHORT, BEST PRODUCER & BEST FILMMAKER

The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands

BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR & BEST EDITING

The Great Animal Escape

BEST INDIE BOOK & BEST WRITER

Remnant

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE, BEST CAST & BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR

Dragul and Forbes

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE SCRIPT

THE BLANKET -Die schwarze Decke

BEST INTERNATIONAL SUPER SHORT FILM & BEST ARTHOUSE EUROPEAN FILMMAKER

Monument to Love

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE & BEST INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER

Luzinete

BEST SCREENWRITER, BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIE SHORT FILM & BEST FILMMAKER

 Bagel Dog

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT SCRIPT & BEST AMERICAN WRITER

Dojo

BEST ORIGINAL ACTION MOVIE, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST EDINTING & BEST THRILLER SCIPT

Not Without Gloves

BEST ORIGINAL EUROPEAN SHORT FILM & BEST EXPERIMENTAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

Pirandello’s Wife

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE SCRIPT

Alta California

BEST ORIGINAL IDEA & BEST INDIE SCREENWRITER

Ye Ole Glorya

BEST ARTHOUSE COMEDY

Big Momma Earth

BEST DIRECTOR & BEST SCREENPLAY (Category: Comedy)

The Addends

BEST EUROPEAN SCRIPT

BLIND FAITH: Moments of Missed Understanding

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Walking In Memphis

BEST TELEVISION SCRIPT

The Priory of Sion

BEST WRITER & BEST ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT

L’Amour est temps de reflets

BEST POETRY SHORT FILM

Eye of the Storm

BEST AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY & BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR

Greta Gar Bitch

BEST ARTHOUSE BOOK

I Waited for You

BEST INSPIRATIONAL FILM

Change The World

BEST ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY & BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKER

Roses are Blind

BEST INTERNATIONAL THRILLER & BEST INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR

Drag Queens Of Emeralis

BEST COMEDY SCRIPT

Déjà Vu On The Ledge

BEST EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Out of State-A Gothic Romance

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE, BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIE FILM, BEST CAST & BEST AMERICAN DIRECTOR

4 Estações

BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENWRITER & BEST EUROPEAN PRODUCER

Blood Run

BEST CASTING DIRECTOR

In a Whole New Way

BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY SHORT & BEST ARHOUSE EDITING

Not Without Gloves

BEST POETRY FILM & BEST EXPERIMENTAL DIRECTOR

Eye of the Storm

BEST PROJECT based on a True Story & BEST PRODUCER (Category: Documentary)

The ADDENDS – Numeri Ardenti

BEST EUROPEAN INDIE PRODUCER

Emergency Musical Response: Part 1 – Journey to Netherworld

BEST INDIE NARRATIVE SHORT, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY SHORT & BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER

Alta California

BEST INTERNATIONAL WRITER

Borderline Justice

BEST FEATURE SCRIPT

Corelli – Trio Sonata, op.3 no.5 (v. 2)

BEST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL FILM

Wild Music

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC VIDEO

A Reflection of Life

BEST INDIE DOCUMENTARY

Brothers of Babylon

BEST AMERICAN WRITER

The Blanket

BEST ANIMATION & BEST ARTHOUSE FILMMAKER

Omnipotent Resolution

BEST INSPIRATIONAL SHORT FILM, BEST DANCE SHORT FILM, BEST SOUNDTRACK & BEST FILMMAKER (Category: Music Video)

Monument to Love

BEST PRODUCTION COMPANY, BEST EDITING & BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Luzinete

BEST INDIE DIRECTOR & BEST MAKE-UP ARTIST

The Lost Village

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKER & BEST PRODUCER

A Love Like This

BEST INTERNATIONAL SONG & BEST ARTHOUSE SINGER

Soul

BEST INDIE ARTHOUSE DIRECTOR & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA

Halloween (Rabbit Well Episode 6)

BEST ANIMATED PROJECT & BEST ORIGINAL COMEDY SHORT

Malibu Sunset

BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT

The Stones of Rome

BEST ACTOR & BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR

The Pathos of Hamlet

BEST EXPERIMENTAL NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST AMERICAN INDIE FILMMAKER

Anything You Lose

BEST ARTHOUSE DIRECTOR & BEST ORIGINAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

But I Want to Leave the Party

BEST ACTRESS, BEST ORIGINAL NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT

The Dead Ringer

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENWRITER & BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT

Routine

BEST AMERICAN NARRATIVE SHORT, BEST PRODUCER & BEST FILMMAKER

The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands

BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR & BEST EDITING

Bat Sheva (The Daughter of 7even)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Lacrime di Vento

BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM & BEST EUROPEAN INDIE DIRECTOR

Wave Man

BEST EUROPEAN SCREENPLAY

– Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?

