Category: popular-interviews

By Michele Diomà

Alejandro Jodorowsky once said: “When you doubt between acting or staying still, choose the desire to act – create your path, one step at a time.”

Inspired by this quote from the great Chilean poet and filmmaker, WILD FILMMAKER was born five years ago with the mission to give visibility to independent artists around the world.
In the beginning, WILD FILMMAKER was just a magazine, but my dream was to create a platform where filmmakers and screenwriters could participate in events judged by one single criterion: MERITOCRACY.

I never imagined that this revolutionary dream would bring me, in June 2025, to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, to organize two events that saw a record-breaking turnout of over 35,000 independent artists from across the globe.

(San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge)

Reaching California—the heart of both the past and present film industry—and becoming the leading platform for indie cinema is an unprecedented victory for the entire WILD FILMMAKER community.
When I say “past and present,” I mean that California is home to both Hollywood and Netflix. WILD FILMMAKER positions itself somewhere in between these two worlds: with the mission to use the classic cinematic storytelling style—yet through the web.

Today, WILD FILMMAKER is the most globally recognized independent film brand. Just a few days ago, we hosted The New York Times on our pages with an exclusive interview with Glenn Kenny, one of their top film critics. Over the past year, we’ve also appeared in Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Cinecittà News.

(Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese alongside New York Times film critic Glenn Kenny)

This victory is dedicated to all those who believed—and continue to believe—in the WILD FILMMAKER project.
Our mission is not to ask permission to enter the traditional film circuit, but to create a new way to tell and distribute cinema, and we’re making it happen!

A special thank you to the artists who participated in this PRESS RELEASE dedicated to the San Francisco Film Achievement Awards:

Lesley Ann Albiston – Fractures In Time
BEST ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT 2025 & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA

Janja Rakuš – Soularis
BEST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM 2025 & BEST EUROPEAN DIRECTOR

Emilio Mercanti – Tic Tac
BEST EUROPEAN NARRATIVE SHORT & BEST INTERNATIONAL FILMMAKER & BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT (Category: Arthouse Short Film)

Roger Paradiso – The Lost Village
BEST AMERICAN PRODUCER & BEST INDIE DIRECTOR

Hugo Teugels – Cassandra Venice
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE FILMMAKER & BEST EUROPEAN PRODUCER

Monte Albers de Leon – Mecca
BEST LGBTQ SCRIPT 2025 & BEST AMERICAN ORIGINAL SCREENWRITER

AnayaMusic Kunst – Sanctuary
BEST MUSIC VIDEO 2025 & BEST ARTHOUSE SINGER

Jamie Sutliff – Black Wolf
BEST FILMMAKER & BEST SCREENWRITER (Category: Indie Short Film)

Mattia Paone – Flashes of Light (Bagliori)
BEST EUROPEAN SCREENPLAY 2025 (Category: Narrative Short), BEST ORIGINAL INDIE DIRECTOR & BEST EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

Vicentini Gomez – Doctor Hypotheses 2 – The Breakdown
BEST INTERNATIONAL COMEDY SCRIPT 2025 & BEST SCREENWRITER (Category: Comedy)

Andronica Marquis – Medea
BEST INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR (Category: Narrative Short), BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT, BEST CAST, BEST ORIGINAL EDITING & BEST CASTING DIRECTOR

Chris Ross Leong – NeverWere: a Lycan Love Story
BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE WRITER 2025

Jonathan Fisher – In a Whole New Way
BEST SOCIAL SCREENPLAY, BEST HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT & BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM 2025

Carla Di Bonito – Nossos Caminhos (Our Paths)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY & BEST INTERNATIONAL WRITING STYLE

Michał Kucharski – Heat and Love
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM 2025, BEST FILMMAKER & BEST ARTHOUSE PRODUCER

C. Arnold Curry – The Duchess
BEST AMERICAN SCREENPLAY 2025 & BEST INTERNATIONAL DRAMA

Susan Downs – Something Ain’t Right
BEST DIRECTOR & BEST ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY 2025

Christopher Pennington – Virulence
BEST ARTHOUSE SCREENWRITER & BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIE FEATURE SCRIPT

Pamela PerryGoulardt – The Girl Made of Earth and Water
BEST SUPER SHORT FILM, BEST EDITING & BEST FILMMAKER

Dean Morgan – Sheldon Mashugana Gets Stooged
BEST AMERICAN ACTOR 2025 & BEST SCREENPLAY (Category: Comedy)

Kai Fischer – Lambada The Dance Of Fate
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL SCRIPT & BEST EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2025

John Martinez – The Days of Knight: Chapter 1
BEST AMERICAN NARRATIVE SHORT 2025, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER, BEST INDIE DIRECTOR, BEST CASTING DIRECTOR & BEST PRODUCTION COMPANY.

