A Director's Take on Florence Film School

The Florence International Film Festival second year!!!!

2009-11-21T06:44:00.000-08:00

Still exhausted over the magnitude of the The second Annual Florence Film Festival I am at last relaxing at Fids and reviewing our ...well success. We had loads of help! First of all the Tuscan Film Ccmmission was wonderful! They got us great press and helped tranform the Odeon Theater into an elegant restauran with the red carpet glamour of Cannes They also put up with our passionate students, energetic actors, endless rehershals a major hollywood style casting calls and thanks to lisa permission to actually film in Palazzio Vechio. Also thanks to Allessandro Ricoli who aided his wonderful artistic touch and mideval costumes!

The food was excellent and endless. We actually had to call the crowds back into the threatre to see the movies.

We had two film shorts filmed here in Florence which was grand not only because the quality was exceptional for being on a limited budget but it really created a community spirit and the promise of more great films filmed in our fabulous tuscan enviroment with a story at everyturn to be shown in future festivals.

We also had a terrific selection of internantional films and started the entire program off with a tribute to Menucci by the famous director CarloU. Quintererio who was great fun sharing with us his clips and stories from old Hollyood and cine citta'

The

2009-11-21T06:43:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year for The Florence International Film Festival

2009-01-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who so generously gave of themselves , their time and their talents to make this year's first Florence International Film Festival a great scuccess! Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, volunteers, The Tuscan Film Commission the folks at the Odeon Theatre and the film makers who sent in just wonderful fresh and new films creating a new platform for the films and new media of the future.
We filmed a nice panel disccusion on the future of film and will post that asap!

Notes to Heaven

2008-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

It is quite rare but a very joyous occasion when you have moments in your life when you feel everything pulls together physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. The filming of Notes to Heaven was one such beautiful moment for me. I could see my vision of The Florence Film School and the Infinite Human Production company coming together and touching both myself in a deeply personal way, my students, the international community of Florence and through the electronic media eventually the world. It is also wonderful because we will be able to show it to the community as a special edition at The Florence International Film Festival.

I have already received several comments and blogs about the event but I would like to talk about it personally. As I wrote my final note to Peter I thought it would be much easier but I was so filled with emotion and found it so hard to say good bye. Francesca the Director had wanted to film one final balloon after the mass rush of balloons to follow with the camera so I told her it could be mind. But I really wanted to hang on as long as possible. After the amazing flurry of balloons whooshed through the city, I let mine go. I was amazed at the speed it pick up, my note acting like a propeller. It was gone! Out of my sight so fast we didn't even get it on camera! I guess I had been needing to let go of that note for quite some time.

That night I kept thinking about my note and where it had ended up. I hoped not on the windshield of some tourist driving through Tuscany but in the arms of Peter's great Soul!

Notes to Heaven

2008-11-22T00:58:00.000-08:00

One in a while a student comes along your path who truly moves you. It's like your souls have been waiting to be touched at the same time you are afraid of the encounter because you know it will change you forever. This has been my experience will all of my students at The Florence Film School who undoubtedly has touched me in the most deeply profound way.

She came to the course wanting to do a documentary on death and how people deal with it. She formulated it into a series of interviews that would lead to an event in Santa Spirito where these selected subjects would write a letter, presumably a good bye letter to the person with whom they had been with and was no more. Then attached them to red balloons and send then upwards spiraling towards the heavens.
The story was called "Notes To Heaven" and she asked me to take part in it, which by the way I never ever take part in my students films.

Well, I just knew I had to this. This was Peter's way of helping me let go of him and move on with my life. I realized that I had never even participated in a funeral or service for him. I had just refused to let go! As I began writing this letter I had never felt so much pain, pain every where in my body but especially my heart I cried almost every day all day and I kept wondering if I was going to make it though this. My God the truth is I really didn't want to live on with out Peter.

Well tomorrow we release the balloons in Santa Spirito. So I will let you know how I feel after this great event. It is at 2:00 P.M. It is open to anyone that wants to send a note up to heaven.
Elizabeth Monroy
Florence Film School

2008-10-04T04:37:00.000-07:00

Tuscan History gets Spiked!

2008-10-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

Tuesday September 29^th I attended the press conference here in Florence at Palazzo Stozzi. It was a stimulating event where the community of Tuscany had the opportunity to comment on the James McBride and Spike Lees’ very controversial interpretation of what historically occurred here in Tuscany during the second world war.

As the James McBride the Author of the book The Miracle of Santa Anna so eloquently put it was a fictional story set in the historical background of the The second World War played out in Tuscany. It was about the relationships between Afro American soldiers or Buffalo soldiers and the other groups of people they encountered, The white American soldiers, Germans, Italian patricians and the common villagers who were caught up in the cruelty of War.

Writers and Directors often take liberties to tell a story that is free from stereotypes and has a fresh original angle . In this story there was a good German, bad American officers, divided villagers and a partisan who played the villain. Not even the black American soldiers themselves were black and white characters.

This is a common approach for writers to create deep and rich stories filled with three dimensional characters. What is uncommon and was done by both the writer and the director was to listen to the concerns of the community they had offended in their manner of telling this fictional story.

