In these years, WILD FILMMAKER has become a large International Community of Artists, but every story has an origin, which is the equivalent of the first note a composer writes on a musical score. The first note from which the journey of WILD FILMMAKER began was written in Manhattan, when I participated in the screening of my film ‘Sweet Democracy’ with Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo. The screening took place at New York University; I was a young independent filmmaker. I never imagined that just a few days after that screening, I would meet the great Oscar-winning director James Ivory.
James Ivory for me was the beginning of the American dream! I’ve shared this brief story because today I have the honor of interviewing Stephen Soucy, who directed an excellent documentary ‘Merchant Ivory,’ dedicated to the extraordinary collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director and screenwriter James Ivory
-Who is Stephen Soucy?
Stephen Soucy is a filmmaker and theater producer from upstate New York, based in California. He has his masters degree in screenwriting from the University of Southern California and started making films in 2011. MERCHANT IVORY (2024) is his first feature documentary film.
-)How did your amazing documentary “Merchant Ivory” come about?
My Merchant Ivory journey started when I met James Ivory through a mutual friend, the writer, Peter Cameron. I told Jim I wanted to make a short documentary film, RICH ATMOSPHERE: THE MUSIC IN MERCHANT IVORY FILMS to highlight the vast contribution of composer Richard Robbins to the Merchant Ivory catalog and experience. Jim provided the narration for that film, which became a 5-min short animated film, which you can see here. When I’d completed the short, Jim absolutely fell in love with it. I pitched my making the feature documentary film, MERCHANT IVORY, and he agreed to support the endeavor, and became my executive producer on the film. Once the the film was finished, I was able to sell it to Cohen Media Group and we played at 40 film festivals starting with DOC NYC and Palm Springs International Film Festival.
-James Ivory, Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala revolutionized independent cinema. Do you think it would be possible to create a masterpiece like “A Room with a View” in the contemporary film industry?
Yes! A ROOM WITH A VIEW was an independent production made on a very small budget. The source material was a strong match for film and the casting was extraordinary. This could absolutely be made in today’s environment, but I would think it would have to originate as an independent production and be sold to a distributor after completion. Hard to say if a company like NETFLIX or a SONY Pictures Classics would want to make this kind of film today.
-A few years ago, I told James Ivory that I had been at a high school in Manhattan for a Q&A dedicated to the history of cinema, and I discovered that none of the students there knew who Orson Welles was. Those kids had never heard of “Citizen Kane.” James Ivory told me he was aware of this lack of attention to cinema history and was very concerned about it. Do you think the film industry today is doing enough to educate young people about the history of cinema?
I think young people seek out film and educate themselves, and find ways to make films that express their views and what they want to communicate to audiences. I think film programs in colleges and universities do a good job, but the general population doesn’t get that content. Students of film seek it out and create their own art.
-Can cinema still deeply reflect the world, like Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” or is it impossible with streaming platforms now dominating?
Cinema can still deeply reflect the world. Just look at all the films at film festivals across the globe and all the content being created, a lot of which, unfortunately, does not get distribution. Film is a passion for many artists. I think we’re in good shape, content-wise, not so much on the business side of things, and making a living as filmmakers. That’s more the issue. I have a friend in LA who said the other day that only 1% of the film industry gets to make their projects. So much has to happen independently now; believing in your project and raising your own capital, finding distribution later, etc.). As someone says in my doc, Ismail Merchant was the first of the purely independent producers. There’s a lot to be inspired by, the way he worked and the incredible body of work Merchant Ivory created. As you learn from my film, Merchant Ivory made 1-2 films a year in the 1990’s and early-2000’s. That’s unbelievably impressive. They made 43 feature films from the early 1960’s, from THE HOUSEHOLDER through to THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION (2009).
-There are few filmmakers today, both in Europe and the United States, who choose to self-finance their films. To me, they are heroes and the only ones who can truly call themselves “Independent.” What is your definition of independent cinema?
Independent cinema is when a filmmaker and a producer or producing team make a film with no traditional assistance. All aspects of the prodcution, including raising the capital to make the film, bringing the film to market, etc. is handled by the team that had the vision and drive to make the film project a reality.
-What project are you currently working on?
An update of A ROOM WITH A VIEW. I’m also working to secure the rights to do a feature adatation of the novel, GRIEF, by Andrew Holleran. On the theater side, I’m co-lead producer of ROMY AND MICHELE THE MUSICAL, which we hope to open Off-Broadway in 2025 at New World Stages.