R.Scott MacLeay – Noise
BEST DIRECTOR, BEST EDITING & BEST ORIGINAL CINEMATOGRAPHY (Category: Experimental Film)

Don Pasquale Ferone – Credo
BEST SONG 2025, BEST EUROPEAN SONG WRITER & BEST SPIRITUAL MUSIC VIDEO

Russell Emanuel – Routine
BEST DIRECTOR 2025, BEST PRODUCER, BEST ORIGINAL IDEA & BEST NARRATIVE SHORT 2025

– The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE SHORT FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENPLAY SHORT & BEST ACTING (Category: International Indie Narrative Short Film)

Brooke Wolff – Eye of the Storm
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY 2025, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST PRODUCER, BEST STORYTTELING & BEST ORIGINAL EDITING (Category: Documentary Feature)

Lena Mattsson – Not Without Gloves
BEST POETRY FILM, BEST FILMMAKER & BEST CAMERA OPERATOR (Category: Experimental)

– The Rorschach Test
BEST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL FILM & BEST SOUND DESIGN

Vincenzo Amoruso – The Arcangel Of Death
BEST EUROPEAN ACTOR 2025 & BEST EXPERIMENTAL CINEMATOGRAPHY (Category: Indie Short Film)

Lynn Elliott – Ghost Town, N.M.
BEST AMERICAN FEATURE SCRIPT 2025

– Alta California
BEST WRITING STYLE (Category: Feature Script)

– Borderline Justice
BEST ORIGINAL FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST INTERNATIONAL INDIE SCREENWRITER

Larry Gene Fortin – The Call Center
BEST INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION SCRIPT & BEST PILOT TV

– Sky Walker
BEST INTERNATIONAL DRAMA SCRIPT 2025

Sean Gregory Tansey – The Stones of Rome
BEST ARTHOUSE ACTOR, BEST INDIE EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM & BEST ORIGINAL EDITING

– The Pathos of Hamlet
BEST HISTORICAL SHORT FILM & BEST ACTING

Suzanne Lutas – The Dead Ringer
BEST WRITER OF THE YEAR (Category: Original Feature Script)

Uniqueness Heiress & Azia – Omnipotent Resolution
BEST ARTHOUSE SHORT FILM, BEST SOUNDTRACK, BEST SOUND DESIGN, BEST INDIE MUSICAL & BEST INTERNATIONAL CHOREOGRAPHY

Phoebe von Satis – Hummel
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT SCRIPT 2025, BEST WRITING STYLE & BEST AMERICAN SCREENWRITER

– K Bender (The Bloody Benders)
BEST ARTHOUSE SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

– The Insomnia Experiment
BEST ORIGINAL WRITER OF THE YEAR (Category: Short Script)

– The Hallmark Couple
BEST ARTHOUSE FEATURE SCRIPT & BEST ORIGINAL IDEA

– Only in Malibu
BEST AMERICAN FEATURE SCRIPT 2025

– Gold, Glory & Nobility
BEST INTERNATIONAL BOOK 2025

Ugrin Vuckovic – Fishbowl
BEST INDIE SUPER SHORT FILM 2025

By Michele Diomà

It was February 2019 when I met Glenn Kenny while I was preparing a film to be shot in New York. I wanted to meet in person the author of one of the cinema books I had loved the most: Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas, featuring exclusive interviews with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. I had been deeply fascinated by Glenn’s ability to recount the context in which the masterpiece directed by the great Italian-American filmmaker was born.

I believe that to truly understand a film, it is essential to know the social and cultural reasons that led the producer and director to make it. There’s no point in having a student read Socrates without first telling them about Ancient Greece, and in the same way, I believe it is essential today to explain to audiences the world in which certain films were born—otherwise, they simply won’t be understood.

We often complain that younger generations are increasingly less interested in Cinema. But this happens because, for example, showing The Kid by Charlie Chaplin to a teenager today without first explaining what the Great Depression of 1929 was, is like handing them a book written in a language they don’t know.