As a writer and Director I felt is was a powerful moment in history to see a community hold artist’s responsible for their creative work and to see the artists step up to the plate to defend their work.

How responsible are we as writers and film makers to accurately recount historical facts? Certainly Disney or Touch Tone Studios has been notorious for rewriting history. What exactly is history? It goes back to the old saying five people witness an accident and everyone has a different version of what they saw.

Whether we like it or not as artist’s writers, painters, film makers our depiction of history will most likely be the version that is most identified by future generations since the oral traditions of storytelling have been replaced with Art and Entertainment. The Last Supper by Da Vinci will be most people’s visual image of that famous evening dinner. Just as Dante will be thought of as walking around with a red cape and laurels..

How responsible are we as artists to history? Would it be better to rewrite history changing the past as we change the future? Should we pretend the holocaust never existed and make up a happy history?

Should art be used dig up old wounds?

Or can is be a way to learn from our mistakes and heal the past, finally putting it behind us a creating something new?

History Repeats itself is the catch phase. But do we have to keep repeating these terrible mis-takes? Can we edit out the bad scenes reshoot them and change our future at long last?

When we made Eve olution it was a very difficult film to make. I had to come face to face with how much women had suffered. Over 5 million women were killed in a holocaust called the Inquisition. These facts are rarely is heard of.. When I visited a torture exhibition in Prague most of the instruments had been designed and used on women.

The tragedy of Santa Anna is now known to a much larger population thanks to Spike Lee and James Mcbride and maybe the first step to putting the past behind us is to face, it grieve it, learn from it and then move on. This is the healing power of film. I feel Spielberg did that with Schindler’s List although I am sure every good story teller takes some poetic license to tell a good story.

Spike’s agenda was, as always to show the Afro American perspective of the injustice of racism. He made a powerful comment at the press conference about ending the injustices of society racism , sexism and his film was meant to highlight that issue. I commend him as a film maker who has a moral responsibility and has had the courage to follow his mission despite criticism. He has been a pioneer in the Art and Craft of Film and a voice for a people who have not been justly treated or recognized.

I have a good friend who was a Tuskegee Airmen, and finally On 29 March 2007, about 350 Tuskegee Airmen and their widows were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal presented by President Bush for his heroic acts in World War II. This was after a HBO aired The Tuskegee Airmen (1996) starring Laurence Fishburne .

So as the Director of The Florence Film School I say unto you : you can and must influence our social memory of history in a positive way helping future generations to learn from the past and pay recognition to those who may not have a voice in a society that has lost it’s perspective and morals.

Sacred Art

2008-09-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the morning trying to write up a really good definition of New Media for The Florence Film School since we are launching into our new low residency Master program in Film Production and New Media.

I took several definitions off of Wikipedia and sent it to my girl friend who is a copy editor in New York. She got back to me the dreaded advice “Why don’t you create your own definition.”

I quickly reminded her that it is such a NEW field I don’t think any body really has a clue as to all the immense possibilities that it can and will encompass. She quickly reminded me that that was the reason behind the school to begin with, to create an academic foundation and structure in which the pioneers of this NEW renaissance of NEW media can help bring about a positive world vision. Bla, bla, bla she went on and I nodded in agreement at the enormity of the task.

After staring at the computer screen and throwing around words like installation art, performance art, video art, multi media installation performance art!!! I paused and remembered the reason I had chosen to create this program in Italy to begin with. Has been creating and recreating NEW Media for centuries.

I though back to the other night when Cheryl and I had finished a wonderful dinner in Piazza Santa Spirito with our French companion Christoff. We meandered into the Piazza and noticed a white statue of Mother Mary gentling rocky to and fro as she was lifted and carried above a sea of humans. She floated there, perfectly framed in door of the Santo Spirito’s Cathedral. Then slowly she made her way through the Piazza with thousands of nuns, priests, workers and just plain common folk trailing after her with little bags muffling the soft glow of candles.

All the time a priest was sweetly singing cantos of Ave Maria.

It was magical. There was a soft, nurturing, immensely sacred feminine energy that just flowed forth from the sea of people. Then as if on cue a sadistic looking man with a Mohawk and a read t-shirt darted into the group of nuns shouting curses against the virgin and the church.

You just can’t couldn’t ask for a more all encompassing multi media even and these things happen everyday in Florence!

The Florence Film School

2008-09-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Florence is coming to life after the long summer break where this year just about everyone left the city in a mad exodus, except me. I was here holding up th decaying walls and keeping alive the energy to the best of my ability although it did get rather dead at times. But she's still here in all her glory. It was a tough job but someone had to do it. I feel sorry for the person who was positioned in Venice and had to keep that fair city afloat.

The students are coming back all excited about their semester abroad in Firenze! They are pretending to be Itlain shouting words like " ciao. bongiorno and some of the guys are getting up the courage to say bella!" to all the women. It's quite fun.

