Film Focus #12

@fusionfilmfests WSE EUROPE EDITION 2022 BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW ISSUE: 12

From Sudan to Argentina

Turn to page 4 for an exclusive interview with Ricardo Preve - the filmmaker behind this extraordinary documentary

Where Creative Minds Meet

So this is Christmas... well almost!

Dear Filmmakers & Creative’s, It is our absolute pleasure to welcome you to our latest Film Festival!

As the last couple of years have shown all of us, everything has changed beyond what we all knew as “normal” but with new ways to tell stories and the industry constantly shifting the quality of films and scripts on the festival circuit are reaching new grounds.

of the projects you have created are wonderful and inspiring! Offering education, humour, analysis and narratives that really capture the viewer.

Navigating the world of independent film festivals can often be a challenge in itself. The aim of Fusion International Film Festivals is to continue to support the industry offering a platform for like minded creative’s to meet and collaborate. We will always be on hand to offer industry advice should you need it.

As always, we have received an incredible number of submissions with projects of the highest quality, so a huge congratulations for your official selection. We know how much hard work and dedication goes into each aspect of making a film, this is why we recognise such a wide range of categories with our film festival nominations and awards.

We love independent cinema and the stories that are told - we feel so fortunate to connect with so many of you! The diversity

Film Focus Is Published By Fusion Film & Media Europe Limited Steve Grossmith Editor & Co-Director steve@fusionfilmfestivals.com Dan Hickford Festival Coordinator & Co-Director dan@fusionfilmfestivals.com Stephen Mina Graphic Designer/Illustrator & Head of Technical mina@fusionfilmfestivals.com

We have been fortunate enough to connect with a number of industry professionals ranging from UK and international distributors, expert marketing consultants, production houses, VOD platforms and Film Commissions who are keen to support our festivals whether physical or virtual.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: STUART WATSON

Thank you to our Festival Jury for supporting us and our wonderful filmmakers & script writers. Your feedback and insight allows us to recognise our winners in an honest and transparent way.

Our Fusion Team is small but our hearts and passion for what we do is immeasurable - thanks goes to the other members of the team and in particular Stephen Mina for all his hard work and for continually making our concepts a reality as we grow from festival to festival. Stephen really is a wonderful asset to us, his technical expertise matched with his skills as a graphic designer are priceless and really allow us to build without limitation.

Finally, Fusion International Film Festivals would be just a dream without the support of Colin and Laura Graham our festival ambassadors - we thank you eternally for sharing our passion and believing in us from day one.

Take care and all of the best for the future!

Steve & Dan

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From Sudan to Argentina Ricardo Preve is a truly gifted Argentine filmmaker and has produced a number of thought provoking, beautifully crafted documentaries and movies that have won numerous awards globally and here we were fortunate enough to chat to him about his latest film.

Please can you tell us about the background to this film – why it was made, how you became involved and so on?

I was working with Sudanese filmmakers and archeologists on my prior documentary, “Coming Home”, and I kept hearing from them about the “French Argentine” expeditions to the region of Nubia in the 1960s.

Given the distance between Sudan and Argentina, and Argentina’s recurring economic crises, I thought that this was an error of translation, and that perhaps the joint expedition in question was Algerian, or even Australian. But sometime later I was reading an archeology magazine, and in it there was a photograph with the caption “Taken at the house of the French Argentine expedition to Nubia, 1961-1963”. So, I realized that WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

it was indeed something that involved my country of origin, and that it was a completely unknown story in Argentina. And, if there is one thing I learned about making documentaries, it is to always pursue the untold stories.

I started asking about, and researching the main character of the story, Dr. Abraham Rosenvasser (1896-1983). I discovered a fascinating scientist and human being (I will not say more about him here, his story is told in the film), who is little known but who has left a strong legacy in the scientific community of Argentina. Through some archeology and anthropology friends I was able to reach his daughter, Dr. Elsa Rosenvasser Feher, who was about to turn 90 and lived in California in the US, and she and I began collaborating to produce “From Sudan to Argentina”.

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Having Elsa Rosenvasser Feher as part of this film was integral, but is it possible to give us some more insight to her knowledge, support and background to this project?

Elsa, in addition to being Dr. Rosenvasser’s daughter, had actually been part of the first of the three expeditions to the temple at Aksha in the Nubia region of Sudan. So she had first-hand knowledge of her father’s race against time to save thousands of artifacts from the time of the great Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II from being destroyed by the construction of the Aswan dam on the river Nile in southern Egypt. A brilliant scientist of her own (she earned a PhD in physics from Columbia University), she remembered everything about the events of such a long time ago, and

shared with me photographs, videos, and documents which were invaluable for the production of the film.

It’s really important for budding documentary filmmakers to know how essential it is to research a potential project, please can you give an idea of how you approached this for “From Sudan to Argentina” and how much work and time went into this?

It is very true that the research process is fundamental in the development of a documentary.

Sometimes, it can be a difficult and lengthy process: it took me 5 years to complete my prior film, “Coming Home”. But, in this case, Elsa’s photographic

memory, and the vast archive of information that she shared with us, made the task quick and easy.