That’s why I consider the work of film critics like Glenn Kenny a necessary mission to help save Cinema.
It is a great honor to welcome Glenn Kenny today into the WILD FILMMAKER Community.

-Who is Glenn Kenny?

Glenn Kenny is a New York based film historian and critic who contributes reviews to the New York Times and RogerEbert.com. He is the author of “Anatomy of an Actor: Robert De Niro” (Cahiers du Cinema, 2014), “Made Men: The Story of ‘Goodfellas'” (Hanover Square Press, 2021), “The World is Yours: The Story of Scarface'” ( Hanover Square, 2024) and the editor of “A Galaxy Not So Far Away: Writers and Artists on 25 Years of ‘Star Wars'” (Henry Holt 2002).

-When did your collaboration as a film critic for The New York Times begin?

In 2015 my friend Manohla Dargis approached me and asked if I would be willing to write a review of “Hotel Transylvania 2.” Having seen the first “HT” movie I was aptly prepared, so I agreed. The piece turned out sufficiently well that I was asked to contribute more. And there you are.

-What inspired your book MADE MEN – THE STORY OF GOODFELLAS?

I needed a summer job. I am an instructor at a well-known arts college but I don’t teach summers. So there was that. Also: “Goodfellas” was a movie I’d seen many times and felt rather close to. I met its director while he was editing it, so I felt a special attachment to it. When he signaled that he would cooperate with the assembly of the book (which he did, most generously), I felt I could proceed with some confidence.

-Do you think that today, independent cinema is still a place where the most innovative stylistic approaches can be found?

Not necessarily. I think, as good as the films at major festivals tend to be, maybe one out of thirty shows an unusual/innovative formal bent. 

-In the past, film festivals played a key role in discovering new talented directors. Nowadays, they often seem to favor already well-known filmmakers. Why do you think that is?

Like every other sector of film, festivals are infected by business. That’s the simplest answer and I think the most accurate.

– Who is David Hertzog Dessites?

I am a director, producer, and screenwriter, born in Cannes on 27/01/1973. I’ve been working in the film industry for 25 years this year. I initially started by producing and directing making-ofs (behind the scenes) for French producers in the 2000s, then I ventured into different categories of production: TV documentaries, motion capture video game direction, film trailers, and content for social media.

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

When I was still a very young child, my mother used to take me for walks along the Croisette, which is the famous promenade in Cannes, often during the Film Festival. There was a magic in the air, something I could feel that fascinated my child’s eyes. My mother often said, “We’re going to meet famous people!” It was in the 70s and 80s, a different era for the Cannes Film Festival. Also, living in “the city of cinema” was incredible for me. The magic of the Festival sparked my curiosity for cinema. I think I fell in love with cinema very early, I would say around 5 or 6 years old maybe. I remember watching The Empire Strikes Back, and it was a visual shock, then Superman II and especially Spielberg’s E.T.… that was a shock. That’s when I realized cinema had a power over emotions, that cinema was “bigger than life.”

– Tell us about your project “Il était une fois Michel Legrand.”

It’s primarily a fascinating story that connects me to Michel Legrand. My parents met while going to see The Thomas Crown Affair by Norman Jewison in 1968. After the film, they bought the 45 rpm of the film’s song The Windmills of Your Mind, performed by Noel Harrison. For years, they loved each other to this song, which I heard in my mother’s womb. As far back as I can remember, I’ve listened to this music all my life because on this 45 rpm there were two sides, one sung, the other instrumental. What was strange was that I felt a form of sweetness. I had a sort of energy that came to me every time I listened to this song, but also sometimes a great sadness. As I grew up, I eventually discovered that this famous song was the work of a composer named Michel Legrand. I started learning about him and what he did. I found out that he had composed Oum le dauphin the TV series, and also that he was the composer of another TV series I watched back in the 70s, Il était une fois l’espace. I realized that, strangely, Michel Legrand had composed most of the things I watched. Also, I took violin lessons for 7 years at the Cannes Conservatory. And that’s an important moment for me, a precursor to my desire to be a director. During those years, I met a man named Ivry Gitlis, not knowing at the time that he was one of Michel Legrand’s best friends. In reality, everything kept bringing me back to Michel Legrand, without me even realizing it. In 1983, my mother had the good idea to take me to see a film: Yentl! And that was a shock. I am one of those people who believes, as Catherine Michel says in my film, that the most beautiful score by Michel Legrand is Yentl! I was completely swept away by the film. Cinematically speaking, it’s an incredible achievement for Barbra Streisand. And musically, Michel’s creative madness is at its peak. That’s really when I completely fell in love with Legrand. When I started working in film years later, I always told myself I would someday contact this man to meet him, and why not make a film about his career.

