Trop a Cannes
Vincenzo Cosentino knows a thing or two about remakes. His whole career is one. He tells Alexandra Coghlan how a rejected labour of love made it to Cannes
Vincenzo Consentino in his movie "The Old Dog"
Flashback...
In which our hero embarks on an epic full of twists, none of which are even in the film
Back in February, Time Out met Vincenzo Cosentino, the young Sicilian film-maker whose ambition had brought him and two of his movies all the way to Sydney's Tropfest 2008. Neither of Cosentino's films were shortlisted, but in a curiously cinematic case of life imitating art, his failure was to be the source of success even he could not have predicted. This is the story of how one determined man lost a festival slot, then won something much better.
Long shot...
In which our leading man voyages to a foreign land and does battle with the elements in pursuit of his quest
"When I arrived in Australia it seemed to me to be a wonderland; everybody was smiling, everywhere was beautiful. I picked up a camera for the very first time in July, and at the same time I started learning how to edit movies, knowing that I had only three or four months to prepare myself for Tropfest -the biggest opportunity to get into the film industry.
I decided to make two movies that were completely different, but that both explore emotions. The Old Dog is more directly about feelings, The Light is more of a thriller - at first people will just see just a shocking movie with a lot of violence, but if you look deeper it is really discussing family relationships and the idea of suffering; its just a different way of storytelling.
It was in November, just after I had completed The Old Dog that my hard drive was stolen with the whole movie on it. I wanted so much to enter this film in Tropfest, so I went out literally the next day to start shooting it again. It was a pretty crazy idea, especially as one of the main guys in the movie was leaving for Italy almost immediately, so I had to shoot him first then later film myself talking to a wooden post, trying to match the lighting conditions.
I only had the camera for one week, and every time I went to shoot the light was all wrong. On the very last day it was completely overcast, but I called up my friends anyway and lied to them; I told them that it was clear and that they should come down and shoot. While they were on their way I was praying so hard, ‘God, please let the sky open, please.', and it did! No one could believe it; when my friend Kyle arrived he said to me: ‘I know that you were lying to me earlier, but I think God must love you more than I do!'."
All through the Christmas holidays, even Christmas Day, I was editing my two movies; it was a nightmare, every time the computer crashed - which it did a lot - I had to start all over again. I couldn't finish it in time, so I flew down to Sydney and I kept editing on the plane, even in the queue at Tropfest!
Read our Tropfest Article where we first met Vincenzo
Reaction Shot...
Beset from all sides, our gallant hero struggles against the twin evils of failure and disappointment
I remember the day that I received the email from Tropfest: ‘Your movie has not been accepted...' I was shocked. Really shocked. And reading the same email twice - once for each movie - was horrible."
I heard about an internet competition where you could win thousands of dollars of film equipment. I shot the movie after I was disqualified from Tropfest; It was my way of reacting, of releasing my pain. The title of the movie was I Have Learned, and it talked about what I had learned during the past year, about my disappointment and disillusionment. When I entered that movie I didn't think there was even a chance that I could win. I had made The Old Dog twice and spent months on these movies - how could I win with a movie of one minute that I had shot in half an hour and edited in just one hour? I forgot about it once I'd submitted, and when they called me to tell me that I'd won, I had to ask which competition it was! It was like passing from a nightmare to a dream.
Tracking Shot...
Our hero looks to the future and contemplates a return home
I was still depressed after Tropfest, so I put The Old Dog up on YouTube to see what reaction it would get. People I'd met at the festival started posting comments, and saying they liked my movie, so I began to feel that maybe it was a good film after all. Then a Miami festival contacted me, wanting to screen it as well as the Sicilian film festival. I am Sicilian, so to me this is the greatest honour.
Now I am going to Cannes. I have put The Old Dog in the short film market there, so I'm hoping by some miracle it makes the final selection. Then I start my feature film. I have already saved $US10,000 - I don't want to have anyone else as producer, because I'm still young and I need to make mistakes. I want to make a movie to make a movie.
Close-up...
In which we learn of children and men
Ever since I was a child I've been watching movies ten or eleven times and trying to understand why I was smiling in one part, and why I was crying at another, trying to work out if it was the shot, the cinematography, the editing or the lines that were affecting me. But I do think that Robert Rodriguez [director, El Mariachi, Sin City] is right - no one can teach you filmmaking; they can teach you to adjust focus or place the lights, but no one can teach you how to reach hearts, or how you write a story that moves somebody."
Epilogue...
Finally, having prevailed over many trials and tribulations, our hero gloriously triumphs
Shortly after his Avid success, Cosentino entered the marathon of all short-film competitions - Nimbin's ‘39 Hours Film Festival', in which participants have just 39 hours to write, shoot and edit an eight-minute movie. His entry Wait For Me was awarded first place. A few weeks later he left Australia for Cannes and won the Cannes à la Flip $16,000 Grand Prix for his tongue-in-cheek Cannes-themed camcorder film The Flip Trip, prompting international media interest and even a TV appearance. His Tropfest-rejected movie The Old Dog is currently ranking first in the Moonlight TV Internet Film Festival.
From rejection to celebration in less than a year, Cosentino has come full circle. What are his feelings about the iconic festival where it all started? "I won't stop here. In fact today I bought my plane ticket to come back to Australia; target -Tropfest! Even if I don't qualify this year, I won't stop trying till I make it. You'll read an article about me when I am 78. ‘At the age of 78, Vincenzo Cosentino finally qualified for the top 16 of Sony Trop Fest. The jury said: ‘We qualified him because he promised to stop making movies for Tropfest. We were just exhausted.'"
You can watch Vincenzo's movie "The Old Dog" in the player below
You can find all of his movies at his website: www.cusenza.net