From the masterclasses designed to rediscover the historic center of Cosenza in a new way to the documentary dedicated to Oscar winner Tony Gaudio. Two new projects launched by the cine-audiovisual production company “Open Fields Productions”. The initiatives were presented at Villa Rendano in Cosenza and will see the historic center of the Bruzio capital as the protagonist.
In particular, the first three “MovieClass” courses will start in June 2024. This is what the teachers Raffaele Cimino, Ludovica Chiarino-EcoMuvi and Laura Migliano announced, who will hold masterclasses on the topics of communication for the web, the relationship between cinema and sustainability and digital production. The lessons will be held in person in various places in the historic center of Cosenza: a way to rediscover the territory in an unprecedented way through the eye of the seventh art and enhance the most significant places of the city, thus contributing to its cultural rebirth, as mentioned also present were Francesco Alimena, Councilor of the Municipality delegated to implement the Urban Agenda, and Elio Fortunato, representing CosMo, a new portal that includes initiatives and activities in the historic area of the city.
«Through these masterclasses, we want to explore the new languages of digital productions, in cinema and audiovisual, with particular attention to Virtual Reality, the Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence and we also want to open reflections on issues related to sustainability in the cinema sector – explained Ivana Russo, project manager of MovieClass together with Fabrizio Nucci –. A topic linked not only to the environmental issue, but which also has repercussions in terms of economic and social sustainability.”
Film lessons
All lessons will be fully documented to be subsequently re-proposed on-demand, for a fee, on the openfieldsproductions.com website.
Particular attention will be paid to the inclusion of fragile subjects and the accessibility of the courses carried out.
The in-person lessons, thanks to the collaboration with the Cosenza Welfare Department, will in fact be offered free of charge to a selected number of fellow citizens belonging to economically disadvantaged categories. In the web version, the contents will also be offered with LIS interpreting and with subtitles, in order to facilitate the greatest possible use, thanks to the collaboration with Donata Chiricò, professor of Philosophy of Language at Unical and expert in the theory and language of signs.
The docu-film about Tony Gaudio
Instead, the anticipation is growing for “The Lost Legacy of Tony Gaudio”, the documentary by Alessandro and Fabrizio Nucci dedicated to Tony Gaudio, a pioneer of cinematographic photography born in the city of Bruzi, the first Italian in history to win the coveted Oscar Award. A work between fiction and documentary, a research conducted between Italy and the United States, inspired by a sign present on a building in Corso Telesio, in the center of Cosenza.
«There are often small details in our cities, riches that we are probably too used to seeing and don’t delve into enough – said the director and author Alessandro Nucci -. We’ve all seen this “Foto Gaudio” sign over the years, taking a walk along Corso Telesio, but we’ve never actually asked ourselves what it was. We discovered that in the early twentieth century it was a very important photographic studio in the South, led by three brothers, two of whom emigrated to the United States and became great directors of photography. One of these was Tony Gaudio and we thought that telling his story was something absolutely necessary, a duty to pay homage to him and also to the history of our city.”
On the same “Foto Gaudio” building, as recalled by the mayor of Cosenza, present at the event, about a year and a half ago, on the initiative of Open Fields, a commemorative plaque was placed to remember the figure of Tony Gaudio to the citizens and the all passers-by on Corso Telesio.
Trailer presented
During the event, moderated by Ernesto Orrico, the trailer of the documentary, currently nominated for various film festivals, was presented as an absolute preview.
The presentation was also enriched by the video contribution of the Oscar winner Mauro Fiore, a Calabrian director of photography who also emigrated to the United States like Gaudio, as well as one of the numerous protagonists of the documentary, who sent his greetings reiterating his pride for having took part in this work; as well as the presence at Villa Rendano of the actor Howard Ray, who plays the role of a detective on the trail of the statuette of Tony Gaudio, now lost, of the composer of the music Alessandro Papaianni and of the Cineteca della Calabria.
The film “The Lost Legacy” is made together with partners: Officina38, Broken Typewriter, Tony Gaudio Foundation, Calabria Film Commission, Film Commission Turin Piedmont, Municipalities of Cosenza, Turin and Marzi, La Molazza and Carpe Naturam.