It felt like a spring day in Rome, even though it was a Saturday morning in February. It was 2015, and that day I made one of my life’s dreams come true. At dawn, I received a phone call from the co-producer of my debut Narrative Feature, Donald K. Ranvaud. He simply said, ‘Hey. Today’s the day!’ and I understood. Donald had promised me that one day he would introduce me to the director of The Last Emperor (9 Academy Awards), the artist who, together with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, had created the masterpiece The Conformist, the Italian director who had managed to make a film with Marlon Brando. I was a young guy who thought, dreamed, and lived exclusively for Cinema, and that morning I found myself talking for hours with Bernardo Bertolucci. Pure happiness. Today, I am thrilled to present to the WILD FILMMAKER community an interview with Valentina Ricciardelli, President of the Foundation dedicated to the great Bernardo Bertolucci.
-)Who is Valentina Ricciardelli?
Who am I? At the moment, I am answering you as the President of the Bernardo Bertolucci Foundation. I am Bernardo’s cousin. My grandmother Ninina Giovanardi was the sister of Ninetta Giovanardi, mother of Bernardo and Giuseppe.
–)When did the idea of creating a Foundation dedicated to Bernardo Bertolucci come about?
The Bernardo Bertolucci Foundation was founded by Clare Peploe, director, screenwriter, and Bernardo’s wife for 40 years. Clare began thinking about a foundation dedicated to him right after BB’s death. Then, unfortunately, she became ill, passed away very quickly, and left me the task of creating it.
-)What are the goals of the Bernardo Bertolucci Foundation?
The purpose of the FBB is to make Bertolucci’s work known to everyone, but especially to new generations, through exhibitions, publications, films, and also to physically preserve his works through conservation restorations. In Parma, we will also open a Bertolucci Museum, which will house the archives of the three Bertoluccis: in addition to Bernardo’s, there will also be the archives of Attilio, BB’s father and a great poet of the 20th century, and those of Giuseppe, BB’s younger brother, also a director and screenwriter.
-)Do you think the global film industry is doing enough today to protect the cultural heritage left to us by Bernardo Bertolucci and which artists and institutions support the Bernardo Bertolucci Foundation?
Bernardo left a significant mark on the history of cinema and is remembered and cited by important contemporary directors, one of whom is Luca Guadagnino, who is currently making a documentary about him in collaboration with the FBB. Guadagnino takes up the mantle of international auteur cinema, both cultured and at the same time popular. BB’s work is protected by many institutions, such as the Cineteca di Bologna, which is digitizing his archive and is part of the scientific committee of the FBB.
There are also other institutions like the Municipality of Parma, which has welcomed the FBB in the filmmaker’s hometown, providing a beautiful temporary headquarters and supporting us in all our activities, as well as the Emilia-Romagna Region. BB’s Parma roots and those of his family are essential for remembering and understanding why it all started in Parma, where BB breathed in and absorbed that unique blend of sophisticated bourgeois culture and agrarian culture tied to the land.
The FBB also has a scientific committee composed of friends and great professionals like Jeremy Thomas, the enlightened producer who, starting with The Last Emperor, stood by Bernardo and remained by his side until the end; Marco Tullio Giordana, Pietro Scalia, and Luca Guadagnino, as I mentioned before.
Also, Valeria Golino, an actress and director who knew Bernardo well and spent time with him, is helping the Foundation a great deal. Likewise, Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, and Vittorio Storaro, with whom Bernardo created unforgettable and fundamental films, along with many others.
-)A memory of Bernardo that you’d like to share with us.
A special memory is linked to a breakfast together at his house in London, on Lansdowne Road, where I had gone as a guest for an English course. He told me that the most important thing in life was not to be afraid, to push beyond the imposed limits, to look at reality from different points of view, and not to take anything for granted. It struck me because I was very young, I think about sixteen, and for the first time, someone spoke to me so naturally about such difficult topics, at 8 in the morning, eating delicious buttered toast. Then there are a thousand other memories, but that philosophical and affectionate tête-à-tête went straight to my heart. And it’s still there.
-)How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?
Cinema in 100 years? I don’t know. Artificial intelligence will change everything. Or maybe not? There will surely be more female directors, more camera operators, more screenwriters, etc. Perhaps, finally, we won’t need to make gender distinctions anymore, since we are all a bit men and a bit women, as BB used to say. And let’s hope that in 100 years, cinema and art in general will free themselves from political correctness, the grave of creativity.
I have been training with journalism since I was 18 years old. Then my love for cinema made me realize that I didn’t just want to tell the story, but to try to do it. To create, through research and study, my own look. Always with the same curiosity that I had since childhood: the investigation of reality, verism, the condition of the human being.
