Here we go again! My film has been selected for the 2018's edition of Screenplay, the best film festival in the Shetland! I'm very excited to show my work to the people belonging to the beautiful place I have based my film on, Shetland and its people have left me with such amazing memories...I really hope you folks will enjoy it and see a little bit of yourself in my story! Meanwhile a big thank you to every Shetlanders who helped me make Wulver's Land! Click on the image to see the full programme of the festival.
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I know the image is totally not from Wulver's Land but it definitely is a good representation of my country..food, always a good choice!
Anyways, I am currently back in Italy and I have decided that I need to add Italian subtitles to this film...Wulver's Land is also about Italy, italian landscapes and of course my roots so I think it deserves some chances to be understood in my language too! Stay tuned for (hopefully) some Italian screenings! I am super excited to announce that Wulver's Land has been selected for the screening night March, 15th at the SYN Festival Edinburgh! It's amazing to witness the very first tiny success of my hard work :)
If you are around you should come to the screening, at the end there'll be a Q&A and (if I manage to come back from Italy in time...yup, I'm in Italy right now!) I will answer all your questions! Together with Wulver's Land, there's going to be some other beautiful short films all around the theme Odyssey, the perfect topic for these challenging times! Come see them! Check the festival website, down here. The film is done! hurray! But I'm trying to submit it to film festivals so you have to be a little bit more patient in order to see it online. I'm not very confident about it being good enough to be selected by a film festival...it's a student production after all but you know, it doesn't hurt to try! Meanwhile, here are some of the stills taken from the final version of Wulver's Land. Enjoy :)
Few things in the narrative, aesthetics and meaning have changed while editing my short film, that's why a new poster was needed for the final release! What do you think?
Just a really interesting German documentary about the Shetland Islands. Enjoy!
I knew that this creature was a fascinating subject for other beautiful creative minds and apparently I am not the only one thinking that making a final year project on the Wulver is an amazing idea! Check this out! As I get into the editing of this short film I realize that this is not just a Scottish Quest...it's definitely something more intricate, complicated and beyond the mere discovering a land! Should I change the title?...or should I add something to the title?
I had the chance to be sponsored by the Ross Fund run by the CSCS for my trip to the Shetland and I'm more than happy now to write the report of my travel which is shortly going to be published in its super interesting website! Check it out!
Not that I always feel like an idiot abroad...sometimes I do...but in this tv series, I can definitely relate to some feelings and adventures happening to the protagonist. It's not just interesting the peculiar way he copes with the new cultures and journeys, it's also extremely funny! A must watch! It's amazing how the weather defines not just the country but the culture itself. In Scotland as well in the Shetland, the weather changes quickly from a timid and pale sun to a windy and heavy rain in a matter of 1 minutes, that's why I think you learn that clothes have to be always comfortable and waterproof even if it's unusually sunny outside. In Italy, we have more defined seasons and summertime here is literally sun time every single moment, bringing people to care more about the fancy and fashionable outfits than the actual purpose of the worn clothes. I'm in my hometown right now experiencing the 32° hotness in all its power and I'm starting missing the fresh wind and the cold gloomy days of Scotland.
I remember the wind hitting my face and the huge cloud sitting on the top of the most northerly spot in the UK. It was preventing me from seeing the actual coast but it was interesting experiencing the feeling of not knowing and seeing where the land finishes ahead me...was it 10 meters? Maybe few steps? what if I carried on inside the cloud and fall into the Ocean? While staying in Unst I had a feeling of being home, somehow the landscape and the atmosphere reminded me of Piana di Marcesina. Marcesina is a plain on the top of one of the mountains close to my mother's hometown where I used to go skiing during winter time and just playing with the kite and hiking during summertime. It's a quite windy place, it has sheep and cows all around with almost no houses, just fields and woods...it's basically Unst without the sea! I'm not sure if it was just my opinion and my unconscious need to find something comfortable and familiar in a foreign land but It's incredible how such further away places from each other can have so much in common...I'd like to know if a Shetlander would feel the same about Marcesina... Marcesina, 2015 Unst, 2017
Shooting in the Wulver's Hool was really exciting! Do you spot him in this photo or he is hiding somewhere away from the nosy eye of the camera? I guess you have to wait a little bit more to find out what happened, meanwhile, thank you to Bryan and his family who let me film in this fascinating house!
And I'm back. So sorry that I did not update the blog during the trip but I did not really think about the possibility that some places in our beautiful world do not have a strong internet connection...Unst is one of them, but believe me, you don't really need the internet there or any social media to be distracted with. Shetland is a place to explore, to breath, to experience with all your senses! It's hard to describe how it went. It was challenging and stressful because of me being alone so far away and in need of managing all the problems of filming but at the same time, it was amazing and a great working, life experience. I met wonderful people who helped me and welcomed me in their homes and community of the Isle with such a warm attitude...I think I still have to process everything though! I've discovered lots of truths about the Wulver and Unst, a lot of information that I thought to be true in the first place turned out to be wrong or slightly different, opening up new theories behind this fascinating creature. I'll keep you update!
On Sunday I'll be starting my second trip to film for Scottish Quest! Exciting meetings and places are waiting for me in Unst; hopefully, I'll be able to catch everything that I need to make this short film a beautiful, meaningful and engaging piece of work. This time I'll be updating my blog as I go with one post per day, at least I will try...stay tuned!
I am trying to think about a Graphic package to present my project to eventually interested associations or even possible founders...this is the result of one mad afternoon on Photoshop!
