SEPT. 12
Check out Irène, a stop motion animation short film I did for my goddaughter's first birthday. Featuring a bunch of playmobils, wooden toys, plastic animals and others...
AUG. 12
Bob and the Trees is in development as a feature film. Courtney Maum and I just finished writing a first draft of the screenplay. French producer Christie Molia from Moteur S'il Vous Plait (MSVP) is going to produce it. Shooting is expected to be in Jan/Feb 2014.
MAY 12
Bob and the Trees is selected for the Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore.
OCT. 11
Check out "Seaside", a new short film I shot in Greece. The sea, a boardwalk, people... They cross path for a few seconds through the frame, going somewhere.
JULY 11
Bob and the Trees is now featured on ARTE CREATIVE, ARTE's web TV dedicated to art and films. You can watch the full film in english or with french subtitles.
http://creative.arte.tv/en/space/Diego_Ongaro/messages/
MAY 11
The Combi-nations project has started. I'm doing a blog for the french newspaper Libération along with my fellow travel partners. The blog shows black and white portraits taken along the road with our vintage Afghan box camera, along with a text.
http://combinations.blogs.liberation.fr/
MAY 11
"Bob and the Trees" is selected in official competition at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival in Germany. The festival will be held between June 7th to June 13th.
http://festival.shortfilm.com
APRIL 11
In April, I am leaving for Afghanistan to film a documentary that will see three friends and artists take a vintage VW bus from Kabul to LaRochelle (France) along the storied Silk Road. Along the way, the photographer Landry Dunant will be taking photographs of the people we meet using a Camera Obscura model which no longer exists. We'll be exploring the idea of slow travel and combining it with slow photography-- it promises to be a colorful journey.
The French newspaper Liberation will be keeping a blog about our journey, that will show each day one portrait of a man or a woman taken with the Camera Obscura, along with a text.
More info on www.combinations.fr
MARCH 11
"Bob and the Trees" is going to screen at the Kansas City Film Festival in program curated by Sundance Film Festival Short Programer Todd Luoto. The festival will take place April 6-10.
The film is also selected at the Dresden International Film Festival 2011 in Germany. It will be part of a program called Panorama.
MARCH 11
"Bob and the Trees" is selected in official competition at the Independent Film Festival of Boston 2011 (April 27 - May 5th). It's my second film screening there after "Me my bag and my ball" is 2006. Visit www.iffboston.org for more information and screening dates.
OCT. 10
"Bob and the Trees" will have its New York premiere on November 7th. The film will screen at Indie Screen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, along with another short: "we're leaving" directed by my friend Zachary Treitz.
SEPT. 10
"Bob and the Trees", my latest short film is finally done. After spending a month in France this summer to do the editing and sound editing, we had the premiere of the film in August, at the Art Center of Sandisfield. Great turnout, as most of the locals were very curious to see it. We'll have a screening of the film in NY this fall (date to be announced soon), and I'm starting to submit the film to festivals all around the world. Fingers crossed.
APRIL 10
The short film called "Bob and the Trees" is in pre-production. It will be shot in May in my lovely hometown of Sandisfield, Massachussetts. Written by Courtney Maum and myself, the story tells the daily life of Bob, a fifty years old logger with has a soft spot for golf and hardcore rap, who struggles to make ends meet in a threatened industry.
It will be shot with non-professional actors and dogs, and should be an interesting mix between fiction and Documentary.
Coming to a theatre near you soon.
DEC. 09
Along with co-writers Thomas Pousson and Courtney Maum, I just finished writing my first feature
length screenplay, "La Methode Americaine" (written in French).
A melancholic comedy with undertones of Wes Anderson and François Truffaut, the story takes place
in a banal French town. A mother’s absence brings two estranged brothers together for a few weeks
in August, during which they will fight ennui and deception with sea, sex and sand.
But how do you come of age when your role models are flawed?
NOV. 09
I just finished 4 commercials for the Doritos Competition. The contest called "Crash the Superbowl" is open to anyone, and the three best voted ads get to be screened during the Superbowl. There is a few millions dollars to win if you do really good (not bad right?). Thanks to my partners in crime Dan Jimmerson and Robby.
Here are the links to watch the 4 films (be patient, the player can take a while to load):
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/1695weeblylink_new_window
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/1698weeblylink_new_window
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/1703weeblylink_new_window
http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/1707weeblylink_new_window
SEPT./NOV. 09
During the fall, Friday nights will be movie nights at the Sandisfield Art Center. I'll be hosting
screenings of the Antoine Doinel cycle directed by François Truffaut. For $5, you get a glass of wine,
a film and a Q&A discussion.
"The 400 Blows" will screen on Sept.11, "Stolen Kisses" on Oct. 2nd, "Bed and Board" on Oct. 23rd
and "Love on the Run" on Nov. 13th. Simon Winchester and Bonner Mac Allester are the other film hosts
for "Film Fridays" at SAC. More info here.
May 09
"Rice and Meat", the short film I wrote with my beloved Courtney Maum, just won the Special Jury Mention at
the Audi Talents Awards - A short film competition organized in France by Audi (yes, the car maker).
Although we didn't win an Audi, the award ceremony took place at the Cannes Film Festival. Fancy!
dongaro@gmail.com
