Page 20 – NYFA

NYFA Los Angeles Producing Faculty: Interview with Jenni Powell

Filmmaking is a collaborative process, one that may not be possible without the hard work of a producer. A producer sees the entire filmmaking process from start-to-finish, working with the director, cast, and crew to ensure a polished finished product. A producer is essentially the on-set problem solver, and it’s a skill that comes very naturally to Jenni Powell, our Producing Chair at NYFA Los Angeles.

Jenni, who once aspired to be an actor, but quickly found success in producing, is known for her work on the Emmy-award-winning web short, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. On campus, Jenni is an expert in transmedia and world-building with projects, helping students understand the potential of their big ideas. She also ensures students are up to date with the latest in the future of film and television, including the creation of web series, podcasts, and immersive experiences.

NYFA CHAIR OF PRODUCING (LOS ANGELES), JENNI POWELL

Jenni Powell

The Emmy Award-winning producer of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Jenni Powell, has also produced Welcome to Sanditon, Lonelygirl15, Emma Approved, and The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy. Jenni has a long career in production, media, marketing, and content creation and was a producer at Felicia Day’s YouTube Premium channel Geek & Sundry, where she produced the Geekie Award-winning Talkin’ Comics Weekly. For two years, Jenni was the Director of Content and Social Media for VidCon, as well as the Head of Production for NewMediaRockstars. She also founded her own production company, Discourse Productions.

We talked to Jenni about her time at NYFA, her favorite films, and advice for students who wish to follow in her footsteps.

NYFA: How (and when) did you first get interested in producing?

I first came to Los Angeles thinking I was interested in acting. I started exploring that by doing a lot of extra work on TV and Films and volunteering on student projects of friends who were in film school. I found that I couldn’t sit and wait to be called in as an actor and ended up helping out where I could. I was always solving problems as well as anticipating solutions before they were needed…someone told me that is what a producer does, and I was off!

NYFA: What have been your favorite projects/productions to work on to date?

I’m probably most known for producing The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is a vlog-style web series based on the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. It was the first of what became a genre of web series called the Literary Web Series and won an Emmy when the Emmy Awards had just started recognizing digital and short-form content. I’m really proud of being able to be innovative with what could be done with a web series and having been recognized for that work.

NYFA: Tell us about your time at NYFA.

I was drawn to NYFA when I was asked to guest lecture in a Transmedia course in the Screenwriting Department in LA. Just the fact that they were offering a class in the subject was mind-blowing to me, and after my lecture, they asked if I might want to teach it in the future. I jumped at the chance and over time, expanded into teaching other subjects. I also wanted to help with the growth of the school overall and got very involved in the Faculty Senate and helping build Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives at the school. It’s been incredibly rewarding, and I feel very honored to be able to effect real change.

NYFA: What are your favorite courses to teach?

Transmedia (telling stories across multiple platforms) by far and anything having to do with new forms of media (web series, podcasts, immersive experiences, games, etc.). I enjoy building worlds with my projects and sharing those possibilities with students. Film and TV are always going to be highlighted but there are many forms of additional content with opportunities out there for students to explore.

NYFA: How would your students describe your teaching style/methods?

I am extremely collaborative and encourage interaction. If you let me go, I can lecture like mad, but I also want to be sure I’m answering students’ questions and leading the learning process in ways that they will get the most out of. I am also very open with sharing my knowledge of real-world experience, especially in the digital space, because my background in that is very unique, and I want to share both the good and the bad with students so they can make informed decisions about their creative processes.

NYFA: What are your favorite aspects of the film community in Los Angeles?

Though people assume that the film community in Los Angeles must be huge and unapproachable, it could not be farther from the truth. We can’t do what we do without collaboration and so finding your “people” is a key aspect and there are so many places in which pockets of creators make spaces in which to support one another. When I was first exploring web series, there were events happening multiple times a week where we’d get together and share experiences and a lot of my early projects developed out of those events.

