47 minutes about AEGEE on big screens: the AEGEE documentary “The Art of the Possible” will premiere on 30th of January in Berlin; and one day later it will be shown at a cinema in Dresden. “The film is a journey”, says director Luca Giazzi, who is also an active member of AEGEE-Bergamo. “When I joined AEGEE and came back from my first SU, I literally couldn’t explain with words what I felt. So I began this project with the idea of letting the audience experience what I did”, he told the Golden Times.
GT: Luca, your AEGEE documentary will premiere this week in Berlin and Dresden. Are you already excited to present it?
Luca Giazzi: I am both excited and nervous. We had some delays so we are still working on the movie, one week before its release. By the way, I am 100% satisfied with the movie, and to my technical point of view it is way better than what I expected, thanks to the great people who helped me on the way. I hope everybody will like it as much as I do!
GT: Can you sum up the content in a couple of sentences?
Luca: “The Art of the Possible” is a journey. When I joined AEGEE and then came back from my first SU, I literally couldn’t explain with words what I felt. So I began this project with the idea of letting the audience experience what I did, instead of simply describing it. In some ways, “The Art of the Possible” is simply the result of my lack of words.
GT: Will there be some special AEGEE guests at the premiere?
Luca: In both Berlin and Dresden Jorge Sanchez Hernandez and Lucia will be present on stage, and after the premiere they will talk along with me about the movie topics – which is their own life, after all.
GT: What kind of places or cinemas are the premiere places?
Luca: The premieres are completely organised by the hosting antennae. We trust AEGEE’s event-organisation ability. The movie will be projected in the next months in theatres, cinemas, universities… even at my place if someone is in Bergamo and wants to have a look!
GT: Where else will the film be shown in the next months? Will you also go to festivals with it?
Luca: The next stop will be in Kraków on the 23rd of March: I really have to say a few words on behalf of AEGEE-Krakow’s professionalism. They are organising an amazing film festival, of which we had the chance to be part of. Then other antennae like Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana, Debrecen, Budapest, Alicante and Lviv are organising these days their own premiere. Our co-producer Michiel van Hees, along with AEGEE-Utrecht, is organising a premiere as well – he said that with all the members and alumni there could be even a 100 people! The movie was also sent to film festivals like DocumentaMadrid. Unfortunately, we cannot premiere the movie in Spain and Italy before these festivals take place.
GT: How can members see it who cannot attend the screenings? Will it be on YouTube or another platform?
Luca: The movie will be uploaded online in free streaming with no limits of time. It is a kind of late-Christmas gift I give to AEGEE. We still don’t know the exact platform – probably YouTube or similar – nor the exact day, but we would like to upload it on AEGEE Day 2017!
GT: You are a professional filmmaker. What do you think is the best about the movie, what could have been better?
Luca: I feel like I did more than what I actually could, considering the short experience I had. The point is that I actually grow as a professional thanks to this project, so I could re-use my skills to make the movie better each time. That’s the main reason why it took an entire year to make it. Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying it’s perfect, there are still tons of things I have to learn in my field and probably I will never stop studying, but looking back I can say I am happy with what we did.
GT: You had to travel a lot for the film. Which places did you visit?
Luca: What makes my job special is that every day is completely different from the one before: my working office of this project has been Alicante, Milan, Cologne, Kyiv, Bruxelles, Murcia, Castellon de la Plana and Bergamo, my hometown.
GT: How much did it cost to make it?
Luca: The movie cost is more or less 7000 Euros. We covered it through a fundraising campaign, external sponsors, and also by ourselves. The fundraising went quite well. We missed the target by 400 Euros, which is good. Considering that nobody knew me, a lot of people trusted me and my abilities. This made me want to do it as best as I can.
GT: When will the contributors to the crowdfunding will get their goodies?
Luca: Most of them already got their goodies like T-shirts and postcards. In February we will start printing the DVDs and the movie posters. Thankfully, even though we had some delays, we will make it to send everything exactly on time to our generous friends all over Europe.
GT: What are your next film projects?
Luca: Right now I am working on a new project, where I can definitely see the influence of AEGEE’s multiculturalism which literally opened up my mind. It’s a documentary about food and culture in Europe.
GT: And what else are you doing in AEGEE? You are also active in AEGEE-Bergamo…
Luca: Sadly I have to admit that, because of the delays of the post production, I had to give up my role of event responsible in AEGEE-Bergamo. This is something which made me a bit sad, because between the movie, my freelancer jobs and the university, I didn’t have time for anything else. No worries, in a couple of months I will become active again – maybe organising this year’s Summer University in both Bergamo and Alicante.
GT: Anything else you would like to add?
Luca: I really need to thanks Raquel, my partner in life and in this case at work, who made supported me during the hard days. Also, a special thanks to the Golden Times and the AEGEEan for growing the audience and to AEGEE-Alicante, which I consider as my second home.
Check the film project’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/taotpmovie
