Capalbio Cinema International Short Film Festival

The short film festival in Capalbio feels much more like an extraordinary retreat for filmmakers than it does a festival.  I have met filmmakers from everywhere.  A few specific places:  Cairo, Holland, Vladivostock, Portugal, Norway, Taiwan, Palestine, Italy.  Oh, yeah.  Italy.

Not only am I making new friends who share a passion in filmmaking but I am making these friends just north of Rome, where Tuscany begins, in Maremma.  Capalbio itself is an ancient fortified hill town facing the sea.  The festival is in a village between the citadel and the sea.

The cinema is a beautiful old block of a building.  The plush seats face a huge screen and the black ceiling is so high above us I feel I am watching films under the stars.  We move from the cinema to a restaurant.  We can choose from pasta or risotto.  We are given wine.  We talk about film, cameras, actors and extras, permits, shooting without permits, editing, music, sound.  We talk about the films we've seen -- both the films each has made and the others we viewed but did not make.  The films are all good, and different, and interesting.  Some are odd and some are sweet.  Some I like and some are not my cup of tea.  They are all worth seeing.  Seeing.  It is why we are here.

And then we go to the sea.  The Mediterranian is straight ahead.  The interns drive us in the fresh, black Lancia Deltas to the beach.  They drive very fast.  We hold on.  It is windy.  The sand stings our legs.  It is cold but the sea is warm.  We swim, and dive, and talk about film.  "This is like in a movie!"  Of course.

The interns drive us everywhere.  To an artist's lair for lunch.  To the hotel.  To the cinema.  To the beach.  From the airport, from the stazione, from real life.  They are young and interesting.  Interested.

Interested.  How can you not be interested when there is so much?  Films about revolution in the Middle East; photography from the farthest reaches of Russia; film noir, comedy, farce, suspense, animation; conversation at lunch with a Sicilian; a lecture on tweeting revolution.

Whether a retreat or a festival or both, Capalbio has been a touchstone.  It is inviting, chaotic, franetic.  It is rewarding and energizing.  I will take it with me and am glad to have been invited to be here.






David Rocchio lives, works and writes in Stowe, Vermont. (c) 2011 David Rocchio