The Talks
Emerging MastersFerdinando Cito Filomarino: “It was a different type of mission”
Ferdinando, what qualities are essential in a good filmmaker?
I would say definitely that one is urgency. It's difficult to make a film, it's expensive. Many films are made, and sure, they're recognizable and entertaining — but often you feel like, “Okay, I've seen it before. It's familiar.” Because there's so many movies and series being produced, I find that something important to me as a spectator is: why make that movie? What was the urgency behind this filmmaker to put this whole thing together and make it happen? Usually, it just so happens that when there is something more personal and urgent, the film is better, or more interesting. To me, at least.
By personal, do you mean literally?
It doesn't have to mean literally personal, no. But with a personal affinity to a story, whether that’s the filmmaker, the actors… Those films usually tend to stand the test of time more than films that are made from just a feeling of the time. With the best films, the ones we still watch many decades later... I think there’s a very strong personal vision behind them. That’s probably the most important thing to make something that can last. The ironic thing is that in many cases, the opposite happens! These kinds of films are often not appreciated at first and then years later, people are like, “Oh, that film was so good!” (Laughs) I remember John Carpenter saying that about, I think it was The Fog, and he said, “Where were you 10 years ago?!”
“If you are ambitious, you are running in a tunnel that never ends. You will always find something new to go after.”
“I have to free myself from my creation, I have to send it off, I have to give it up. And that is also the beauty, that you pass on something, that you let something live, that you allow it to confront. To get in contact with others.”
“I would say that a strong work ethic is a vital ingredient for success. That’s something I was born with, I’m convinced of it; it was nothing that I acquired. If you take on anything, you try to do it your best.”
“I follow the beat of my own drum. I think I’ve gotten more confident and self-trustful in my ability and my natural appetite for play, and not over-adorning it with anything. I’ve always been disciplined and I’m still nothing if not conscientious.”
“I wouldn’t ever compromise on the essential, on the essence of a project, the ideas or the themes.”
“Having come out as a gay man and the self-confidence that gives you is huge! It affects every aspect of your life, including my work. People like honesty. They respect honesty. And my film career took off once I came out.”
“I have a moral standard of my own. I know the difference between right and wrong, I know what I feel comfortable with. And if you live up to your own moral standard, you’re going to have a more comfortable life.”
“Failure is more interesting. Success only comes in one form. It doesn’t teach you anything. Failure kind of comes in all sorts of ways, and teaches you all sorts of things. You learn by failing.”
“One of the things that I’m striving for is an authenticity, to do things which feel natural and make choices which feel authentic and real. I think in a way you sort of can’t help sounding like yourself. You can’t help but put yourself into your work.”
“My work and my life are the same thing to me. I don’t have a life on one side and work on the other side. My entire life has been my work. I don’t have a family, I am by myself, I have made very strict choices.”
“I don’t want to only do what I know how to do. I want to be pushed somewhere else.”
“We're not having to run from predatory animals like we did for hundreds of thousands of years before. So now we have to make up new activities to fulfill those emotional needs. There is a certain something about the ever-present danger of death that makes living so great.”
“The only thing that you have to be very sure of is that nothing can go wrong. You can’t get in the way of the whole thing by messing it up with great ideas or smart moves. Absolute trust is, I think, the crucial ingredient.”
“In your life there’s a moment when the door opens and you need to walk through the door then. You can’t say then, “Well, I’ll go through it two years from now. I’ll do it, I’ll save up some money...” Because by then the door will be closed.”
“When I was younger I had these moments where I was surprising myself with my spontaneity, and I thought, ‘This is what you should be chasing.’ The cerebral part of acting and the perfectionism can be exhausting, but the spontaneity can be very joyful.”
“Everyone’s life comes to an end. We’re all going to come to the same fate. So you just keep going while you can, doing what you like.”
“You better make every moment count. Live your life now; start in the morning. You mustn’t sit around waiting to die.”
“I think you always have to have risk when you’re creating a piece of art. Without that, I don’t understand really what the drive is to succeed. It’s the risk factor that, weirdly, keeps you feeling safe. It keeps you on your toes.”
“There is something quite beautiful with the art thing, that you can only hold it back for so long and then you have to do it.”
“I think you get more confident as you get older. You realize what your strengths and weaknesses are and you’re more okay with your weaknesses and you value your strengths more. I look forward to being 50 and I’m hoping that I’m as confident as some of the people that I look up to.”