Here we go again, organising the second journey which should bring me hopefully to the Wulver! I was just browsing to understand better what I should film during my stay in the Shetland...everything is extremely provisional and to be decided but if I have the chance I'm definitely going to the Shetland Reel Music Festival. Just the name is an exclamation of tradition and folklore and since the soundtrack of Scottish Quest has to match the strong local identity element that I'm exploring..this could be a good place where to find brilliant musicians and good inspiration. After all, music had always played an important role in every project I ever made and I believe it's one of the purest representation and expression of an identity, individual or collective that is. Meanwhile, I kind of already found two extremely interesting artists...you should definitely listen to this band called...guess? Wulver! Hopefully, I'll have the chance to meet them while travelling...I really like the music and I'm very curious to hear what they know about the Wulver...Why do they decide to call themselves like this unknown creature?
By the Ocean we Unite is a team of scientists, sailors, volunteers and nature lovers gathered together to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the seas. I had the pleasure to join them as a filmmaker for few days in their expedition in Scotland! I could record their practice, brainstorming and fun moments that these guys have daily on board of the Fantastiko, the sailing boat that brought them across the northern see. I joined them because I truly believe that it's an important topic to discuss and because it's a new challenging experience that let me grow as filmmaker, nature lover and team worker. I've learnt so much and had so much fun during those days that I almost forgot that I was there to work...yes, there's going to be a documentary about this Scottish expedition! We sailed through Loch Ness, looking for Nessy and gathering some samples, it's amazing how clean and well maintained is the Scottish environment in the Highlands... we didn't found Nessy but neither any plastic in the Loch Ness' waters! It's just so easy to follow few simple tricks in order to keep our seas (and lochs) clean and healthy, everyone can do something and help these guys spread the message! You should definitely check them out in the socials and maybe join them for a sailing experience as well. By the way, back to the Wulver...I still haven't found it yet but the sailing experience has opened new strategies and thoughts that could help me make my documentary. It's like By the Ocean we Unite has linked with the Scottish Quests, giving me a more aware sense of what the Wulver stands for in my project.
When I started looking for the Wulver I knew it was much connected with rediscovering nature and my roots as a human living in the natural environment but sailing with these experts has made me think that it's not just a representations of my reconnection with my roots but a wider research of a lost Scotland's humanity and landscapes that are slowly, like the rest of the World, being eaten by us, humans. What if instead of looking for a way to go and live on Mars after we consumed all the resources of Earth, we simply try to be more loving and careful with our planet? I think the Wulver would agree with me... I was thinking that experiencing Scotland and travelling in order to get to know the culture means also trying out those little structural differences between Italy and the UK. For example driving on the left side of the road instead of the right one. This week I got the chance to drive a right seated car in the city of Glasgow and outside in the countryside. I have to say, it was less scary than I expected but very very weird and surprisingly tiring. I had to stay focus and tens every second because my brain was prone to simply bring me on the opposite lane but on the third day I got used to it and it did not feel weird at all at the end! I wonder how it would be to come back to Italy and drive again today...now my own country's road rules are weird! Scottish Quest is also being exposed to everything that our Scottish Wulver would do...Do you think the Wulver can drive? I guess the modern Wulver would drive to get its fish and to help lost travellers...I got lost several times while driving through the city and I was almost hoping to find it in a corner of a palace, ready to guide me through those complicated one-way roads full of traffic...but it wisely did not show up! My project would not have had any sense if it was just so easy to find it and to absorb the Scottish culture in a way that a foreign like me could fully understand it. I am just going to keep looking for it!
Just a more theoretical thought about Scottish Quest. I’m sorry, this is going to be quite boring if you don’t like academic reflection but still interesting if you’re into ethnology. My project includes elements such as cultures, journeys and identities because my main interests focus around my personal belief that travelling physically and mentally is one of the best way to make ourselves better people, overcoming barriers, growing and improving our lives. As a filmmaker I want to make films, including this project, that connect with people, that push my audience to actively and emotionally react while addressing important and truthful messages. So I feel the need now to explore something that would help me to achieve my main vision as filmmaker. What’s the first element that deeply affects one’s film? Well, the filmmaker itself, the personal point of view and the cultural background. While reading Cinematic Journeys by Dimitris Eleftheriotis I found really interesting how the authorship of the filmmaker in films made within the “road film” documentary framework works as creative feature. How does the cultural background of the filmmaker as a foreign person exploring another country effects the documentary form? In which way is this effecting the choices (aesthetically and narrative wise) made by the filmmaker in order to make the film? How does the subjective point of view of the foreign filmmaker effects the vision that the audience is going to have of the culture/country in the documentary film?
Dimitris also addresses the cultural background of the audience which is going to perceive the film through a series of selective layers set by the culture of the filmmaker, the country depicted, the language used and their own personal background. Those are quite interesting research questions that I’m going to have to explore as part of my thesis…I’ll come back to you later on in the process, hopefully with some answers. Meanwhile you can have a look at Cinematic Journeys, very enlightening!
And here we go the final draft of the teaser. Now it’s time to organize the next trips,
carrying on with the Scottish Quest! Enjoy! |
The projectThis blog is a collection of images, videos, thoughts ..following the research process for my documentary project: Wulver's Land! It premiered at the SYN Festival Edinburgh 2018 and it was screened at Screenplay, Shetland’s annual film festival 2018! AuthorItalian living in the UK, filmmaker and overall artist who loves to tell stories about human connections, nature and cultures! A creative mess of ideas and projects. Archives
August 2018
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