NYFA: Who do you believe have been some of the most significant individuals in producing?

In my specialty area, which is Transmedia and Franchising, the individuals that inspired me are Henry Jenkins (reading “Convergence Culture” changed my life), Jeff Gomez (who was instrumental in getting “Transmedia Producer” recognized as an official credit by the Producers Guild of America), Miles Becket (the creator of “lonelygirl15’, which is the first scripted web series), and Felicia Day (creator of “The Guild” and a producer / writer / actor extraordinaire who really showed me what it means to be a multi-hyphenate and being able to balance working within and outside of the Industry while keeping true to your core values).

NYFA: What are some of your favorite films?

I still adore some of the ‘80s films I grew up watching such as The Monster Squad, The Goonies, and The Lost Boys, I also really enjoyed The Crow but actually came to that world through the wonderful comics by James O’Barr. There are also some wonderful stories that build upon The Crow mythology (it’s not only Eric Draven!) that aren’t as well known as the film or some of its, shall we say, “questionable” sequels.

NYFA: What advice would you give a prospective student looking to get started in producing?

The wisest words that were ever said to me that I go back to project after project is, “Jump and the net will appear.” Just begin at the beginning and move your way through it. For a producer, while seeing the big picture is extremely important, in order to not let that big picture overwhelm us, we need to break things down into manageable chunks and be able to delegate and work collaboratively.

Produce Your Own Short Films and Content at NYFA

Want to learn how to produce your own content and short films? Check out our degrees in producing, as well as our certificates, and workshops!

From Australia, To LA, NYFA Australia Alum Mary O’Neill Phillips

New York Film Academy Australia (NYFAA) alum Mary O’Neill Phillips is an Australian native with both acting and hosting credits and audiences in the United States and Australia. After graduating with a Diploma of Screen and Media in Acting for Film, she made the move to Los Angeles and has since become a prominent figure in the country music and outdoor entertainment industry.

Phillips spoke with us about her journey, her passion for the outdoors and the advice she lives by.

The NYFAA alum, who was 25 when she decided to take up acting, says that though the curriculum appeared rigorous she knew she would benefit greatly from it. “I knew this course would be an intensive experience, but it would teach me the skills I needed as an artist to take the next step.” One of the most important things Phillips learned during her time on our Gold Coast campus was the value of being herself in a world of people trying to be each other. Professor Peter Kent shared with her, “there are a million girls out there trying to be the next Angelina Jolie, the next Scarlett Johansson [but] there can only ever be one Mary O’Neill … figure out how to be the best at who you are.”

Mary O’Neill Phillips took this advice with her when she embarked on her journey to Los Angeles to transition to acting in the USA. After making the move, Phillips started a partnership with Outdoor Channel TV. The partnership is now 4 years old and is home to her show Country Outdoor Adventures, where co-founders Mary and Zach Phillips chronicle their outdoor and country music adventures. Despite starting the show during the COVID-19 pandemic, Country Outdoor Adventures has seen great success since its premiere in 2020. The show “has become a renowned entertainment and lifestyle brand in the USA in the country music and outdoor communities.” Phillips has also hosted Country Outdoor LIVE on Outdoor Channel TV Network, Country Outdoors Podcast and the Country Outdoors Concert Series in Nashville. She revealed she enjoys working with Outdoor Channel TV Network because “it gives me an opportunity to encourage people to get outdoors and learn new skills and show more of myself in a raw form.” The self that Peter Kent encouraged her to be.

On top of hosting shows and acting, Mary O’Neill Phillips lends her talents to philanthropic efforts like Artist Against Human Trafficking, a one-night event with performances by top country music artists and panel discussions dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking in Tenessee and across the globe. Most recently, she hosted the 2022 CMA Fest where the likes of Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan and more country music heavy-hitters performed. The festival event is hosted every year and in 2022 the festival raised money for Catch a Dream Foundation, a non-profit organization that grants once-in-a-lifetime hunting and fishing experiences to children 18 years old or younger who have a life-threatening illness.