-What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
When I was eight years old, when my friends were watching cartoons, swapping pokemon, or watching the first disney TV series, I would watch A Clockwork Orange and be fascinated. That uncanny fascination that makes you realize that what you’re seeing is not just a great show, but something you want to be a part of your life. That you want to become your own life. Maybe at that moment I realized that I wanted to tell stories, in its many forms.
-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?
I think so, we see it a lot especially in the genre of Italian comedies produced in the last ten years. I don’t always think it’s a negative thing, rather it’s negative the production mechanism by which now already upstream, in the pre-development stage, you have to impose limits on yourself. That damage the quality. This, as a viewer, is something I notice less in America. It then depends, of course, on the genre. It’s a very complex issue –What would you change in the world? Everything, or maybe nothing. It is too difficult a question, and like all difficult questions the answers are likely to be trivial or unsatisfactory. I think first and foremost I would change how the younger generation grows up alongside social and how social is damaging the mental health of those under 40.
-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?
Today more than ever I would like to converse with Lynch. To even have the privilege of being able to ask him a question. I would probably ask him if it was true what he said when he talked about his way of making films. That his language he didn’t study it too much first, he dreamed about it, and then he tried to put it out there. And so I would ask him, if simply through intuition, vocation, it would be possible to be as brilliant as he was.
-Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?
In my opinion, in the next ten years there will be a big jump back (thankfully) to the past. I see that many young producers like me are realizing that making films means having a need, a necessity. And that this requires integrity and sacrifice. So in principle I am hopeful. And then I believe that new technology, even with artificial intelligence, will be able to do us a lot of good, beyond what some conservatives believe.
I’m an Italian filmmaker with a passion for blending reality and fiction. My work often explores personal and collective histories, using humor and drama to dissect human contradictions. I was born in Italy, shaped by France, and my films navigate the tensions between intimacy and society, identity and performance.
-) How did the documentary GEN_ come to life?
GEN_ wasn’t initially my idea. I was invited into this world by Donatella Della Ratta, the co-author of the film and a professor of anthropology and media studies at John Cabot University in Rome. She was working on a book about the social history and political economy of hormones in in vitro fertilisation and gender assignment treatment. During her research, her gynecologist suggested she meet Dr. Bini in Milan, and she asked me to come along, knowing my interest in these themes. She had a hunch there might be a film in it. I brought my camera, as I often do in the early stages of a project, both for character studies and financing applications. But from that very first morning with Dr. Bini and his patients, it was clear, the film was already there, unfolding in front of us.
-) What would you change about the world?
I’d change the way we relate to care both how we give it and how we receive it. We live in a world that values individual success over collective well-being, and I think that’s a mistake. Whether it’s healthcare, relationships, or storytelling, I believe in the power of care as something that should be central, not secondary. If we restructured society around care instead of competition, we’d all be better off.
-) How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?
I imagine a cinema that has completely freed itself from traditional formats, where storytelling is more immersive and interactive, but without losing its emotional core. Maybe films will be experiences something you step into rather than just watch. But I hope that, despite all the technological advancements, we’ll still crave stories that move us, challenge us, and make us see the world differently. The tools will change, but the need for cinema as a shared human ritual will remain.
Hopefully, it won’t just be an algorithm predicting what we want to see before we even know it. I’d like to believe that, despite AI, VR, and whatever else comes next, people will still gather in a dark room, together, to be surprised. And maybe, finally, we’ll get rid of bad remakes.
-) If you could speak to a great director from the past whom you admire, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?
If I could have a conversation with a director from the past, I’d sit down with Billy Wilder. His ability to balance humor and cynicism, elegance and brutality, still amazes me. He had this razor-sharp wit, but underneath it, there was always a deep sense of human fragility. I’d ask him how he managed to walk that fine line, how he knew when to push the comedy and when to let the drama breathe. And I’d love to know what he thinks about today’s cinema: would he still believe in storytelling the way he did, or would he be disillusioned by the industry’s obsession with formulas? Most of all, I’d want to hear him talk not just about film, but about people, because he understood them better than most directors ever have.
-) WILD FILMMAKER is the leading platform in the world for the dissemination of Indie cinema. What does “being an Indie director” mean to you?