(© Jerome Tripier-Mondancin)

In 2017, I learned that Michel Legrand was coming to the Cannes Film Festival, where I still live, to give a private concert on a terrace at the Palais des Festivals. I absolutely had to be there. So, I made sure I was present, and I finally met the man who had already changed the course of my life. At the end of the concert, I couldn’t help but go up to him and tell him that if I exist, it’s partly thanks to him and the song from The Thomas Crown Affair. He looked at me and laughed, saying that it was wonderful and that he was even happier to have written that song. That’s how we met. Later, in June, we met at his home for a lunch that lasted five hours! From there, I started the project to make the film about him. But what you need to know is that I never planned to film Michel Legrand until the end of his days. Life led me to a moment when it had to happen. You know, it’s what we call being in the right place at the right time. If none of this had happened, the film about Michel wouldn’t exist. In a way, Michel contributed to my earthly birth through his music, and also to my birth in cinema since this film is my first feature film to be released in theaters. And the most incredible thing is having presented my film at Cannes in 2024… It’s a dream come true. There are destinies.

– Which director inspires you the most?

I can’t name just one, it’s impossible. But here are the ones who always inspire me: Spielberg first, because I think there was a before Spielberg and after Spielberg in the history of cinema. He has forever marked the 7th art; he is the father of an entire generation of filmmakers. Also, M. Scorsese, G. Lucas, D. Lynch, F.F. Coppola, B. De Palma, James Cameron, and for the French, F. Truffaut, B. Blier, J. Giovanni, G. Lautner.

(© Cecilia Tsan)

– What displeases you in the world, and what would you change?

What bothers me about our current society? A lot of things… But one very concerning issue is A.I. Artificial intelligence is a major technological revolution that will allow incredible things to be done, that’s certain. But there’s a great danger in its use because multinational corporations will want to use A.I. to reduce production costs and thus replace humans, and that’s a huge danger. Several economists have predicted that over 300 million people will find themselves unemployed in the coming years. It’s dramatic. And for cinema, it’s the same thing: they want to cut costs, have fewer expenses, and thus put technicians and artists out of work. It’s not possible to think like this, it’s catastrophic. A.I. must remain a tool to help humans, not replace them. Imagine tomorrow that A.I. will be able to reproduce music as if it were composed by Mozart, Beethoven, or Michel Legrand… it’s unethical and very dangerous because we won’t know how to identify what is real and what isn’t, what comes from the human mind, and what is a copy, an interpretation of it. We must be vigilant about what is happening; we are at a decisive and major turning point in the era of humanity and creativity.

(© Thomas Dessites)

– How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?

I don’t imagine it any other way than through the vision of screenwriters and directors. If it becomes technological, that’s normal, but if it were to be replaced by artificial intelligence, it would be a tragedy. I often tell the audience when I present my film in cinemas that they are going to see a film about A.I., but not the kind of A.I. we’re talking about right now. They are going to see a film about Artistic Intelligence, and that intelligence is not artificial. We must preserve art, not destroy it. We must be very careful.

– What is your impression of WILD FILMMAKER?

It’s a very interesting media outlet that gives great visibility to independent cinema. I also really like the concept of black-and-white photos, which make things timeless. I saw an article about Cannes 2023 and an event there, and of course, it caught my attention. It was written by you, and you ended with “Your creativity is a gift from nature…” That’s exactly what I say when talking about A.I.; creativity is a gift that comes from the divine, something that will remain an eternal mystery because, as Steven Spielberg says, “We don’t know where ideas come from, where they take root in the human mind.” What I believe is that creation also comes from the human heart, we need to think and imagine with the heart, more than ever. One day, I was talking to Michel about my film, which wasn’t even finished yet, and Michel told me, “Your film will be good, you know why? Because when you do things with your heart, you can’t go wrong.” That phrase has become my mantra in my work, but also in everything I do in life.

By Michele Diomà

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.

by Michele Diomà

Sleeper, Annie Hall—for which he won an Oscar—but above all, Manhattan are just some of the screenplays Marshall Brickman co-wrote with Woody Allen.