The poster for CMA Fest: Game Night

Phillips shared that it wasn’t always performances, events, and TV shows – the first few years were a real challenge for her. “Having to fly back and forth from Australia to the USA every 3 months to keep relationships I had made and try to grow my presence. I was very very broke for a long time and gave up a lot to make this happen.” The renowned host shared that there’s only one thing you cannot learn in a class: resilience.

New York Film Academy congratulates Mary O’Neill Phillips on all she has accomplished since completing the Diploma of Screen and Media in Acting for Film.

NYFA Documentary Alum Aya Hamdan’s Film Screens at the MoMA

In the last couple years, the entertainment industry has shifted its focus to a global audience and global representation. 45% of Netflix’s content is forgein and breaking records across the board. Squid Game, the South Korean drama that took the world by storm, became Netflix’s most-watched show days after premiering. But even with Netflix and other streaming giants distributing more non-english content, some filmmakers have opted-out of traditional streaming platforms and created their own platforms like Shasha, an independent streaming service for South-West Asian and North African (SWANA) cinema.

NYFA Documentary alum Aya Hamdan, a Palestinian-American producer, has taken it in another direction – she has started her own production company, 10 MILS. A company through which Hamdan collaborates with SWANA and BIPOC writers and directors to produce short films. The company’s most recent film Dress Up screened at the 2022 The Future of Film is Female screening at the MoMA.

Hamdan spoke with NYFA about representation, her artistic inspirations and building her own production company.

New York Film Academy (NYFA): There’s been a revolution in SWANA streaming and art distribution, what do you attribute this to? How does it feel to be a part of this wave of filmmakers, artists?

Aya Hamdan (AH): I think overall, the market has had an appetite for a global perspective. Especially after a foreign film, Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE, won the Oscar for Best Picture. TV shows like A24’s Ramy, Marvel’s Moon Knight (Directed by NYFA Screenwriting alum Mohamed Diab) featuring the first Egyptian woman superhero Layla El-Faouly, played by May Calamawy and Netflix productions coming out of Jordan, like AlRawabi School for Girls, are setting a precedent that there is a space and market for our stories not only in the SWANA region, but in the United States and globally.

Poster for AlRawabi School for Girls courtesy of Netflix

NYFA: What are some of your artistic inspirations?

AH: Seeing Nadine Labaki’s work as a director and actor was the biggest inspiration for me growing up. Specifically, her film Where Do We Go Now? Seeing another Arab woman creating beautiful films was really the moment I realized, “I can do this too.”

NYFA: What do you hope people take with them after seeing Dress Up?

AH: The logline for Dress Up is: On the eve of her sister’s wedding, Karina brings her “best friend” home to meet the family. In the face of familial expectations her anxieties begin to unravel. Dress Up is a story about hiding under a facade in front of family, a dynamic I believe many can relate to, but it also shows the love and acceptance one finds in their family and community. It’s a story about family, love and some of the anxieties that come with familial expectations.

Still from Dress Up courtesy of 10 MILS

NYFA: What was your experience working on Dress Up?

AH: This was a very intimate and personal story. Writer/director and Sundance Ignite fellow Karina Dandashi starred in the film alongside her real life sister Nadia Dandashi. Her home videos are also incorporated into the film. So it was very important to create a set environment that was safe and familial. We brought together a team of SWANA, BIPOC and queer collaborators that really brought their entire selves to set and created the safe space to tell this story.

NYFA: How has your business background and NYFA experience led you to your current position? In what ways have the two helped you?

AH: My business background has definitely helped me make important strategic decisions as a producer and make the most out of our low budgets. Putting our money in the right places to get that high production value and finding the right collaborators who are in it with you for the right reasons is key.

NYFA’s documentary program and making my documentary films from start to finish really gave me the foundation and skill set needed to collaborate with all the people that help make a film. Mentors from NYFA, like producer Tracie Holder are an incredible inspiration.