I did not fall in love with cinema. As a person with a visual anomaly (I see two dimensional images), I had difficulties watching movies as a young child. The experience was overwhelming visually. Also the viewing conditions of movies where I grew up were always difficult. In the gym of the school, Tarzan films were shown with Hebrew subtitles handwritten on a stripe on the side of the screen. A small sports hall over overcrowded with hundreds of sweaty children. The movies in the theaters were for adults. But I remember some films like Bambi, the red balloon, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and the Russian classic the stone which I remember struggling to watch all the way with my troubled vision. So Films were a mixed experience. Intense, demanding cognitively and entertaining. 

As a teenager I was always drawn to comedy and humor. I was close to my father with whom we used to joke and make up jokes and think of visual short funny stories.  After studying a year of History and a year of social studies I decided that what I wanted was to learn how to make films and I wanted to learn “hands on”. I got a job as an assistant in a biblical film and for 5 years I worked in different departments on the set of 25 feature films and many documentaries and other film shoots. I also went to the university for a couple of years until I felt I needed to move on and do films rather than study film. 

And since 1980 I have been making independent films, self funded, low and no-budget films. First I was concentrated on comedy, but when my father passed away I realized I do not care to make other people laugh anymore and I concentrated in teaching myself to do documentary films and  I also have developed methodologies for Applied Educational Media which is using educational media in non traditional viewing environments and spaces, like individualizing the visitor’s experience in the museum space.   

Part of the methodologies involve learning to be a non intrusive observer, to become a “fly on the wall” able to observe and film events without influencing them. Other approaches were developed as an interviewer – to empower storytelling of interviewees – to be the best possible audience so they can be the best storytellers they can. Refining a minimalist approaches to dealing with visual history and historical films where the personal and the global are interwoven. 

All these are part of the process of growing up and understanding what to do how to be purist and how to be ethical and how to do so that whatever I do is done to serve the content and no choices are random, but are part of a very long and exhausting critical process.

– When did you realize that the story living in your heart had to be turned into a screenplay and then into a film project?

My community’s unique history and also the inspiring survival story during WWII has captured my interest. I have done 3 films about the subject, wrote a book, organized a conference and am working on 2 exhibitions. I do not write scripts for my documentary films. I work with what I collect, what I researched and what I documented and interviewed. It’s a long process of weaving testimonies, archival footage, home videos or private photos, documents and other visual objects into a sequence of events that reconstruct a certain time. 

– Is there a person you would like to thank for helping you bring your project to life?

My parents were supportive, inspiring and very creative. They were role models and they brought the unique story to my attention and helped me with my first steps of my career. 

– Do you think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping to turn your dream into a reality?

I believe the Wild filmmaker Community has a promising role in bringing independent filmmakers and their audiences in contact. It is also important for filmmakers to be able to distribute their work and get revenue that will help and encourage more independent work. As a person who has done self funded independent films for over 40 years – I hope to share some of my experiences and advice to encourage young filmmakers to go the way they choose and overcome all the hurdles along the way. 

-What and who has inspired you the most in your artistic career?

For sure my mum! She has always boosted me with confidence and cheered me on, embracing any form I needed to express myself.

It’s such a gift to be brought up by a mum who pushes you to be an individualist. We are all different. Why try to be like everyone else, why be a sheep as my mum says.

Find you and shine!

-Every true artist is also a revolutionary against power. Do you think there is still room today

to express one’s revolution through art?

Art has always been political. Theatre started out like that. Also when you watch movies you can  kind of predict what will happen.

Yes, there is still room as art changes all the time with our time, and then of course there is art that is still as actual today as it was before like Norwegian famous author Henrik Ibsen. My movie ELLIDA is based upon his play The Lady From The Sea. He was a feminist in the 19th century.

-We live in a world where, unfortunately, war still exists.

Do you believe that if there were more dissemination of art through the media and social networks, the world would be a more peaceful place?