Just a few hours ago, Marshall transitioned to another dimension. I imagine him already in deep conversation with Federico Fellini about Juliet of the Spirits, much like the iconic scene in Annie Hall, where Diane Keaton and Woody Allen’s characters discuss art while waiting in line for the cinema.

Screenwriters are often an underappreciated category, despite Alfred Hitchcock’s famous statement: “To make a great film, you need three things: the script, the script, and the script.”

Today, we at the WILD FILMMAKER Community wish to honor a remarkable screenwriter, fully aware that we live in a world where the most important things are often misunderstood, and truth turn into lies—like in a George Orwell novel. For me, the screenplay of Manhattan, written by Marshall Brickman, inspired a pivotal decision: in 2018, I chose to produce a film in New York.

For some, it was a self-destructive folly to leave Rome and attempt to create a film in Manhattan, titled Dance Again with Me Heywood!, a tribute to the most Chaplinesque contemporary artist.

I arrived in the U.S. for the American premiere of my first film, Sweet Democracy, which featured the late Nobel laureate actor and playwright Dario Fo. I also came to Manhattan to deliver a masterclass on independent filmmaking at New York University.

What was meant to be a two-week stay turned into two months. I vividly recall the first time I saw 6th Avenue. Walking silently among the towering skyscrapers, I kept repeating to myself: “I love this place; I never want to leave.” It was a cold November evening. Back in my hotel room, I rewatched Manhattan on my computer, and in that moment, I decided my next film would be made in New York. I brought that vision to life the following year, even securing James Ivory as a special guest—who, incidentally, won an Oscar that year for Best Screenplay. It was a dream come true for a small Italian producer deeply in love with New York.

This love, ignited by Marshall Brickman’s creativity, has only grown over time. My most recent film shot in New York, O – the fiSRt mOvie by aN alien, brought me the immense honor and joy of working with Academy Award-nominated actress Mariel Hemingway, the co-star of Manhattan.

Marshall Brickman will forever remain a source of inspiration for anyone creating projects with WILD FILMMAKER. True cinema, after all, never dies.

Ciao, Marshall. Grazie !!

The Wild Filmmaker production meeting in collaboration with the 8 & Halfilm Awards will occur in Cannes from the 16th of May till the 20th. With over 3000 registered projects from more than 40 countries, it promises to be one of the most significant events of the year dedicated to the independent cinema on a global scale. 

Among the projects selected by the 8 & Halfilm Awards: “Forty Winks” directed by William Atticus Parker with actress Academy Award-Winner Susan Sarandon and John Turturro;

Among other made-in-USA projects also: “Old Time Radio: Your Move” directed by the Academy Award-Winner Joel Harlow, make-up Artist for “Star Trek” and “Alice in Wonderland”;

“The Walk” directed by Daniel Adams, in the cast: Malcolm McDowell, the legendary protagonist of “A Clockwork Orange” directed by Stanley Kubrick;

 “She Dreamt Alone” directed by Nina McNeely, also choreographer (projects with Björk, Gaspar Noé, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Foo Fighters, Sam Smith, Alicia Keys…);

“Numb” directed by Ivan Mbakop, who starred in Netflix’s “Red Notice” and played Detective Caudle in Marvel’s “Hawkeye” mini-series;

Among the projects Made in the UK: “I wish for you’ with Academy Award-Winner Jeremy Irons, directed by Stuart Rideout;

and “Connie Lynn” directed by Lee Westwick, an experimental movie written by Elon Musk’s Artificial Intelligence. 

Among the Europeans, we remember “King Max” directed by French director Adèle Vincenti-Carson.

For the East, we remember: “Vertigo” directed by the Japanese Haruo Inoue with special guest Jonas Mekas.

Wild Filmmaker is a Community detached from all the others existing film realities, and the film product’s free dissemination on the web is its own strength. In addition, the Wild Filmmaker series is currently in the works. “eleveN fiftY” is set in New York, directed by Darius Rubin

and produced by Michele Diomà.

The Wild Filmmaker project was born from the need to make cinema a free art form and aims to allow the Filmmakers to be the actual Deus ex Machina of a project.

by Michele Diomà

Over the past two years, more than 20,000 artists have chosen to participate in the 8 & Halfilm Awards. Two thousand eight hundred sixty projects registered from all over the world.