Having to use archival footage can push the cost of a project to a very high level, how difficult is it to use this type of footage as sparingly as possible, particularly when you know that this type of footage may be essential?

This is a huge obstacle for the production of small, independent documentaries. There have been cases when I have had to pay thousands of dollars or euros for a minute of archival footage. And, you better hope that you can get all you need within a single minute of time code: using even

a single frame from another minute triggers additional costs. There are, however, some things that you can do: some material is posted freely on the internet (particularly on YouTube), and if you are only using a small fragment of, say, a period film, there is a presumption of “fair use” that allows you to use brief segments of archival material. But this is a complex subject, and you do need to check the specifics with a lawyer.

Please can you let us know the challenges of travelling & filming in Sudan, possibly over a number of weeks or even months?

I love the country and the people of Sudan. It is true that there are significant challenges to filming there, but it would take another whole interview to talk about them.

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Approximately how much raw footage did you have and how difficult is it to edit this down to a final cut of less than an hour?

I believe that we had about 20 or more hours of raw footage, but you should consider that a considerable part of this was from 5 days of lengthy interviews with Elsa at her home in California. I often feel with other projects that I have an overabundance of material but, in this case, we ended with just the right amount.

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You’ve made a number of really interesting films covering a wide range of subjects but do you have a system or criteria to decide on any given movie, how difficult is it to choose?

It is not difficult actually for me to choose the subject. I do not know why, perhaps from decades of experience, but once I see or hear of a subject, I can tell pretty quickly if I want to tell that story, or not. But, I certainly

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don’t use a structured approach to choosing a subject for my films, like some big production companies and networks do (focus groups, etc.)

For the interviews in your film how do you plan those, how do you do it as efficiently as possible?

Someone once said that you cannot make a good film with boring characters. To me, the secret is in casting either the right actors for a fiction, or choosing the

right characters for a documentary.

If you have that, it is like having Messi, Ronaldo, and Mbappe on your team: things just roll, and they will come to you on a silver platter.

One piece of advice to your documentary film makers: don’t let your characters tell you their story off camera. Ask them to wait until you are rolling. In most cases, the first time is the best.

For the crew required to make your film, how do you

even begin to organize this, especially as this includes a Sudanese 2nd unit?

In my documentary work, I try to keep my crew to the absolute minimum, and not only for cost reasons.

Sometimes documentary subjects are intimidated by large film crews, and freeze in front of the camera. Also, the more people you have, the more things can happen which are not necessarily good: someone leaves a piece of gear on the set which later appears in the shot, one more cell phone that can ring, etc.

The only way I was able to have the privilege of working with my super talented Sudanese 2nd unit was from having invested years of my time establishing relationships in that country.

Can we ask about one sequence in the film - as an example that ’s at around the 41 min mark, it ’s a beautiful unedited shot that runs for around a minute which is tied with the wonderful score, please can you explain how a sequence like that would be orchestrated from start to finish?

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I am much indebted to my director of photography Leonardo Val, and my musical composer Andy Rubinsztejn for that work. We wanted to create a feeling of expectation for the spectator where the camera glided towards the hall where some of the artifacts that were saved by Dr. Rosenvasser are exhibited. Until that moment in the film, we had not shown the collection of objects. But I did not want to do a hard cut to the hall; I wanted to extend the anticipation, to have the public feel as if they were actually walking through the halls of the museum. We shot that sequence with the camera on a gimbal stabilizer, and then composed the music specifically for the shot.

WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

Do you agree that many filmmakers fail to understand the importance of editing?

I don’t like to talk about others. I can tell you that, to me, editing is almost as important in a film as the shooting.

Part of your bio is really interesting in that after nearly 20 years as a manager of natural resource companies, you began a filmmaking career in 2001 – what was the reason behind such a monumental career change?

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You brought a smile to my face with that question, because the answer to it is so uniquely Argentine. I lost my job in the financial crisis of that year (something which we recurrently experience), and, like many other Argentines, I had to reinvent myself.

Perhaps my change was more extreme than that undergone by others, but I am happy I took this new path in my life.

Although it’s always easier in hindsight, is there anything else you wished you had included (or even removed!) from your film?

The great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (who is referred to several

times in “From Sudan to Argentina”) reportedly said that he was happy when his books were published, because then he could stop editing them. I feel the same about my films: once they are released, I don’t look back. I put all my energy into the next project.

Lots.

once told me that 90% of making a documentary was access to the story.

She was right to a point: I believe that you should focus on making films on subjects about which you are uniquely positioned to tell the story. If you don’t have access to the characters or the story materials, then you should look for another project.

But I would add that, for independent filmmakers, it is also about getting funded. Filmmaking is an expensive proposition, and without the money, not much can be done.

What are the toughest aspects of making a film today?

Filmmaking is a laborious, so what keeps you motivated?

When I worked at National Geographic Television a colleague

From childhood I loved the feeling of wonder that you get when you

How much patience is required to be a filmmaker?

tell a story to others, and you see them following you attentively. It is a bit like being a part of the story that you are telling: like becoming a character yourself. I try not to lose that sense of wonder as I work on projects which, at times, can be very challenging.