NYFA: What has your artistic journey been like?

AH: The community we built around the making of these films. Creating and sharing our stories together has really been the best part of this journey.

It’s important to call out that making short films isn’t easy. We are mostly all balancing making films and working full time jobs that feed our creative work. So that has been a balance. I continue to learn how to manage this balance and it’s worth it.

Aya Hamdan on the set of Cousins

NYFA: What has been your favorite project to work on?

AH: I don’t think I can choose a favorite. They will each have a special place and with each short film I get to learn so much from the experience and my collaborators. With each project, I see myself growing as an independent Producer. But so far there are two short films that I am very excited about. We are at the tail end of post-production and aiming for the 2023 film festival run.

Cousins written and directed by Karina Dandashi (Sundance Ignite Fellow) About two cousins, born in separate countries who reunite in Brooklyn when a run-in with an ex turns the night into a mission of revenge. COUSINS explores cultural disconnect between family members and identity within oneself.

Sweet Refuge written and directed by Maryam Mir and starring Laith Nakli (Ramy) About a Syrian baker who spends his first Eid in the US attempting to sell the sweets he has spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. This heartfelt comedy is a story of immigrants, food, and unexpected connections.

NYFA: What other projects are you working on right now?

AH: I am in pre-production for another beautiful short film and story written by Diana Gonzalez-Morett and directed by Akilah Walker. I’m excited to join these incredible filmmakers and support bringing this story to the screen.

I am in early development for a feature script, Out of Water, written by Karina Dandashi. A coming of age story about an Arab-American woman set in Pittsburgh. The themes in this film are based on our short film Dress Up and Karina’s first short film, Short Shorts. We are also collaborating on and in early development for a TV/Pilot based on the characters in Cousins.

NYFA: How did 10 MILS come to life? What was the process of building this production company?

AH: I established my LLC,10 MILS right after my program at nyfa and I now produce all my short films through my LLC. Not only for Business, finance and legal purposes, but really also to have one platform to promote and talk about the films and stories I choose to support. Every story and writer/director I choose to collaborate with is very intentional. It’s always stories and people I connect with who I want to support as a producer.

New York Film Academy congratulates NYFA Documentary Alum Aya Hamdan for all of her hard work and success!

A Conversation with Award-Winning Actor, Writer & Director Billy Porter

NYFA Community Represented at the 2022 Emmy Award Nominations July 28, 2022

New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the honor of hosting a live video Q&A with Billy Porter, an award-winning actor, singer, director, composer and playwright to discuss his career and directorial debut ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE with NYFA students and alumni. Tova Laiter, Director of the NYFA Q&A-List Series, curated and moderated the event.

Billy Porter won the Emmy Award for “Best Lead Actor” for his portrayal of Pray Tell in FX’s drama Pose, and most recently received his third Emmy nomination for the groundbreaking role. A Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee, Porter has numerous theater credits, including the role of “Lola” in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, which he originated in 2013 and for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as the
Grammy for “Best Musical Theater Album.” He just won his second Tony Award in 2022 for“Best Musical” as a producer on A Strange Loop.

Recently, Porter appeared in the third season of FX’s Pose and Amazon’s Cinderella remake as the Fab G, alongside Camila Cabello and Idina Menzel. Porter appeared in the Paramount Players comedy Like a Boss, alongside Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek, Baz Luhrman’s
The Get Down, and under the direction of Barry Levinson, Porter starred in The Humbling, alongside Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig. He just finished the second season of CBS All Access’ The Twilight Zone, Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Apocalypse, and narrated HBO Max’s Equal. Porter can currently be heard in Disney+’s animated series, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

With all of these awards and big-name projects it’s hard to believe that it wasn’t always this way for Billy Porter. It’s easier to believe that this happened over night. However, as Porter put it he “did not just get here.” What we are witnessing today comes more than 35 years after Porter started his career. Porter attended Carnegie Mellon University, the Drama Division. After graduating, he was cast in Miss Saigon, the original cast, and performed on Broadway for 10 years thereafter. During this time, Porter was auditioning for TV and film to no avail. Pilot season brought little fruit for him as a queer, Black man, with only “6-10 auditions and my white counterparts had hundreds – this is not an exaggeration,” he said. Porter was dismissed in audition rooms and even after he won his first Tony and Grammy Award for “Lola” in Kinky Boots, he was overlooked.