Being an indie director means embracing freedom, but also navigating constraints with creativity. It’s about making films because you have something urgent to say, not because the industry is asking for it. It means working with limited resources but infinite ideas, finding beauty in imperfection, and turning obstacles into narrative strengths. For me, it’s also about intimacy, being close to my subjects, whether real or fictional, and crafting stories that might not fit into conventional boxes. Independence isn’t just about financing; it’s about perspective, about resisting trends and trusting your own way of seeing the world.
I am very happy to announce to the WILD FILMMAKER Community that soon, along with the Fellinian singer Roberta Giallo, I will be a guest of Red Ronnie on his show dedicated to Art without censorship.
I will talk about independent cinema and the artists who invest their own resources because they believe in the value of poetry!
We are the creators of a journey toward the stars!
Throughout his career, Red Ronnie has interviewed the Mavericks who changed the world.
Not only the artists we mentioned in the title, but also the pilot Ayrton Senna,
the American painter William Congdon, his works have been exhibited in the most prestigious contemporary art museums in the world, including the MoMA in New York.
Additionally, Red Ronnie has also interviewed Fidel Castro, who may be detested or admired, but without a doubt, he was a key figure of the last century, rarely granting interviews. In cinema, this feat was only achieved by the unconventional director and Academy Award Winner Oliver Stone.
Following are some images that testify to Red Ronnie’s extraordinary journey:
With drummer Mitch Mitchell and the iconic white Fender guitar that Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock, which we can see in the 1969 documentary of the same name, to which a young independent filmmaker named Martin Scorsese contributed.
BEST ARTHOUSE WRITER 2025 & BEST BIOGRAPHICAL SCREENPLAY
Eye of the Storm
BEST INTERNATIONAL ACTOR (Academy Award Winner Robin Williams – Lifetime Achievement Award) & BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Asherah’s Colors
BEST ARTHOUSE NARRATIVE SHORT, BEST FILMMAKER 2025, BEST PRODUCTION COMPANY, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY & BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT (Category: International Narrative Short)
The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands
BEST AMERICAN NARRATIVE SHORT 2025, BEST INTERNATIONAL SCREENPLAY SHORT, BEST EDITING & BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER
Routine
BEST FILMMAKER, BEST INDIE CASTING DIRECTOR, BEST INTERNATIONAL SET & BEST ORIGINAL ARTHOUSE SHORT FILM
The Call Center
BEST INTERNATIONAL PILOT/TV SCRIPT
Shattered Rainbows
BEST AMERICAN ORGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT
Taking Your Crack at Filmmaking
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
NeverWere: a Lycan Love Story
BEST INDIE FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST ORIGINAL SCRIPT
Am I a painter?/Czy jestem malarzem?
BEST ARTHOUSE DIRECTOR, BEST ORIGINAL PRODUCER & BEST INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED SHORT FILM 2025
Canta la gioia
BEST SONG WRITER, BEST INTERNATIONAL SINGER, BEST SPIRITUAL SONG & BEST EUROPEAN MUSIC VIDEO
Brothers of Babylon
BEST AMERICAN WRITER OF THE YEAR
The Sicilians
BEST ACTION FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST INDIE SCREENWRITER 2025
The Quest for Camelot
BEST ARTHOUSE DIRECTOR & BEST EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Remnant
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE OF THE YEAR, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST COSTUME DESIGNER, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY & BEST EDITING (Category: International Narrative Feature)
In Search of A P-I-G
BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST PRODUCER & BEST CAST (Category: Web/Tv Series)
The Girl Made of Earth and Water
BEST DIRECTOR, BEST ORIGINAL CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST EDITING & BEST ARTHOUSE PRODUCER (Category: Super Short Film)
The Oracle
BEST INTERNATIONAL SINGER, BEST DIRECTOR & BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Category: Music Video)
Roses are Blind
BEST INDIE FILMMAKER, BEST SCREENPLAY & BEST CAST (Category: International Thriller)
Planetary Rebellion
BEST INDIE FILMMAKER, BEST EDITING & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA (Category: European Music Video)
Ye Ole Glorya
BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR & BEST SCREENPLAY (Category: International Comedy)
Big Momma Earth
BEST INDIE COMEDY OF THE YEAR & BEST CAST
The Green Mill
BEST AMERICAN SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Secrets of Montmartre 2
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST THRILLER SCRIPT 2025
Artists and Aliens
BEST SCI-FI & BEST SOUNDTRACK
Insecure
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE MUSIC VIDEO & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA
Only in Malibu