If you had a budget of $100,000,000 what film would you make and why!?

I would make a film with Nicole Kidman. So that I could meet her.

Documentary Runtime 52 minutes http://www.prevefilms.com/

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Detective Jack Berdett A mysterious organization hacks into a top secret research facility. Detective Jack Berdett is deployed to investigate.

A Short film

by Arek Zasowski

Detective Jack Berdett is a scifi comedy written, directed and produced by the award winning actor, director and filmmaker Arek Zasowski. The film has recently been nominated by West Europe International Film Festival – Brussels Edition for Best Original Screenplay of a Short Film. It is a very special moment for Arek Zasowski as it is the first time when Zasowski’s work is recognised in the field of screenplay writing.

Detective Jack Berdett, a short scifi film set in New York City in the near future, depicts a story of a half-human and half-cyborg NYPD detective Jack Berdett (portrayed by Arek Zasowski) who is deployed to WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

investigate a recent hack into a top secret research facility conducted by a mysterious organisation.

to create something creative and entertain audiences around the world.

The film which represents a creative international collaboration between UK and US based talented artists and actors who filmed their subsequent parts on two different continents, in San Diego, California and in Scotland in the UK, was filmed and produced in the midst of the recent pandemic which significantly contributed to the production of this motion picture. The film represents a true testament of how successful an international collaboration of artists can be and proves that even adverse circumstances and difficult time, if properly used, can be channelled

Detective Jack Berdett starring: Arek Zasowski who portrays Detective Jack Berdett, Lizet Benrey who portrays Sandra Jones, a mysterious organisation with a charming secretive operative who is being investigated and suspected for the hack, Thom Michael Mulligan who portrays the humorous Homeland Security Officer, Wendy Fout as the CIA Chief and Thomas Peterson who played Sandra’s neighbour.

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The film was put together in the UK, edited by Arek Zasowski who also worked on the design of the 3D

scenes, including the space scene, and the 3D models, namely the flying NYPD robot, as well as created and/ or blended in various visual special effects elements and computer generated images to enhance the visual aspects of the film.

Whilst working on the VFX, a little bit unexpectedly, the creative artistic side of designing the 3D scenes and models, animation and other visual special effects elements have quickly become one of the Arek Zasowski’s relatively newly discovered passions that truly fascinate him. The passion, which Arek is keen to develop further, has already started to be recognised by film festivals, most recently by Vegas Movie Awards in Las Vegas

as the film won the prestigious Best Visual Effects Award of Merit.

Detective Jack Berdett won a multiple film awards at various film festivals including winning the Grand Jury Prize Gold award in Short Film: Best Picture category in Los Angeles. The film was screened on a big screen at prestigious film festivals and movie theatres in the USA, including the world renowned TCL Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood; in Los Angeles and in Culver City, CA, Las Vegas, NV, as well as online, and on the Shorts Daily Roku TV channel.

Apart from the sci-fi visual special effects side of the film, the experienced talented cast who took part in the film,

including: Arek Zasowski, Lizet Benrey, Thom Michael Mulligan, Wendy Fout and Thomas Peterson who in an authentic gentle, charming and occasionally humorous way inhabited individual characters contributed significantly to the ongoing success of Detective Jack Berdett motion picture.

Arek Zasowski is an international award winning actor, writer, director, filmmaker, producer and VFX artist who, since 2016, continues to create interesting film projects to entertain audiences around the world.

Short Film Runtime 5 minutes

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A Zebra-Riding Boy A Zebra-Riding Boy is an exploration of the combination of literature and commerce. Also it is the first film of the impressionism-southern author films, based on Su Tong’s novels Cavalryman and Paper.

Poor bowlegged teenager Zuo Lin has a little dream to ride a horse in the most prosperous place of the city: the sad wooden horse cavalry, the happy zebra cavalry, the bleak and sad iron cavalry, the brilliant paper cavalry all melt into one.

Explanation of the Creation of the Film A Zebra-Riding Boy —— An Exploration of Impressionism -Southern Author Films The Theme Can ordinary people have dreams?

Do the dreams of ordinary people deserve to be affirmed? At the end of “ A Zebra-Riding Boy”, we let Zuo Lin fly on a paper horse for burial.

We want to tell millions of ordinary people like Zuo Lin that a broken dream is more painful than no dream at all. No matter what kind of pain a broken dream brings, it is still necessary to have a dream.

Character building In the film A Zebra-Riding Boy,we portray Zuo Lin, a bowlegged teenager who lives in his dream world with a good heart,through the sad wooden horse cavalry, happy zebra cavalry, bleak and sad iron cavalry, thousand splendid suns paper cavalry.Zuo Lin is the Don Quixote of China’s southern water town and the Don Quixote of the contemporary city.

Exploration of Impressionism (1)Representing the confusion and blossoming of individual lives by the method of impressionism.

“The most painful thing in life is misunderstanding and dislocation. the strewn dance steps, no one can step on the same point, just like Zuo Lin and I, and Qing Qing”. Zuo Lin, A Zheng and Qing Qing may not have really read each other, and may never be able to do so. We are not sure if Qing Qing is really in love with Zuo Lin or not, and we are not sure if Zuo WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

Lin knows that A Zheng is making fun of him. We hope that different viewers will have different opinions.