Four hundred forty-three positive reviews on the official Filmfreeway website in the last two years. It is the only Festival to organize events in several cities: Rome, Dubai, Berlin, and next: the 8 & Halfilm Awards will have an extraordinary event in France during the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

Yes, the 8 & Halfilm Awards will bring their Community to the Croisette in May!

A legendary place where Federico Fellini has been the protagonist several times over the years, to whom we dedicate the 8 & Halfilm Awards! “https://filmfreeway.com/8andhalfilmawards”

These are record-breaking results for a festival dedicated to those who consider cinema a free art!

Thanks to all of you! Your creativity is a gift from nature, like the tree from which beautiful apples are born. We are all against wars and social injustices, but unfortunately, the world still makes the same mistakes today in 2023.

Only Poetry and Art will save us.

-Who is Urszula Nawrot?

I am a director, photographer and cinematographer. For 15 years I was engaged in dancing, I achieved an international master class in ballroom dancing. To this day, dance is present in my films and even in photography. I am looking for rhythm, harmony and movement in a cinema. Film editing must flow like a dance too. Movement is extremely important to me. In film scenes, I pay a lot of attention to the body language and choreography. The body can say much more than words.

I always wanted to paint, but life turned out differently. I graduated with a Master’s degree in International Relations. Back then, I wanted to get so-called normal job. However, art won. After graduating from film school, I became an actress first, while developing my sensitivity as a photographer and director. I do not regret that my path to filmmaking was not easy, because I once heard that a director should first know something about life, get to know it from different perspectives. The technical skills can be learned later, and the best way to do it is to learn from a film master. So I did.

I was taught directing by Jack Gold, a British film director, and Andrzej Bartkowiak ( cinematographer Speed, The Devil’s Advocate) gave me cinematography advice. I couldn’t get better masters. Although I often do the work of a cinematographer, I do not consider myself a real cinematographer. I’m a director who can do cinematography. However, in the very act of creation, I value freedom. That is why I wanted to pursue film education in all departments. So it doesn’t matter to me if I have a big budget or not. If I want to shoot something, I just go and do it. As it was with Wing Tsun Flashback, where I had an idea, but no money. I found the right location, observe the light on the location to see what I can get from the natural lightening, made some tests, than filmed it with an iPhone ProRes 4k, edited and did the post production of the film by myself. Honestly, I just wanted to see, where can I go with that? It turned out great.

-What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

I was born in Poland, where film has a long tradition. I grew up on films such as “The Saragossa Manuscript” by Wojciech Jerzy Has (one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films), films by Kieślowski, Majewski… I have always been fascinated by the image and what it can convey in emotions expressed beyond words. A word can create an image, an image will not create a word, but it will build a symbol, unsaid, constantly alive, constantly bringing new meanings. Precisely because in Poland, filmmakers often moved on the plane of dreams, symbols and unconsciousness, which inspired me to create my own films. For me, cinema is art, created by people like Bergman, Pasolini. I have always been interested in the inner world, Jungian psychology.

In high school, I became familiar with Jerzy Grotowski’s theatre and Grotowski Institute. For me, what was inside was more important than what was visible on the outside. In this spirit, “Umbra” was created, telling the story of the inner world of trauma and a woman who was sexually abused in childhood.

Wing Tsun Flashback is about touching the past by practicing old forms of martial arts. This image is not realistic. It is definitely some kind of movie dream. It is a teaser of something that I may create in a more complete form in the future. I think what’s inside us, our dreams says a lot more about us than what we see on the outside. Like this we can touch somebody’s soul.

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

I strongly believe that cinema can bring a change in the society. However, it is not the cinema that is based on scandal, fuels fears or gives people cheap entertainment or propaganda, tells the audience what to think, how to judge others. I am interested in cinema that asks questions, encourages the viewer to search internally, does not show easy solutions, but different perspectives, looking for the truth. Cinema has an extraordinary impact, it shapes our sensitivity and imagination. What we see when we are young builds us up as adults. I am very happy that I grew up on Kieślowski and Has. As a member of the Polish Filmmakers Association, I feel obliged to continue their ambitious vision of cinema in this commercialized world.

-What would you change in the world?