The bars are picking up and we have had an onslught of Irish Wedding parties and do I mean parties. At my local Fiddler's elbow they were singing Irish songs into the wee hours of the night. I run into old firends every three or four steps. Every one is rested and yes ready to get back to work. It is amazing how this city flows in cycles and after three years of swimming up stream I am ready to go with the flow.

Yesterday I visited two art galleries and chatted with several artists, its just amazing that in the tiny town you can't walk five feet without running into an artist, muscian, painter, sculpture, writer, film maker. It's so stimulating!

This year we are preparing for our first Florence International Film Festival! I have recieved some amazing film shorts from both students and professionals from all over the world. The theme is new media that gives a positive vision for humanity. This is our first film festival but it looks like its going to be a real winner! So now I am working on getting a big name to visit our beautiful little town and talk about the future of film with the new generation of film makers and multi media artists.
I know George Clooney has a place right down the road and I happen to be from Kentucky myself so I was going to extend an inventation! Who knows, it could happen!

Florence Film School

2007-06-06T19:02:00.001-07:00

What people say about our program:

Supermarkets are a peculiar place. Here, managers attract customers through a wide range of predevised, tried and tested methodologies. These include; product placement, brash advertisement and slashing prices. A new term is entering the marketing vocabulary. A term that places the emphasis back on the product. Slowly it is becoming a brand in itself, yet it merely represents the process through which the item bearing it’s name came into existence. Organic.

When, in October 2006, I shopped around for a film school I very much had my eye on the organic label. The New Renaissance Florence Film School became the obvious choice for me. I was lured by the idea of creating something new and positive through an intuitive process. Through guided interaction with the inspiring artworks of the renaissance, yoga and other meditative exercises, the creator within me was magically awoken. This, coupled with the supportive environment created by both students and staff, I was able to confront my inmost fears and desires and create a vision that surpassed my wildest imagination. I discovered my undiscovered self.

Film schools are a peculiar place. What fills them is forever shaped by the spirit of those that open and those that enter it’s doors. In an industry that is concentrating its efforts primarily on consumer and marketing opportunities it is comforting to know that there still remains a section, a solace in the midst of countless aisles filled with an ever increasing amount of “E’s”, one that places its focus on the personal, the human, the organic development of creativity.

ABOUT THE FILM:

Judgment is the process through which all humans determine the value of their actions. Artists are no different. Indeed these most sensitive of creatures are oft more susceptible to the crippling effect inflicted by this arbitrary exercise. Eye Talk was an attempt to confront this dilemma in both process and form.

The film was written, shot and edited during a six week intensive film programme at the New Renaissance Film School in Florence, Italy. The first three weeks of the programme were dedicated to the scriptwriting process. Under the guidance of three tutors, I wrote and rewrote the script four times. Each time a number of elements and plotlines were kept, while those that appeared contrived or superfluous were discarded. This was a painful process. The process of releasing myself from the various images and characters that I created was aided by the use of yoga and other meditative exercises. It gave me the ability to evaluate the project in a more objective, less self judgmental manner.

The script began it’s life as an exploration of one man’s angry confrontation with God. What it ended up being is a love story. Funnily, it was the only genre that I felt incapable of exploring before I started the programme, a testament to it’s value. Through carefully selected exercises that included; communicating to statues, paintings and deep meditation, the student explores avenues in the infinite depths of his or her own personal psyche. Creating with the aid of pure intuition.

The shooting process really forced the intuitive side of me. Without detailed storyboarding or an on set monitor to aid my creative decisions I was forced to handled all shots based purely on feeling. The decision to shoot only with hand held camera supported this choice. Nevertheless, it was a constant battle to accept my intuitive decision as an authoritative guide.

The story changed once more in the editing suite and after ten days of being locked away from all social existence it was complete.

The project was a challenge. A challenge that forced me to stand-up and begin to believe in what I was creating. The script started with a man’s angry confrontation with God. It has ended with it’s creator understanding a bit more about what it actually means to be burdened with God’s responsibility. I now view it as a burden that can only be carried if one has faith in one’s own ability to respond to the situations that one faces and those about which you have no prior experience are only explorable by utilising your intuition. The process is unpredictable but the result offers what the word promises – inner learning.

Julian Ulriches

Director of Eye Talk
The Short Film Corner Cannes Film Festival

The Spiritual Core:

These spiritual foundation worked wonders for me. The hypnotic suggestion reminds you to love yourself always, (something that we need to be reminded of everyday), and it opens you up to allowing positive changes to come into your life. Even after the first class I began to feel better about myself and my future and with time I found I was looking forward to the future, with a sense of wonder and excitement about what was going to happen to me next, instead of the fear I had been feeling before. The classes increased my self-love and positivity while decreasing my fear and negativity. The visualisations focused on increasing our energy levels. These classes gave me the helping hand I needed; gave me the energy I needed to get to a new level of being where I could begin to help myself; where I could meditate better, think more positively, be more calm. Sometimes we just need a helping hand from the outside to get us to this new level; to get past some of our karma. I would recommend these classes to everyone. They would be one of the nicest gifts you could give yourself; a gift of love."
Paula Grogan,
Freelance Writer