TAUGHT IN ENGLISH / 1 WEEK / 14-18 JULY or 21-25 JULY 2025 / ON CAMPUS
The art of filmmaking, telling your world in real time
As in Italian Neorealism, Nouvelle Vague, and Independent Cinema, in this course you will go out on the streets and narrate your world. This intensive workshop will provide you with the knowledge you need to make digital cinema without being bogged down by the methodology, logistics, and costs of traditional cinema productions. We will use the tools now available thanks to modern technology, from your own smartphone to simple digital cameras to professional cinema cameras. Speed is the essence of the workshop, and you will have the opportunity to work with spontaneity, whatever your previous experience.
You will combine hands-on experience with critical analysis to better understand the theory and concepts of film language and film conventions by rapidly making films, dissecting them, and going out to shoot again.
The results can be reportage, cinema verité, video art, fiction, experimental, or combinations of all of these.
The workshop is aimed at students, artists, filmmakers, performers, and anyone who wants to document their own slice of life.
At the end of the course, a certificate of attendance is issued to those who have attended at least 80% of the lessons, for a possible recognition of 2 ECTS.
Course type: group – in-person
Participants: Min. 8, Max. 15 | The programme is open to college, university, and fine arts students as well as adult learners who are passionate about photography, cinema and reportage.
Attendance: from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm
Duration: 14–18 July or 21-25 July 2025 – 5 days
Cost:€ 850,00
Very early bird: by 31 December 2024 -15%;
Early bird: by 31 March 2025 -10%
Requirements/supporting materials: No entry requirements. All basic materials are provided by the Academy and included in the cost of the course. Participants bring their own smartphone/camera.
Language: English | Participants are required to be fluent in English.
Lecturer: Stephen Natanson
Location: RUFA – Via Giuseppe Libetta, 7 – 00154 Roma
Certificate: at the end of the course, a certificate of attendance will be issued, based on attendance at least 4 of the 5 days, which corresponds to 2 ECTS.
Day 1
Introduction and schedule of the course.
A lecture on film language and conventions, storytelling, structure, rhythm, improvisation, and experimental techniques, and how it is feasible to shortcut the traditional production and distribution process to produce quality with relatively simple tools and little or no costs.
Intro to simple point and shoot cameras and professional digital cinema cameras.
Each of you will immediately start writing and shooting the first short film.
The aim is to quickly sketch out what you want to say and having seen the result and received criticism, learn from one’s mistakes and either reshoot or make another film.
Day 2
Lecture on how to choose one’s own point of observation, directly capture reality, and represent it.
Editing of the first short film.
Day 3
Lecture on Neorealism, Nouvelle Vague and Cinema Verité.
Writing and shooting of the second short film.
Day 4
Editing of the second short film.
Review and critique session.
Day 5
Final cut and final screening of the two short films, fiction, abstract or documentary.
Stephen Natanson
Stephen Natanson is a film director and producer. He has travelled the world making documentaries, short films, and commercials. He has worked for the major Italian, European, and American television networks (RAI, Mediaset, Antenne Deux, BBC, ITV, CBS, CNN, ABC etc.). His documentaries have been in competition at the festivals of Venice, Berlin, Rio, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Mumbai, Florence, San Francisco, London, Montreal, Hong Kong, Warsaw, Gothenburg, Auckland, Mannheim. He won several international awards, including the Silver Ribbon, and the Golden Globe, and has been nominated for the David di Donatello. He graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Students and Alumni Winter-Summer Courses RUFA – 10%
Students and Alumni RUFA: 50%
University students: 5% (upon presentation of the university registration)
Very early bird by 31 December 2024 -15%; Early bird by 31 March 2025 -10%
Course package/groups/family: please contact corsibrevi@unirufa.it
If the student, after having attended the workshop, enrolls in a BA or MA programme at RUFA, a 10% reduction will be applied to the annual tuition fee for the first year.
RUFA has entered into several agreements with facilities that provide housing services. For further information please contact corsibrevi@unirufa.it
For information about the course please fill in the form and we will contact you
Listen to the protagonists of our Summer labs