(2)Color creates an impression, and color is involved in the narrative.

We wanted to use an impressionistic color palette to show the characters’ lives, dreams, and difficulties.

Color is Zuo Li’s perception of the world, it changes with his psychological state, and it allows for multiple interpretations, which is a distinguishing feature of the image “A Zebra-Riding Boy”.

Spirit of the Southern China In the spring of 2017, we talked with Mr. Ren Zhonglun, who was then the chairman of Shanghai Film Group, about the idea of impressionismsouthern writers’ films. Mr. Ren Zhonglun mentioned that Mr. Ang Lee, an internationally renowned director, once suggested that there is a distinction between North and

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South in American films, and that Southern China has very interesting characteristics as well as a wide geographical and market area, so we can consider developing Southern films.

“South” refers to China’s geographical south, but it also refers to the culture and ways of thinking in southern China. The film is also based on Su Tong’s novel. Director Zhang Yimou transformed “Wives and Concubines” into “Raise The Red Lantern” which is full of the rugged and tough flavor of the north; we transformed “Cavalryman” and “Paper” into “ A Zebra-Riding Boy,” which is full of the ebullience, tolerance, mildness, and contract spirit of the south.

Writer’s Film We seek a writer’s film that wants to look at all beings, including ourselves, with a compassionate and unique

gaze; to think more about what the personal characteristics of the character are, from which cultural soil he grew up, how he thinks and acts, what kind of relationships he forms with other people, what kind of conflicts and contradictions occur; how he faces the endless misunderstandings and dislocations of life; where he goes in the midst of frustration and hardship --and so on.

Furthermore, whether the screenplay is an adaptation of a novel or an original, the film writer should pursue a personal and unique theme and bring a strong personal touch to the film. A mediocre, uncreative film cannot be regarded the author film we pursue. Whatever the subject matter, whatever the era, the story is not limited to the time and environment in which the story takes place; it is all related to human beings’ current existence.

At the same time, the author must

have compassion in his heart. Great painters, musicians, writers and directors have hearts filled with compassion for all beings.

It is our world view to see the plight of mankind with compassionate eyes and to fly indefatigably towards the light, always with a romantic spirit.

Director and screenwriter: Fan Xiaotian Fan Xiaotian, A famous scriptwriter, scholar director, producer in China, vice president of the China TV Drama Production Industry Association. This film is the director’s first film. The director has shot more than 40 TV dramas and nearly 1500 episodes from 1995 to 2016, and nearly 1000 episodes have been broadcast overseas.His representative works include Sunny Piggy (TV series), The Shadow Swordsman, Lv Bu and Diaochan, Blush, Temptress Moon, YiP Man and so on.

On March 11, 2013, TVB covered the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore for the global syndication of “IP Man”. Korea and Japan purchased the Korean version and Japanese version respectively for broadcast, German companies purchased the global German, English and French versions of “Ip Man” for broadcast in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, England, the United States, Canada, France etc. The Asia Pacific region also broadcast one after another. Each TV series can be recognized by the public and has won more than 60 national, provincial and municipal famous awards. Since the publication of novels in 1976, seven novels have been published successively, including three short stories, one novella and three novels.

Feature Film Runtime 96 minutes

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Casual Criminals A feature comedy

by Paul L. Carr Casual Criminals can best be described as an oldfashioned slapstick comedy. Unlike my previous films – Busted City, American Barbarian, and Empire –which could be described as political satires with plenty of dark humor, this current film is all about fun. Anything goes. The story entertains and surprises with plenty of plot twists. I see the long lineage of great comedic films that influenced me and I enjoyed so much while growing up by film makers like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, The Three Stooges, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Blake Edwards, Rob Reiner, Harold Ramis, and others. Somehow it led to a film named Casual Criminals. Enjoy!

Director/Producer Paul L. Carr can be contacted at: bustedcity@gmail.com FB – @bustedcityproductions IG - @pabloglobal Runtime 81 minutes

WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

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Fear Abides, Nightly Glistens A stunning short film by Mark Solter

Fear Abides, Nightly Glistens began as a filmed experiment over two nights in A hotel room in Brussels, Belgium.

Jeffrey Gane (Writer, Producer, Mr. Baldivino) had written a short script exploring the theme of ‘letting go ‘ driven by a weary and malcontented vampire, Mr. Baldivino, who sits at a desk in his room writing a letter to his old friend, Tzigane. It is his hope that after an unhappy last parting between these two that this invitation to his friend will enable Baldivino to see him once again and confide in him something he has been wrestling with since his departure. He needs his friends’ help and the difficulty in the telling may well be matched by his friend’s reaction to it. Although his nature has seen him course through

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the ages, he now finds himself hemmed in, fearful, and hurt with blood on his hands and no appetite to drink it. This dark overwhelming addiction, this bloody thirst for life, is tempered by the knowledge that salvation is near-at-hand and he may finally treasure some peace. Despite the affection of Baldivino’s invitation, Tzigane is cautious and, it seems, has already made up his mind on what action is needed for Baldivino’s holiday in the sun. We hope that you will enjoy exploring this unique film in as much as we enjoyed crafting it.