The road had been long and Porter was done. He called his sister and told her, “I’m not doing this anymore.” Right after, tears still streaming down his face and eyes bloodshot, Porter got the call from his manager that would change the trajectory of his career, “Ryan Murphy is doing a show based on the ball culture and you have an audition in three days.”

Pray Tell, Porter’s iconic Pose character, was not originally in the script. For his initial audition, he was called in for the role of a dance teacher on the show. He made his way to Alex Fogel’s office and said “I lived through this … to have me in this and then have me vibrating in another world is a waste of everybody’s time – what about one of the mothers of the house?” Pray Tell was then written for Billy Porter.

Billy Porter is making his directorial debut with Anything’s Possible, a trans teen romantic comedy, set in Porter’s hometown, Pittsburgh. The film follows Kelsa, a confident high school girl who is trans, as she navigates through senior year and a young boy summons the courage to ask her out on a date, knowing the drama it could cause. The film has been lauded as a case study in trans joy. The script, written by Ximena García Lecuona, appeared on the
2020 Blacklist.

The movie can be seen on Amazon Prime video.

During the student Q&A portion of the conversation, Porter shared with NYFA alumni and faculty that he was of the last generation that benefitted from after school art programs that were locally and federally funded. Still, he clarified, “acting is craft like anything else and deserves to be respected and treated as such, even when it is costly.”

Billy Porter ended the conversation about the role of artists in strife times with a quote by Toni Morrison from In Times of Dread, Artist Must Never Choose to Remain Silent:

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

Laiter closed the conversation by thanking Billy Porter for the conversation and the students for their time.

New York Film Academy would like to thank Billy Porter for sharing his time and experience with NYFA students and alumni.

Please note: NYFA does not represent that these are typical or guaranteed career outcomes. The success of our graduates in any chosen professional pathway depends on multiple factors, and the achievements of NYFA alumni are the result of their hard work, perseverance, talent and circumstances.

A CONVERSATION WITH NYFA ALUM AND 9-1-1 LONE STAR ACTOR RONEN RUBINSTEIN

On July 6, NYFA welcomed Ronen Rubinstein at the Los Angeles campus for a Q & A. Rubinstein currently stars in Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1: Lone Star which follows a New York firefighter, Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), who relocates to Austin, Texas with his son T.K. Strand (Rubinstein), where he works to save people’s lives while trying to solve his own personal problems. Rubinstein stars as T.K., an openly gay fireman and recovering addict who works equally as hard in his job, his relationship with his father, and his relationship with his life partner, Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva).

The evening started off with a screening of an emotional and action-packed episode from 9-1-1: Lone Star. Ronen gives a riveting performance in the episode. When the lights came up and Ronen stepped onto the stage, accompanied by Creative Director of Acting Lynda Goodfriend – who moderated – it was clear that the audience was at the edge of their seats.

Ronen spoke about the episode, which explores his character’s history of addiction to drugs. “This episode is near and dear to my heart, as it’s very close to my real life.” Rubinstein candidly spoke about his own opioid problem during high school and admitted that “acting literally saved my life.” When his teachers saw that he was on a “bad path,” his guidance counselor suggested he join the theatre to give him some responsibility and an outlet for his energies. He auditioned for the play, got the lead role, and “when I stepped out on the stage in front of a thousand people, I caught the bug. I realized this may be what I want to do.” It was a good choice. Soon he had a manager interested in him and booked a lead in a low budget film that ended up going to the Sundance Film Festival. He was on his way.