I believe art helps. I myself raise awareness through my art. If it’s music, theatre, shows , movies, art, poetry, books. Through my songs like INTIMACY which was the anthem of International Women’s Day UN in the UK , WE CAN’T GO BACK a duo with my daughter Benedicta Syran about the abortion law . Through my play BREAKING THE SILENCE spotlighting all the different issues women still have to deal with today, and of course my movie ELLIDA where she goes through natal depression and losing a child. Many of us are not aware or haven’t even thought about different issues, so yes for sure when one learns through art , when art light a torch and we see the truth, it is for sure the most powerful way to learn and hopefully react.

It brings me back to NYC where I performed my play “Breaking The Silence” at the United Nations.People came up to me afterwards saying how crucial it was, as now they felt passionate again to make those changes and work even harder. Also with my movie ” Ellida”, many women have contacted me afterwards and told me how it affected them and their lives. If you can reach people through art you have given them a gift! I believe without art we are all dead. We need “real” art. Yes fluff of reality shows and light no brainer movies is relaxing and fun to watch but the richness in depth and raising awareness is for sure on another level so yes please to ART!

-Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a sneak peek?

Yes,  I’m working on quite a few projects. They are all very exciting and challenging.

Every project feels like a baby you get so attached so when the time comes to share it with the world it feels extremely vulnerable. I remember first time I had to perform my self written songs in front of an audience of 4 to 6 thousand people it felt like I threw myself off a cliff naked.

With “Ellida” the most nerve wrecking situation was the first screening at the Chinese Theatre in LA, I felt sick.

-What and who has inspired you the most in your artistic career?

Maya Angelou

-Every true artist is also a revolutionary against power. Do you think there is still room today to express one’s revolution through art?

Absolutely! Films that drive social change, like *Schindler’s List*, inspire us to avoid repeating past mistakes and increase our awareness. Similarly, *Blood Diamond* has highlighted the issue of trafficking in diamond mines, raising significant awareness and caution around the purchase of conflict diamonds.

-We live in a world where, unfortunately, war still exists. Do you believe that if there were more dissemination of art through the media and social networks, the world would be a more peaceful place?

I believe in the power of affirmative action through film. When stories are told well, they inspire us to think creatively, uncover corruption, and realize that political conflicts don’t define us.
Films can empower us to stand up and say “No” to war, fostering inspiration and action toward positive change.

-Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a sneak peek? 

I’m currently working on two new projects that address pressing global issues. The first, titled *IAMILLEGAL*, explores the complex realities of immigration. It follows four individuals entering
the US—two legally and two illegally—with two of them harboring criminal intentions. The challenge for viewers is to identify which two are involved in criminal activities. This film aims to highlight that our borders and immigration issues are far more nuanced than political rhetoric often suggests. Having been trafficked myself, I met many victims who struggled to access resources due to a lack of education and services, and I hope this film will drive positive change.
My second project is a poignant love story about my son’s father, who passed away. His unwavering love and patience helped me reclaim my humanity after trafficking and inspired me to become the woman I am today. This film will honor his legacy and the profound impact he had on my life.

-Who is Jacopo Marchini?

I’m a Director and Cinematographer based in Rome and my projects mainly range from music videos to films and TV series. I think that my attitude and passion for both directing and cinematography allowed me to earn some credits with top quality artists and with the largest record labels such as Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music. In 2019 I’ve been accepted as an Associate Member by the prestigious Italian Association of Cinematographer (AIC) and i’m is still part of it. In 2021, with the experience accumulated in the audiovisual industry, I founded a production company, “Movi Production SRL” which obtained considerable feedback in the film market by producing a short film, already in the first year of life, selected for the Oscar Qualifying. And then in 2023 I shoot my first feature film, a production halfway between Cinecittà and New York where I had the immense honor of lighting Mariel Hamingway (Oscar winner with Woody Allen’s Manhattan) and Christopher Coppola. And yet I feel like my journey has yet to truly begin.

-What inspired you to become a Cinematographer?

I grew up in a family of photographers and had my first “photoshoot” at the age of 16 during a high school trip. From there I never stopped to explore the world of photography. I’ve been really lucky because I met people who believed in me right away and this gave me the opportunity to take some portraits of celebrities like Donald Sutherland, Penelepe Cruz, Javier Bardem, Matt Damon, George Clooney and others. However, something wasn’t enough for me and I felt the need to explore even more deeply so I approached Cinematography and Direction. And I still feel like my journey has just begun.

-Do you think the cinema can bring a change in the society?