Mark has collaborated on a number of autonomous films worldwide, including Tin Matchbox Empty, The Moon Smells Like Gunpowder, Twins And Wives, Mangrove, 45rpm, Fear Abides Nightly Glistens, Fear Up Harsh, and Everyone Writes Memoir. A multiple film festival award winner, he is currently developing several scripted properties including Gentleman Crook, Or Current Resident, A Pen For The Blind In The Knife Drawer, and Total State Machine.

Mark Solter is an American cinematographer, director, screenwriter working in feature, commercial, and branded content.

https://www.facebook.com/ alittleimmortalstory Short Film Runtime 12 minutes

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Tides of Memory A Beautiful Short Film

By Luisa Mariani

“Tides of Memory”, a timeless emotional and spiritual journey, is a short film written, directed and starring Luisa Mariani. This existential exercise delving into memory is inspired by the monumental murals “Triumphs and Laments” by the renowned polyhedric artist William Kentridge, which flanked the River Tiber in Rome. As Kentridge’s fading stencils focused on the impermanence of art, Mariani investigates the value of oblivion and disorientation of the loss of memory.

Through a series of encounters between colourful characters, her craft entertainingly conveys the pitfalls, the illusions and subconscious projections that are inevitably involved in gathering personal recollections.

Through captivating imagery, dialogue and real life stories, crucial themes emerge: from diversity of traditions and religions (a poignant love story between Lian, a Chinese boy, and Abir, an Egyptian girl), to exclusion (in the tribulations of Robin, a Roma King living by the Tiber), to emigration (Simon, a young Italian actor trying to build a future in London), to Art and Memory (through the eyes of two contemporary artists, WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

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William Kentridge and Marco Angelini), and to Stendhal’s Syndrome (where three young women’s thefts in a gallery are spurred by past passions and dreams). Finally, nowhere is the key note theme of what role Art is playing in this foggy world better addressed than in the garden conversation between Luisa Mariani and Polish Actor Jan. The films of Luisa Mariani, who is searching for a “space where time has a meaning”, have won first prize at the Festival FEDIC and the Gold Award for Best Short Film at the International New York Film Festival.

“Tides of Memory” has today been selected for the South Europe International Film Festival in Valencia, Spain.

Eclectic in her tastes and interests, this talented artist’s roots can be traced to her never-ending love for theatre and dance. https://www.luisamariani.com/it/maree-della-memoria/ Short Film Runtime 27 Minutes

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Signal It’s the last snow breeze at the beginning of the spring in 1940 as Lieutenant Felicjan Pawlak enters the walls of Silberberg (pl. Srebrna Góra) Oflag VIII B. It’s the second prison he’s been sent to after the failed escape from his preceding confinement. Oflags were German camps for prisoners of war during WWI and WWII for army officers.

Established in accordance with Hague and Geneva Conventions, the officers were not forced to work in the Oflags.

The one in Srebrna Góra fortification was created as the toughest to escape prison for individuals that managed to escape previous lockup and were recaptured later on during War. That is a brief summary of a true event based, full length feature debut of a creative team based in Poland - Krzysztof Rymsza (Director) and Patryk Dróżdż (Director of Photography). The project is currently in development as the team is in search of the main investor for the whole undertaking. Part of the process was the implementation of “Signal” as a short film, nominated in four categories on WSE Europe IFF (best directing, cinematography, editing and costumes).

With creating the short, Patryk and Krzysztof wanted to gain the trust of the potential producers as the film showcases their knowledge and experience gained in the industry.

Being the official cinema debut, it would actually be the second full length feature shot by the team.

After graduating from film school in Warsaw, Krzysztof and Patryk developed an off-cinema movie “Memento Mori” in 2018 (premiered in 2019). In fact, their long time collaboration started back in the school, when after working on etudes they started professional work on commercial spots and short features.

“The story of escape from Srebrna Góra is unique. No feature film nor drama book based on those events has been developed so far so we’d WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

be the first to explore it in cinema” says the director. “As Poles we have a tough history connected with WWII but we don’t want to brutalize the plot of the film. We want to focus on action-driven history with an ‘escape from the prison’ themed approach.

No battle scenes, just character and action driven drama. Purely spythriller genre.”

“We want the camera to stay close to our characters so the audience would explore the new surroundings (the camp) along with newly arrived officers, who are yet to see what awaits them “behind the corner” mentions Patryk when asked about the general concept for the photography. “For me the most important aspect of cinematography

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is lighting - noticeable, tangible, creating the aura of dark mystery or secret. Dynamic light that combines colours, creates dynamics and depth, brings up the 3 dimensionality. My approach isn’t necessarily realistic.

As the DOP in drama features I create my own world from scratch, I experiment with colours and contrasts as long as it enhances the story and doesn’t the break viewers’ immersion. I’m not a documentalist I’m a creator with the most powerful tool by my side - the imagination of myself and the crew I’m working with”.