After high school, he realized he needed to learn his craft if he was going to pursue a career in acting. He joined the One-Year Conservatory program at NYFA in New York and praised his time there and his instructors. “I owe so much to this school. There are still essentials I’ve used for 10 years to prepare for roles and still use today.” He mentioned the Scene Study and Acting for Film courses that helped him learn how to break down a script and how to develop a character, their tone, and physicality. “I especially learned to breathe. I remember my Acting for Film teacher saying to me, ‘You can breathe, you know,’ as I was always holding my breath.”

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When asked whether he encountered challenges in his career, he replied with an enthusiastic, “Oh yeah!” At one point when he had not worked for almost a year, he said “I wrote in my journal that if I don’t get a job in a month, I’m going to go work at Trader Joe’s. I love Trader Joe’s. The vibe is good, and you get to wear those Hawaiian shirts!” He continued to say, “But the universe heard me, and Dead of Summer came my way, my first series regular role.”

Ronen spoke to the audience about his role on 9-1-1: Lone Star – the brutal emotional scenes, the intense physical work on the show, and learning the technicalities of playing a paramedic. Ronen had high praise for the producer, Ryan Murphy, who is a “trailblazer for LBGTQ.” Adding, “From the moment you see our characters, it is a normal relationship, no big coming out moments, not overly dramatic…we are reflecting the real world.”

Asked about his dream job, he replied, “Anything with Brad Pitt! Brad Pitt, Leonardo or Christian Bale, those are the guys who have inspired me to do this and made me want to do character roles. That’s what gets me excited.”

Passionate about the environment, Rubinstein has become an advocate for climate and sustainability, using his platform to bring awareness to the issues surrounding ocean conservation.

He told the audience how lucky he feels. “Nothing is guaranteed. This is the coolest job in the whole world. It’s like winning the lottery and that will always keep me motivated.”

Everyone in attendance felt lucky to have spent the evening with this rising star, inspired by his journey and his insights.

A CONVERSATION WITH NYFA AUSTRALIA ALUM AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF MARVEL FILMS MANON LEWIS

Marvel Entertainment has been bringing to life Marvel comics since 1998 and the powerhouse entertainment company is only getting better with time. In 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings grossed over $432 million worldwide, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2021. The film’s lead actor and director, Simu Liu and Destin Daniel Cretton, received great acclaim. Thor: Love and Thunder, the third installment in the fan-favorite Thor, had a budget of $250 million and grossed over $662 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2022. The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps on getting better and NYFA Australia Filmmaking Alum Manon Lewis is working behind the scenes to make sure films like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder continue to top the charts.

NYFA Australia alum Manon Lewis spoke with NYFA about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what it means to be a Third Assistant Director and her advice for incoming students.

New York Film Academy Australia (NYFAA): What made you decide to study at NYFA Australia?
Manon Lewis (ML): It was the hands-on style of teaching that appealed to me. After school, I had traveled and realized a typical university course just wasn’t for me. I was lucky when I went to NYFA, we had incredibly small class sizes which allowed us to develop great relationships with our lecturers. Alister Grierson was our Directing lecturer at the time and after I graduated at NYFA he was directing a TV Movie – Parer’s War. I asked if I could shadow him for a week which turned into 8 weeks.

NYFAA: What kind of work do you do as a Third Assistant Director?
ML: I run base camp so I work closely with the cast to manage their day to day, getting them through the work and off to set in the mornings and any rehearsals or stunt training they might have off-set.

NYFAA: Do you have any advice for incoming students?
ML: Say yes to every opportunity inside and outside of NYFA because you never know where it might lead. We had a teaching assistant who was working on a short film outside of NYFA and I volunteered to help while he was still studying at NYFA. We went on to make 8 short films together after I graduated.

NYFAA: Can you tell us more about your role in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings? What sequences are you most excited for fans to see?
ML: The bus sequence! I can’t say much but shooting this was like a whole film in itself – the scope of this sequence is like nothing I’d seen before.

