From Goshen to Cannes

BY VICKI BOTTA
GOSHEN — It wasn't very long ago that Luca Spensieri played with his dad's video camera in his Goshen backyard making “Star Wars”-like movies with friends. He never imagined that soon after graduating college, his very first short film entitled “Il Dilemma,” would be accepted into the Cannes Film Festival in France or that he would be inches away from filmmakers he had idolized as a kid.

The exclusive festival allows only people whose films were accepted to attend. Those who attend are all there to mingle, make contacts with each other, appreciate each others' work and network. It is a great opportunity for up-and-coming artists to socialize as members of a very special, exclusive peer group. It is an experience that Spensieri will never forget and hopes to attend again and again.

A natural choiceLooking back at the constant exposure to the arts he had growing up, he feels like his career in cinematography is a natural choice though it is challenging and highly competitive. Without the emotional support of his family, he said, he would not be able to do what he does.

Spensieri loved playing with special effects, like playing videos backwards to make it look like people were jumping up to high places. When he wasn't making movies, he was playing soccer or piano, violin or guitar.

After graduating from John S. Burke Catholic High School in 2008, he tried to find a college that had a good soccer program and business courses. He figured business was practical and he loved playing soccer so much that he even played in Italy where his father, also named Luca, is from. After only a year, Spensieri realized that business was not for him and soccer was not going to be a career he could count on for life.

A different routeSo a friend suggested Spensieri check out a place in New York that he described as more like a trade school where people learned filmmaking, acting and producing. After completing the certificate program, Spensieri went out to Los Angeles and committed himself to getting his bachelors degree in fine arts from New York Film Academy and began making the film “Il Dilemma” in his senior year. The film was actually his senior thesis. He never even thought of sending it to the Cannes Film Festival until his producer and good friend, Alessandra Ghisolfi, encouraged him to do so.

It was like a Cinder-fella moment when he checked his e-mail a couple of weeks after sending it and discovered that his film was accepted.

The film, a comedy, is eight minutes long and is in English and Italian. It's about two friends, Alex and Luigi. Luigi convinces Alex to take him and a couple of girls out in Alex's dad's classic mustang while his dad is away and a Ferris Bueller-esque escapade enfolds.

Be yourselfWhen he first started writing his thesis, he struggled, trying to follow in his heroes's footsteps (i.e. Spielberg, Scorsese), and it "just wasn't working or seeming right for that project,” he said.

Then, a directing professor set him straight.

“'Take inspiration from your heroes, but just tell your experience, pull from family, culture, that's what makes you unique. Don't try to be like someone else',” the professor told Spensieri. It turned out to be good advice.

“Il Dilemma” is now going to appear in the New York City Independent Film Festival as well as the L.A. Film Festival. He has no intention of selling the film, but the festivals enable him to be recognized for his work and for the work of his crew which has become like a family.

“When you work on a project like this, you have to gain the trust of the people who work with you and you spend so much time together that you grow close,” he said. “When your film makes it, you all celebrate.”

A changing media
Spensieri credits the success of his film to having stuck with a good core group of friends in college who were equally passionate and serious about making films as he. In fact, two of his friends, who work with Spensieri in their own company called Outerbridge Creative, also sent films which were accepted in the Cannes Film Festival so they all got to go to the festival together. One of his friends is about to release his first feature film.

The company specializes in music videos, promo materials and commercials. It can be very rewarding but as a fledgling career, he admits, there is no security of a steady salary.

“Some months are better than others,” he said, while noting he is not putting “all his eggs in one basket.”

“The successful filmmaker is one who understands what each of his departments do," Spensieri said. "It pays to be multi-faceted, multi-talented and a jack of all trades.”

He is well aware that the competition is fierce.

“Every year, 6,000 film students graduate and go out into the world and would do what you do,” he said. "You have to make what you do special and keep reinventing yourself because the media is constantly changing."

Looking forwardAs for the future, Spensieri said that he and his partners want very much to work in feature films, though it is a tough market to enter.

“That's why we created our own company," he said. "It puts food on the table and helps us survive while we aim towards bigger and better goals.”

They are also looking towards heading back to New York where the film industry is growing and other areas where incentives are given. There are new studios being built in Astoria and Staten Island. He is looking forward to rekindling relationships here and being back near his family.

“It is an exciting time for New York, the Hudson Valley, Sullivan County, etc. I can see why more and more people are looking to be there.”