Throughout the years Patryk and Krzysztof have developed their workflow. After the first reading of the script Patryk notes the shot-list,

YOU CAN VISIT DAKKA PROD. LTD WEBSITE TO CHECK THE PORTFOLIO OF PATRYK AND KRZYSZTOF: WWW.DAKKAPROD.COM PATRYK’S INSTAGRAM: @PATRYKDROZDZ | PHOTOS USED IN THIS ARTICLE: @SIGNEDBYFOX @VILK_STEPOVY & COURTESY OF EWELINA LISOŃ & MARCIN ŁOBRÓW

prepares image/painting references and confronts it with Krzysztof’’s vision. Afterwards together they prepare moodboards and storyboard.

“Having Signal production in mind we’ve already done location scouting in Srebrna Góra fortification and its surroundings” mentiones Patryk.

“We’d also shot a film version of storyboard with stand-ins so the whole team knows exactly the camera movement and acting staging. It saved us hours if not days during actual shooting thus we wanted to approach the final project in a similar manner.

Short Film Runtime 14 minutes

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Searching For Camelot Fascinating documentaries from Director Roger Paradiso showcase a time of hope, change, tension, and dismay, all while ‘Searching for Camelot’… —Daria Magazine

This is a personal story to me. It was my coming-of-age story starting with hope and ending in tragedy. This tragic story of Jack, Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy could have been written by Shakespeare or Sophocles. It is a timeless story of love, power, and fate.

Searching for Camelot is a story about a group of young people aka “Millennials” who go on a journey with me to discover why Jacqueline Kennedy called her husband’s Presidency “Camelot.” – Director Roger Paradiso The Stars were aligned for Jacqueline and John Kennedy.

She was one of the youngest first ladies. He was the youngest president of the United States of America.

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They were swept in by a hurricane of change demanded by the greatest generation in modern history. We were a country reborn with a youthful Queen and King. It was the days when the best and brightest served their country.

A president asked us not to ask what the country can do for us, but what we could do for our country. It ended tragically with the most mysterious murder in history. It was a moment in our history that was called “Camelot”.

In our search for Camelot, we discover an epic time in our history full of blood, tears and a romance that will last forever.

Feature Film Runtime 90 minutes

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Patriots

When the line between protecting the republic and being an enemy of the state is blurred, the realities of true freedom are questioned.

FILM: PATRIOTS - JOE CAMARENO AS ERIC SIMMS

Written, produced and starring Joe Camareno

Brash CIA operative Eric Simms is on a personal mission to set things straight after a mishap on an unsanctioned black ops operation in the recent past. Career long loyalties are questioned as he uncovers a sinister plot at play. Unsure of what to do, he justifies his motives and is then faced with the ultimate question of loyalty. What makes one a steadfast defender of a republic, one who goes against protocol to make those difficult choices in righting a perceived wrong, or one who toes the line and follows procedure?

This short-form spy thriller is being developed into a full-length feature film.

Biography Joe Camareno is an American actor who hails from Los Angeles.

He is also a multi-award-winning producer, writer, director, and a producing partner and co-owner of Celtino Entertainment Group (CEG). He was nominated for a 2019 Imagen Award in the Best Actor category for Tin Holiday, alongside Antonio Banderas, Andy Garcia and Anthony Ramos. ​A true New Media pioneer, Joe took Best Audio Recording honors for his comedic podcast Virgin Falls (2006 Parsec Award), one of the first podcasts of its day. Most recently, he was the series director for the web series Failing Upwards, as well as the educational web series Fixing Paco, starring Paul Rodriguez. Joe’s work on “Paco” lead to him taking Best Director honors at the 2012 Reel Rasquache Film and Art Festival, and the series went on to receive a 2013 People’s Telly Silver Award for Best Program or Webisode, in addition to several 2013 and 2014 Imagen Award nominations, Joe was also the series director and producer for the 2010 Imagen Award-winning web series Ylse.

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​ ith a solid background in theater and live show production, W Joe has produced and directed a number of original plays at theater companies across Los Angeles, including the critically acclaimed Lost Angeles at the Lillian Theater in Hollywood.

As a writer of educational children’s shows, Joe co-wrote The Environmental Defenders, produced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW), as a touring production for the Los Angeles County elementary schools from 1995 to 2005. Praised for its merits by educators and a fast favorite among students, The Environmental Defenders won numerous awards, including the 1999 Productivity & Quality Award of Los Angeles County; the 1999 PRSA Prism Award; a 2001 Telly Award; the 2000 National Association of Counties Achievement Award; and the 2000 Association of Visual Communicators Award of Distinction. ​ s an actor, Joe has a career spanning over 25 years in front A of the camera, having performed in more than 400 TV commercials and over 600 radio spots. He has been a campaign actor for Farmers Insurance and AT&T, as well as the campaign voice for Homeland Security, White Castle, Burger King, Taco Bell, Citre Shine Shampoo, and NutriBullet Rx. He has gueststarred on many hit television shows, including memorable recurring roles on The Shield and Unfabulous. Film roles include Expired, Tin Holiday, and Edith & Harvey. ​ Joe recently directed 184 animated episodes in Spanish for Age of Learning / ABC Mouse, and six episodes for the new series Sister President premiering spring 2020. https://www.celtinoentertainment.com/patriots Short film Runtime 7 Minutes

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Laurent Canches | Interview LAURENT J. CANCHES

Laurent Canches has consistently entered thought provoking documentary films into Fusion Film Festivals and his latest work – “3 H 33 Port Des Yachts Street” - is a harrowing tale of a real life event that directly affected him. Here we had a wonderful interview regarding his life story including his multiaward winning film “Vladivostok Terminus”.

