Study Italian Neorealism in the Heart of Tuscany

Where better to learn classic filmmaking techniques than Italy? Alt Studio will bring you there.

Earlier this year, we let you know about an incredible opportunity to study filmmaking in Tuscany, Italy this summer with Alt Studio. As part of the five-week program, you work with industry pros who have been nominated for Academy Awards and shown work on the BBC, The Discovery Channel, History Channel, The New York Times, LIFE Magazine, and The London Sunday Times. 

We've since learned more about the program's enticing curriculum, which will help you produce three short films, a personal essay film and a documentary, and is complimented by weekly field trips to other towns in the region like Rome and Siena. Below are examples of two of the projects students will work on in Italy.

Classic Italian Neorealism 

One of the exercises students will participate in is the creation of an homage to Classic Italian Neorealism of the 1950s. See the trailer for a previous semester's work:

Italian Neorealism was the first important film moment after WWII. The first “dogma” movement by necessity, its raw energy and vitality shook the international film scene and produced some of the greatest directors of the 20th century:  Pasolini, Rossellini, DeSica, Visconti and others. At Alt Studio Tuscany, students will create films using the same baseline requirements as the Neorealists did: 

• No professional actors
• All actual locations
• Soundtracks created from diegetic sources only
• Shooting with available light 
• Black and white imagery
• Emphasis on story and authentic performances

Short films with Spazio LUM

Another project is one in which the entire class creates a 5-10 minute film shot on location in and around Lucca, Tuscany. The film will make use of the talents of members of Spazio LUM and their friends as collaborators. Here's a short film that the students made during this exercise last year:

Working with Spazio LUM gives Alt Studio students an opportunity to interact with and learn from local artists, as members are all residents of Lucca involved in issues of contemporary art. Spazio LUM is an independent art space and an active art collaborative founded in 2015. Its activities encompass photography projects, experimental short films, graphic illustrations/novels and performance art. LUM is devoted to the active promotion of a network of emerging local artists who can build a foundation of cutting-edge contemporary art and culture in Tuscany.

AltStudio runs June 1 – June 30, 2017 in Lucca, Italy. Apply here today.