I believe that the biggest problem is the effects of traumatic experiences that we carry inside. Trauma is not what happens to you, is what happens inside of you as a result of what happened to you in the past . And even we can carry fears of our parents and grandparents as well. As a result of trauma, people lose contact with themselves, lose their self-esteem, which they then look for outside, they lose the natural, internal compass that allows them to distinguish good from evil. If someone experienced harm, evil in childhood and it was ignored by the environment, then as an adult often repeats these pathological behaviors without even knowing that is hurting someone. If I could change anything, it would be to free people from the devastating consequences of trauma. And that’s what I try to do in my photographic and film work. Umbra is the first such film and has been recognized by outstanding specialists in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy both in Poland and abroad. I am currently working on a new feature-length film with a similar theme. I would like people to stop looking outside for confirmation of their own worth, stop comparing and chasing each other. I wish the media wouldn’t promote a culture of achievement and a celebrity lifestyle. Well, that’s a pretty utopian dream.

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

It is difficult to assess today, because we are usually convinced that the world is moving forward, while it can take a step back even in issues that would seem as obvious today as personal freedom and democracy, which we are convinced by subsequent events on the world’s political scene. Cinema is a means of expression that can tell trivial things or even lie, but it can also be used to create art and show the truth. I hope that the cinema will look for the truth, which is difficult in the case of high-budget projects, because there is some business at stake, a question of risk, sales, earnings, etc… I have the impression that the art of film has been raped by commercialism. The origins of the film were in art circles. Then the value of cinema was recognized and the film slowly moved towards entertainment. Making the film was too expensive and too complicated, making it inaccessible to many artists. However, today technologies have developed a lot and a pretty good picture can be created even with a mobile phone, and the so-called non budget projects can get quite decent quality. For this, it is enough to have a YouTube channel and you can promote your work. I think these tools will continue to be refined, and filmmaking will become much more affordable, which will give artists more creative freedom, because no one behind the desk will decide whether something will be made or not. This should result in a variety of film forms, genres, which is already happening. We will no longer stick rigidly to the so-called movie formats. This should resemble the revolution in painting at the turn of the 20th century. Young people today are increasingly watching short videos on YouTube. Recently, I became interested in the work of AI myself. Today I can generate a photo based on entering the appropriate parameters. I think that in a future, I will be able to make a film like this as well. So this freedom of expression should be the future of film, but if we find ourselves in a system where this freedom is limited, even a technological revolution will not help here.

-Who is Guilherme Bonini?

Guilherme Bonini was born in 1981, São Paulo, Brazil. He lives inland, in the city of Araraquara. He obtains academic training as a doctoral student in cinematographic script by Unesp – FCLAr and master in image and sound in cinematographic narrative by UFSCar. Director, screenwriter and independent editor and active in areas such as producer and director of photography. He created the independent production company Bonini Filmes in 2013. Awarded for works exhibited in Brazil, USA and Europe, he has been seeking to create an innovative cinematographic language in short films, promoting the local community, economy and following a cultural policy of equal rights, diversity of gender and social inclusion across the entire production team.

 -What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

The real life. When I was little, I was able to experience my transformation when I saw and heard for the first time the materialization of dreams through image and sound in cinema. Since then I’ve been trying to get to know myself, experience and impress my extraordinary universe through the window of my soul of what I hear and see in my ordinary life.

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

Cinema has the power to transform lives. It is the art of composing and making films intended for cinematographic projections. Films are capable of generating a great impact on people beyond emotions and feelings. Being possible to represent, demonstrate and experience the most diverse situations and problems of what exists of relevance in the universe and still discover what can exist, by imagination, beyond it. Through the films, people can experience, reflect and evaluate, in a critical way, their representation of rights, promoting thinking about their own choices in their paths through life.

-What would you change in the world?

Nothing for now. I’m still learning from the world by knowing myself.

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

I see the film industry beyond itself, capable of proposing a transcendental journey, through an immersive projection that is capable of taking dreamers to live stories beyond the physical, taking them to a level that reaches a spiritual film form.

Academy Award-winner Joel Harlow is one of the most innovative makeup and special makeup artists and designers in American motion pictures. He has proven himself to be one of a very few number of artists who is able to span the world of makeup effects design and creation to the world of on set makeup application. With his company Morphology Inc., Harlow has worked on some of the industries most popular tent-pole films to date.

• Director Statement
  The world of “Old Time Radio” is meant to pay homage to the classic themes of the horror serial radio dramas from the 30s-40s-50s. There is an innocent quality that those programs offered that has been lost today. A chance to, collectively, adventure into a horror experience with a fun, almost comic, exuberance. I found that using old school movie tricks, such as rod puppets and miniature sets helps to convey the “feeling” I wanted to achieve. Hope you like it.