An interview

By Steve Grossmith FF: So is that correct that you were born in a bookshop, and growing up there had a profound positive influence on your life?

LC: Yes that’s right, my mother was a bookseller and the small shop was in Paris and my father worked in the print industry. So they were both connected to printing but interestingly, neither of them had any form of higher education. My mother loved many, many novels and often I was alone in the bookshop and from there I began to read…a lot! It was literally hundreds and hundreds of books and it was a discovery of all kinds of books, English, American, Italian, and French (of course!) and always I read so, so much. In fact my next film in 2022 will be about Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher who was a very strange American food writer that died in 1992. She was an incredibly powerful writer who discovered both her life and gastronomy in Dijon.

FF: How did you transition from your love of books to your love of films?

LC: I remember I was 13 or 14 years old and was taken to see a film at the biggest cinema in Paris about the great wall of China – I can’t recall the title!

– and the audience, they were totally silent, sudenly I was asking louder “but WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

where is this fucking wall?” and all the audience was laughing and after that well, I started to watch many, many films. I remember clearly going to see “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid” and you had these beautiful images and music and the wonderful acting. And, when I was 16 I knew that’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to work in the film industry. But it was so difficult to find work in Paris in this industry at that time, so I was studying sociology so I contacted a studio about studying filmmaking with them from a sociological point of view but at the same time to be 2nd assistant director.

So I was very lucky as I was just an ordinary guy starting at the bottom rung and I knew very early on that I would want to direct movies but also knew that I would have to learn a lot first! And I ended up making four films as a production assistant with some great actors including Omar Shariff, he was such a great person and so very generous.

FF: For us, we know you for Documentary films, can you tell us a little more about why you decided that?

LC: Yes, that’s right. Of course I made a couple of narrative films including one that had a large budget and it was very interesting to direct actors. But I think that I decided to make documentary films because I was a sociologist and I thought well what is important in my

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mind and to me it’s the scientific rules and it was the science of being precise with what I want to create. At the same time I wanted to be very passionate.

FF: With “Vladivostok Terminus” it seems (on paper) such a simple idea – to travel east on a train and the film turned out to be fascinating, where did the idea come from and why across Russia?

LC: I’m diabetic so I was always concerned about traveling very far but with the advent of insulin pumps, well that changed everything and it was around the time that I reached 60 and a friend of mine recommended this fabulous trip which I realized I could now do. Suddenly I could meet these amazing Russian people and could talk to people in Moscow about this project. For the 1st part of the film I decided to shoot pirate / guerrilla style but of course it was serious.

FF: We think you should do the same journey across India (or America our Australia)!

LC: (laughs)..possibly! There are so many journeys to imagine but I think for me, India would be worrying and difficult because of my diabetes but, Australia or America…well…

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Script: Shatter To speak of knowledge is futile. All is experiment and adventure. We are forever mixing ourselves with unknown quantities... Virginia Woolf, The Waves.

Script Shatter/Script Scatter - Picture this...

A script

by Bill Hayward

“One sees clearly only with the heart”.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

B I L L

Rather, rooted possibilities of Script Shatter/Scatter, constellations of visual integrity from beginning to end… cinematic context experienced anew… as with music, resonance not story. A bold practice of breath and discovery.

Creating “script” based on visuals.

The great “confounding of word” is what occurs in between.

H A Y W A R D

If we are truly serious about conquering the deep recurring scarring of thousands of years of repeated ruin, Cinema. Considerations. Priorities. we might want to more fully attend Since we are examining /talking Foregrounding sight and the to negotiating new ways of “seeing”. about visual arts here, why can’t employment of visual energy as Finding ways around the repeated script originate in visual experience the primary mediumof of cinematic “Søren Kierkegaard... feared that the advent the camera would create one single recitation and writing of the most and not exclusively in text and creation…Locating cinematic portrait of us all, obliterating the treasure of our differences. Hayward being worldly popular ancient texts,athe “manly word? origination as direct/questioning declarations” of consumption and war. flâneur would seem to take issueconfrontation with the with eminent Dane.” physical/visual Visual reconnaissance: Curiosity. fact…not in a fettered, pretend ritual of A final moment with poet Fernando Shattering. Scattering. Freeing certainty of text and word. Translation.

Richard Merkin, Vanity Pessoa: Fair If the heart had a thought, it the concept of script from its Pose. Cliche. would stop. traditional, limiting definition as an interrelated series of words/texts…a Conspicuously, visuals are what flashes © BILLholy HAYWARD - 2022 “Iconoclasm, breaking the image, the holy image, making it more in doing so….the strangling organization of logic/facts. before us as we die. We hear and see “Thoughtful representations”. man possesses an epic cool that when is reflected in the work.