Cinema, like music and more generally art, do not have a specific utility like that which a doctor or an engineer might have but they have the power to raise awareness and excite like nothing else in the world. The further I get in my career, the more my studies look to the past of the greats. I go further and further back and discover more and more wonderful things making myself and my works better day by day. Society needs great art more than ever because we are simply getting lost under the infinite mass of false information and weak interests that are characterizing recent years. So yes! We need great cinema that moves us and teaches us healthy values. We need it now.

-What would you change in the world?

There are many things I would change in the world but I think one wins above all. And it is the need that we should find, especially the new generations, to surround themselves with beauty. And I don’t mean the beautiful woman because tastes are subjective. I mean music made by musicians who have studied, I mean watching films by directors who have something important to say and have studied night and day to be able to say it, I mean the beauty of turning off the phone at the table, the beauty of sharing photos without waiting for number of likes, they took away our concerts without our phones and we now go to the concert just to record it, not to live it. These times have taken away our priorities and replaced them with surrogates of what they tell us we should like. We urgently need to get back in touch with ourselves. I would change this.

-Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?

Unfortunately I don’t have good prospects for our industry. I think we will get to a point where it will collapse and finally start from scratch. But in Italy everything is more difficult, fortunately there is still a lot of quality international cinema. For posterity the arduous sentence.

-Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?

Like many, I was taken to see Disney’s “Bambi” at an early age. Here was a wonder that transported me to another world, another way of seeing. Then, every Saturday morning, I’d go along to Saturday morning
“pictures” in my hometown, Cardiff, Wales. The reality of the world outside disappeared for a few hours.
In my teenage years, I attended evening movie shows at the universities. Here I witnessed some of the older, often silent, masterpieces. I have used some of those images—the “dead” woman opening her eyes in the coffin—in my own work.
By now I was adding to my enjoyment of the movies, observations about the format of movies (flashbacks, voiceovers, etc.) and noting the differing structures and possibilities between them and stage plays. And so many memorable moments, flashes of genius in the movies. The famous Italian director trying to discover his creativity while an unspeaking motor cyclist ripped through the town preventing characters’ serious philosophical discussions! The huge starship coming over the top of
the movie house. And on and on.

-When did you realize that the story living in your heart had to be turned into a screenplay and then into a film project?

In my academic capacity I taught the works of the great dramatists, so characters, situations, contrasts, intrusions, etc. were part of my teaching. Writing my own plays and screenplays came a little later for me. My background was, by and large, academic. But I didn’t want to add to the piles of academic papers. I was interested in transforming the challenges, physical and psychological, I faced into a “living” form. A racial murder in MY TOWN (the title of the play and screenplay) was deeply troubling to me.
My central character, a newspaper reporter, can answer the who, what and where, but what about the “Why”? And the questioning continued. Why did my American history class (I was a 20-something immigrant), not talk about women, blacks, native Americans? Was the “Mission Era” of California, dominated by the figure of Padre Serra, exact or romanticized? My filmscript, ALTA CALIFORNIA, let me
explore that era through the eyes of a half-breed ripped from his family and now confronted by European soldiers and padres. And then there was Antonietta Portulano, PIRANDELLO’S WIFE, who was suddenly deposited (I can think of no better word!) in an asylum for the last 40 years of her life.
Why? What about her lived-life experience? And on it went—and still goes. Why, why, why? Not just skimming the surface, the accepted, but foraging deep into the live-life experiences of myself and my characters. It wasn’t simply the telling of a story. Writing movie scripts allowed me to revert back and forth through time periods as I tried to piece the modicums together to constitute, hopefully, a whole. Maybe an answer.

-Is there a person you would like to thank for helping you bring your project to life?

Critiques have varied over the years from amateurish and unseeing, to unsophisticated, to uncritical, to valuable. I really thank Wild Filmmaker for opening a world of possibilities for me to share all of my questionings, all of my potential answerings.

-Do you think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping to turn your dream into a reality?

Wild Filmmaker has been invaluable for me. Here, my script is being judged by intelligent, industry professionals. I feel that Wild Filmmaker’s readers understand my philosophical meanderings as I attempt to understand this thing called living. Wild Filmmaker’s readers appreciate how I attempt to transport these thoughts into filmscripts. And, finally, I feel that here is a viable vehicle through which agents, directors and producers will become aware of my work and, hopefully, consider transporting it to the
“big screen.”