BEST WRITER & BEST ORIGINAL CHARACTERS (Category: Feature Script)
Gold, Glory & Nobility
BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIE FEATURE SCRIPT
The Hallmark Couple
BEST WRITING STYLE (Category: International Feature Script)
The Duchess
BEST PRODUCER, BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST INDIE ACTRESS 2025 & BEST CASTING DIRECTOR (Category: Drama)
Out of State-A Gothic Romance
BEST ORIGINAL NARRATIVE FEATURE 2025, BEST INDIE DIRECTOR, BEST ARTHOUSE PRODUCER & BEST INDIE CAST
Darker Realities
BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT
Not Without Gloves
BEST EXPERIMENTAL DIRECTOR & BEST UNDERGROUND PROJECT
Rodeo
BEST ARTHOUSE SCREENPLAY 2025
And We Were Left Darkling
BEST WRITER (Category: Feature Script)
Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana
BEST ORIGINAL DIRECTOR 2025, BEST VIDEO POETRY & BEST ARTHOUSE CINEMATOGRAPHER
In a Whole New Way
BEST INDIE PRODUCER OF THE YEAR & BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM
The Demon
BEST EUROPEAN INDIE PROJECT & BEST ARTHOUSE ACTOR 2025
Sequoia Spirits
BEST ARTHOUSE DANCE MOVIE
Idiopathy
BEST INDIE SCREENWRITER 2025 (Category: Feature Script)
Thankful
BEST AMERICAN SCREENWRITER, BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST IDEA OF THE YEAR (Category: Feature Script)
Katabasis
BEST EUROPEAN FILM, BEST EUROPEAN ACTRESS, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER & BEST SOUND DESIGN
An impossible secret
BEST EUROPEAN DRAMA & BEST INDIE SCREENPLAY
Omnipotent Resolution
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY, BEST MUSICAL SHORT FILM, BEST DANCE FILM & BEST ORIGINAL INDIE SONG
The Stones of Rome
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER, BEST SOUND & BEST EDITING
The Pathos of Hamlet
BEST ACTING & BEST INDIE PRODUCER
The Liminal Space
BEST EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTAL FILM & BEST ARTHOUSE EDITING
Nossos Caminhos (Our Paths)
BEST ARTHOUSE SCREENWRITER (Category: Indie Feature Script)
63Geminorum
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT SCRIPT 2025 & BEST EUROPEAN ORIGINAL WRITER
A true lover of the cinema and a unique storyteller at heart. Growing up in Upstate NY, my family always went to the movies on Sundays. I can still remember waiting in line to see “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and wondering what adventure I was about to go on. Years later, my friends and I would make short films capturing our summer experiences and then show our “work” to family and friends. Everyone really enjoyed the creativity and originality of the stories we told. During my senior year in high school, I explored applying to NYU Film School, but fate had other plans. As with every great story, the Second Act is where the journey begins and for me the story picks up 25 years later. Upon retiring from the federal government, I decided to give filmmaking another try and I’m so glad I did. “The Days of Knight: Chapter 3” is my first short film with many more to come.
-Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?
Not to date myself, but I remember seeing “E.T. -the Extra-Terrestrial” with my mother and being so young I was awed by everything I saw in that movie. The special effects, the acting, the direction of Steven Spielberg, and the way it provokes emotion for our favorite alien. That experience made me a true believer in the power of storytelling.
-When did you realize that the story living in your heart had to be turned into a screenplay and then into a film project?
Upon retiring, my bucket list had a few items on it: making a short film and submitting the film to a film festival. I thought of a story based on my experiences and something I knew I could capture on video. “The Days of Knight: Chapter 3” started off as a short story I wrote called “Get in and Get out”. The story was about a hitman that was asked to get an item from an abandoned house for a powerful family. As we started to film it, we had some many ideas that I had to stop filming and write a more in-depth background story for these characters. After three weeks, we started filming again and the story had some more layers to it. It was such a great experience! I started to write “The Days of Knight: Chapter 1” while we were filming.
-Is there a person you would like to thank for helping you bring your project to life?
My family for all of their support! There were only three people that worked on “The Days of Knight: chapter 3” and it was an incredible experience and so much fun to work with people who truly support your passion.
-Which writer inspires you the most?
I really enjoy the films of Christopher Nolan. His films are very lean but the story makes such an incredible impact.
-Do you think the Wild Filmmaker Community is helping to turn your dream into a reality?
Being new to filmmaking and the film festival circuit, I was not aware of the Wild Filmmaker Community…but I am so happy that we found each other. I can’t thank enough everyone at Wild Filmmaker for the support and opportunities. It really means a lot to me to be able to participate in film festivals with some amazing filmmakers. Thank you again, Wild Filmmaker!