NYFAA: What has it been like to work on some incredible blockbuster titles?
ML: I feel so fortunate to have worked on these big shows. Every day is so different and seeing how all the departments work together to create these epic scenes is always amazing. How does the work sometimes compare or differ when working on films with a smaller budget? Smaller budget often means you wear many hats so while I might not have the big name cast to deal with I will probably have to juggle the tasks of what would be multiple ADs on a big show.

Crew with Director Taika Waikiki in the middle.

NYFAA: Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to share?
ML: Our team was lucky enough to jump from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings onto Thor: Love & Thunder. I am not allowed to say anything other than Marvel films are always incredible to work on because they’re massive in scope so it’s always interesting! Also KATE recently came out on Netflix, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Woody Harrelson we shot this on location in Thailand and Japan!

Lewis is currently working on Extraction 2 as Second Assistant Director.

New York Film Academy congratulates Manon Lewis on all her accomplishments!

NYFA New York Cinematography Faculty: Interview with Piero Basso, AIC-IMAGO

As professionals who actively work in Cinematography, our NYFA Cinematography faculty teach students traditional techniques while passing on the latest industry requirements and trends. For Piero Basso, AIC-IMAGO and Chair of the Cinematography Department at NYFA New York, Cinematography is not merely a job but a calling.

During his career, which exceeds two decades, Basso has photographed over 16 feature films and TV series, as well as a range of short films, documentaries, and commercials. We talked to him about how he fell in love with film, his favorite movies, and his advice on how aspiring Cinematographers can get started.

NYFA Cinematography Chair, Piero Basso, AIC-IMAGO

Piero Basso

Known for his work on films such as Dafne (2019) and Working Man (2019), as well as television series including L’Aquila – Grandi speranze (2019), Piero has a wealth of experience as a Director of Photography. His films have screened at prestigious film festivals around the globe, including Berlin (Dafne, Panorama – Fipresci Award as Best Feature Film), Cannes (Darker than Midnight, Semaine de la Critique), Locarno (Seven Acts of Mercy, competition), Turin (Santina, competition), Oberhausen (Zakaria, competition), Venice (Una Famiglia, competition), Clermont-Ferrand, Busan, Huesca, Marrakech, Santa Barbara, and several others, winning awards such as the prestigious FIPRESCI award for Best Feature Film of Panorama. In 2009, he was invited to join the exclusive Italian Association of Cinematographers (AIC).

Here’s what Piero had to say about his experience in Cinematography and at New York Film Academy.

NYFA: How did you first get interested in Cinematography?

PB: I loved Cinema from the early years of my life, and, growing older, I was naturally drawn to it. Making movies felt like a necessity. I dreamed of being a director, but Cinematography was my true destiny. Looking to my beginning with the knowledge I have now, I didn’t really have any other option; I started working with friends and being asked to be the camera operator for their films, and suddenly I found my true self not in the director’s chair but behind the camera, using my eyes to make real the dreams of someone else.

NYFA: What have been your favorite projects/productions to work on to date?

PB: Choosing a favorite project is almost like choosing your favorite child. I love Cinematography because it allows me to work with different people with extremely different talents and visions. In most of the projects I worked on, even those that have not been fully successful, I have fond memories, and I have learned a lot. If I had to choose, I would say Seven Acts of Mercy (2011) because it was the conclusion of a long journey with Gianluca and Massimiliano de Serio that started in our early years in college and, more recently, working on the feature films of Sebastiano Riso, Lanre Olabisi, Bob Jury, and Federico Bondi. Truly, my favorite project is the next one.

NYFA: Tell us about your time at NYFA.

PB: I started teaching for NYFA in 2009, fresh after moving to NY and receiving my Green Card. I always loved the educational world. When I was still a student at the University of Turin, I self-organized in collaboration with my Professor. Franco Prono, my mentor, and cinema instructor, a practical cinema course which I have been teaching while still a student, sharing the practical experience I was learning working on the side of my academic life. I particularly enjoy NYFA because it has a predominance of practical learning while still keeping a deep interest in forming the students from a theoretical perspective as well. I became Chair of the program in NY in the second half of 2018, and I truly enjoy seeing how the Cinematography curricula introduces this wonderful field to a new generation of cinematographers while supporting the radical changes in gender and minorities representation that are one of the major challenges in our industry and role.