Hayward’s universe becomes the born and hear and see at death.

ability to travel between and beyond forms, to hybridize, to traffic in aesthetic accident and unconscious@FUSIONFILMFESTS inspiration…”

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Numb

With a towering central performance by Luella Hill Kim, the writer, producer and actress of “Numb”, we were delighted to have the opportunity to spend some time chatting to her about this outstanding and hard hitting short film.

“Escape the pain of fully living or “seize the day,” courageously feeling all of life? A grieving widow’s prescription to get through loss could cost her everything. How far will she go to alleviate the pain? Will living NUMB get her through?

Getting through at any cost may cost Lola everything; her medical license, her two young daughters, and faith in herself.”

Lola has a life-changing decision to make that can go either way.

Could you please tell us a little more about the story of “Numb”?

Well I thought it would be interesting to touch a little more on the practitioner’s life, because you know 9 out of 10 times its from the patients point but I wanted to show it from the people that care about us. So it starts with the story of a single mum who has lost her husband and then it was like after this happens, how does she keep going, how can she get through this? Then she starts to self-medicate and of course she thinks she can WSE EUROPE ONLINE EDITION BRUSSELS|VALENCIA|WARSAW 2022

analyze it and she can handle it and she thinks she has it under control which of course she doesn’t - and then she realizes she needs to make the higher choice and not to lose everything.

One of the most powerful sequences in the film is the moment where you’re pouring the alcohol down the sink, it’s really visceral and very moving, how did you bring this all together?

Although I was wearing many hats to make this film, the 1st thing I had to do is to fall in love with the character of Lola and her situation. That scene, knowing you had passed out and hit rock bottom and when you get to that point and where you’ve experienced true loss which I have, I used that at that moment, the recall came and it was a crescendo and that crescendo was critical and something that I really wanted for that scene. The love on so many levels, the love of a woman as a mum and her career all laid bare and the worry of almost making a decision that cost a patient’s life and then the loss of the medical license and the

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worry of my kids and, the loss of my house and how would I continue to live and all that was manifested in that scene.

Can you give us some background as to why you decided to make “Numb”?

Literally being married to medicine, that’s one part of it and the stress of that world particularly during Covid. And honestly I had this empty “pool” and I wanted to do something with this empty vessel. So I have a writing partner Carlos Moreno and one day he was over at mine and we talked and we came up with the idea and story of “Numb” and this was perfect to fill the empty vessel that I mentioned. Then, speaking with my husband we were talking about how people always say that the grass is always greener and then we had these characters and we wanted it so that they were intertwined within the journey of Lola and to show the truth that everyone has problems. The Uber driver as an example his thing, he wanted love and actually that scene throughout is all love – the woman

with the dogs that’s love – and what Is happiness? Also, my character feels she’s doing this out of love for her daughter and her career and using alcohol and the drugs and then when she finds true love for herself, that’s when the real changes come along and that’s where she lands.

Can you tell us a little about the how challenging it was to be the writer, actor and producer on “Numb”?

Swapping hats as the writer, actor and producer was a bit crazy at times but beautiful crazy, so I can’t wait to do it all over again. I learned so much.

I enjoyed every moment in the making of Numb; it allowed me to work on different aspects of the art of filmmaking. Also, being able to pick your team was a game changer, something that, as an actor, you have no control over. I loved the intimacy and connectedness between the director and the cinematographer. Carlos, Robert, and Elnar were wonderful to work with, and it is a luxury to have that trust; without it, the process could have gone a thousand different ways. Mutual respect made the journey enjoyable and a creative feast; for this, I’m thankful and ready to go again. .

I would love to work in locations outside Los Angles or even the US to experience and see more of the world.

Had you always planned to play the part of Lola?

I did have the intention of creating the vehicle that I could work in and not only for me; I have my daughters in this project and one of my daughters is a singer and musical writer so she wrote the musical soundtrack and my other daughter did a singing piece in

it too and in fact, having them in this movie was the icing on the cake. I also wanted to work with the other people in this film and that made the project very special. Also, my husband worked with me on the medical aspect and that was important to me to make sure it tracked the medical terms and was authentic and the experience of the viewer would be that they would believe that this was a real doctors office.

What about making this into a full feature film?

That had crossed my mind! This is my 1st film doing everything and you know the challenge is stepping in as an actor and then stepping out as a producer and it really could have been a feature and I would love to have made it as a feature! I’m an actor 1st and I fall in love with these characters and that’s great and to see that come to life and that’s great and I have to say that I wished that I had had more time and on that note, a feature would have been a luxury, to flesh it out a little more but with shorts, I feel that there is a trick to it – and a rhythm.

So you’ve been offered the film of the decade, but you can only act, produce or write it, which would you choose and why?

So absolutely 100% my 1st love is acting so it would have to be that! You fall in love with the characters and it’s so much fun when you see them come to life…nothing beats that! Also, now I have so much respect for the other side of the business, it’s not easy but its all part of the art…

Short Film Runtime 20 minutes https://www.instagram.com/her.storiez

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