Sound Bites - Issue #10 / June 2014

First Look: Choose Your Poison

One of the great things about Community Ed is that we have experts on all kinds of interesting and fun subjects – even mixology, the au courant term for the art or skill of preparing mixed drinks.

And there is no better cocktail expert than our very own Kellie Nicholson, who has been in the business for many years and has come up with an amazing array of specially crafted drinks.

So, for your enjoyment, here is the original recipe for one of her "Designer Cocktails" that you can wow your next party guests with. And don't forget, her class, "The Business of Bartending," begins June 25!

 

Simone Bartesaghi: Living the Dream

Italian film has a rich tradition that has also had a profound influence on world cinema – think of directors like Fellini, Rossellini, Visconti and masterpieces like "Bicycle Thieves" and "La Dolce Vita."

But Simone Bartesaghi laments what's happened to Italian cinema – and indeed Italy itself. That is why the Tuscany native plans to bring a group of emerging Italian filmmakers to SMC Community Education and Los Angeles this August to show them that he has lived the Hollywood dream – and so can they.

"Italy is depressed, not only economically but culturally, and there is not much optimism about the future," the SMC Community Ed film instructor says. "One of the things I learned coming here (to Los Angeles) was that believing in your dreams and fighting for it gives you hope for the future."

Bartesaghi is currently in the process of recruiting a group of emerging filmmakers who will spend two weeks in L.A. They will study under Bartesaghi at Community Ed, visit studios and organizations such as the Directors Guild of America, and even check out equipment rental businesses.

The award-winning filmmaker says he hopes that the study trip will not only provide valuable technical, creative and business lessons but will also give the emerging filmmakers a "re-generating feeling."

Bartesaghi, 42, didn't start out to be a filmmaker. Though he had wanted to be a storyteller since he was a child, he didn't believe there was any way to make a living doing that. So he earned his master's degree in economics from the University of Pisa and became a business consultant.

But he said he always knew that when he turned 30 he would somehow find a way to pursue his bliss. So, in 2001 he gave up his thriving career and took a class at a Milan film school. But he was disappointed in it and turned to the Internet – mostly online material from American universities – to teach himself the art and craft of filmmaking.

Two years later he won several prizes as the writer/director of short films, but the highest recognition came when he won the first and second place at the Milan International Film Festival, which came with two scholarships to study at The Los Angeles Film School. 

"Fortunately, I have a wife (Claudia) who believed in me," he said. And so, the couple came to L.A., thinking it would be a wonderful one-year experience.

But after his one year, he got a job as a film production manager and his new career was launched. Only four years after his arrival in the U.S., he directed his first feature film "Downstream", which had a limited theatrical release and also received the prestigious Accolade Award.

His second feature "Run", a 3D film that he wrote and directed, has won several prizes, including Best Screenplay at the 2013 Milan International Film Festival and Best Emerging Director at the 3D International Film Festival in Los Angeles. The movie is about the new discipline Parkour (Freerunning) with a cast that includes Eric Roberts ("The Dark Knight"), Adrian Pasdar ("Heroes"), Kelsey Chow ("Pair of Kings") and William Moseley ("Chronicles of Narnia").

Meanwhile, Bartesaghi started teaching classes at the Los Angeles Film School and, last fall, at SMC, both through Community Ed and the academic film program. (He no longer teaches at LAFS.)

At Community Ed, he teaches Want to Make a Movie? (the next class begins June 28) and through the regular academic program he teaches Fundamentals of Digital Filmmaking.

"I love teaching. I've always loved the human interaction," he says. "My very first job out of college was to teach computer coding. It's kind of like second nature."

As if all that weren't enough, he has several projects in development and is working to get funding for them, even going to the Cannes Film Festival's Film Market in May to pitch his movies.

And he has just signed a deal with Michael Weise Books, one of the largest film-related book publishers in America, to publish "Director's Six Senses," the book he is currently writing.

Bartesaghi is unabashed in admitting he is living the American dream. "This is the only place you can touch your dreams with your fingers," he says. "You can go to Hollywood Boulevard and literally touch the stars."