NYFA: What are your favorite courses to teach?

PB: I love equally the practical courses like Camera and Grip and Electric, as well as those more theoretical like Cinematographer’s Craft and History of Cinematography. Possibly my true favorite is the combination of the two which is achieved in the Production Workshops, where two specific and complementary phases are present: the preparation during which theory and history of the craft have a robust impact, which leads to a shooting phase during which the here and now of the set is what truly matters.

NYFA: How would your students describe your teaching style/methods?

PB: I believe my students would agree that my teaching is deeply rooted in my life experience as a Cinematographer. I always try to present the course topics from the point of view of someone who spends his life on the set trying to utilize the same techniques, concepts, and ideas being taught in the classroom to create the effective and hopefully powerful images needed to tell the story. I also encourage them to push themselves beyond their perceived limits and not to play it safe (artistically speaking, that is, we have a zero-tolerance policy for taking inconsiderate safety risks while shooting). I believe a film school is a safe zone, a place where students must be free to experiment and find their own voice.

NYFA: What are your favorite aspects of the Cinematography community in New York?

PB: New York is a challenging, intense place, rich in energy and truly committed to a life that rushes at twice the speed of most other places in the world. And it is gritty, dirty, beautiful, glamorous, it is rife with profound disparities built into its culture. A place where you can have infinite success and terrifying falls. And yet, a place that pushes you to believe in yourself and try again because the opportunities are there. I feel the Cinematographers in NY have an amazing city to film, literally a backlot at every corner, and they are surrounded by a community of creative people second to none in the world. It is also a place where a Cinematographer has opportunities in an extremely wide range of potential jobs, from low-budget indie to full-blown studio projects, and everything in between.

NYFA: Who do you believe have been some of the most significant individuals in Cinematography?

PB: As easy to imagine, this is an incredibly complex question to answer in an academic approach. If we forget for a moment the entire history of cinematography and we let me respond with a personal, imperfect, and totally arbitrary answer listing those that have been heroes of mine and have inspired my personal taste for cinematography, then the answer is somehow simple: Robby Müller, Sven Nykvist, Raoul Coutard, Vittorio Storaro, Luca Bigazzi, Darius Khondji, and Janusz Kaminski.

Oscar-Winning Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski at NYFA New York City Campus

NYFA: What are some of your favorite films in terms of how the Cinematography was done?

PB: I love the honest, deep, and creative cinematography of Paris, Texas (1984) as much as the stylized and researched lighting and art design of The Conformist (1970). I have a deep sentiment of admiration and gratitude for Breaking the Waves (1996), that has taught me how Cinematography doesn’t require that the aesthetic quality of the images must be preserved at all costs and instead showed me how a story can be told with gritty, unperfect and dirty images if this style fits the story. I am a great fan of silent movies, and I loved Murnau’s Aurora (1927) and Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The black and white mixed with color of Wings of Desire (1987) (for which I will always prefer the German title Der Himmel über Berlin – The Sky above Berlin) and Die Zweite Heimat (1992). I cherish the darkness of movies like The Godfather (1972). And I can’t not mention probably the most beautiful movie ever shot: Stalker (1979). What would be a life without Tarkovsky…

NYFA: What advice would you give a prospective student looking to get started in Cinematography?

PB: I would advise them to abandon the fear of judgment and to concentrate on finding their own internal voice. And to sleep a lot before the program starts, because once we get moving the months will rush fast and emotions, fatigue, excitement, exhaustion, worries, dreams, nightmares, successes, failures and happiness will all mix in a journey that will feel like a rollercoaster and most likely will be some of the best and more memorable years of their lives.

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