“I never thought of art as a career. I thought it was more like a monastic practice. It is something that you do – you can't not do it. If I made money doing it, I would do it; if I didn't make any money, I would do it. Obviously I’m not perfect but the thing I am best at is painting.”
“You don’t have to please everybody. As long as you and the people whose opinions you respect are comfortable and happy with it, then… keep going! Keep making that weird stuff.”
“Everybody is amazing at something — some people write music, some people are leaders, some people raise children, some people cook food. If you find what it is that you can offer to your fellow.”
“I think it’s so good to try new things and open the window and let some fresh air in and try to eliminate any regrets.”
“I think my love of pushing the boundaries in film comes from my desire as a kid to do something artistic that would amaze people. I wanted to do nothing less than that. Those are the projects that I love: figuring out what might just be possible but hasn't been done yet.”
“I just want to do everything as good as I possibly can but it is also good to act on an idea and fail — and then you get something out of it. I think it’s really important to not be afraid of failure and to push yourself to try things and jump in the cold water.”
“I think an ambition as a performer, and maybe even in life, is to become less afraid. Some boundaries are necessary of course and some are accepted, but the ones that I don’t want, I want to remove.”
“Of course we all do stupid things when we're young, but that's your way to find boundaries, you know. Have I done stupid things I regret? Yeah. But I can learn from those mistakes and grow. That's what it’s all about.”
“Being creative and keeping your brain occupied is very sensible because if you don’t you die, slowly. Sometimes I feel tired and think I ought to give it up, I don’t want to just retire. I enjoy it all.”
“I act on intuition. I just let my intuition go in situations of fear. I live from my heart. I will continue doing things the way I have done them my whole life. And it gave me mostly a great time.”
“I have a tattoo that goes around my right wrist that looks like barbed wire, but it’s actually ANDAND linked together, which stands for “A New Dawn, A New Day.” It’s about waking up every day knowing that you have a chance to start again and forgive and be forgiven and to let go of yesterday.”
“Writing itself should be so extreme, so wild, and so much fun that it doesn’t matter whether or not you ever sell the book.”
“Belief is very important. It’s like when you are riding a horse and you want it to go to the left, you look to the left first and then pull the horse’s head. As a human being it is the same thing: wherever you put your attention is probably where you are going to find yourself.”
“I’m doing things more personally than ever before because that’s what my project is based on, that’s who I am and I have never been this happy my whole life — but it was a long road to get here.”
“You’re always looking for a second chance. You’re always looking to do a little bit better than you did the last time. And you hope that the readers will stay with you.”
“One of the reasons why I have this much success is because I’m hard on myself. Until now, I never really saw myself as a talented chef! I don’t take the easy way. I put in the time. From the age of 17 until 23, I didn’t take any vacations, I had almost no days off.”
“Architecture is the oddest profession. In the beginning you're very much involved in finding your voice and locating yourself artistically. For 25 years you're working with small projects, domestic projects. And then you mature at 50 and you're given your first projects.”
“If you work with somebody for a long time, you have to challenge them otherwise you jeopardize your relationship. You have to constantly reinterpret your work together and provide a new vision of your relationship.”
“It’s been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to make the films I really dream of making. It’s heartbreaking when that happens, but it’s all okay. It requires patience.”
“You can work hard at this skill forever, you never reach the end; you never are a master, you’re never done. Writing is endless and I like that. I like that you can never conquer it.”
Emerging MastersArlo Parks: “It feels like what I’m meant to do”
Arlo, journalists often describe you as the voice of a generation — a label you tend to reject. If you’re not the voice of a generation, who do you hope to be the voice for?
That's actually the best way that someone's asked me that question! I guess I want to be a voice for the kid. I mean, it sounds quite contrived, but I want to make music that I would have wanted to hear when I was 14. When I was that age, I would listen to artists and think, “Wow, I feel represented by that. I feel inspired by that,” if I was listening to like Tyler the Creator, or Frank Ocean, Odd Future, all of them… I want to be that person that kids can listen to, and feel energized by because they've never felt like they had someone that they could listen to and see themselves in before.
Being the voice of a generation also seems like a lot of pressure to place on you as a musician; you can never really speak for anyone except yourself.
Yeah, it can be dangerous to kind of try and target your art to a certain type of people! You don't know who's going to gravitate towards your work, you never know what people are going get out of the work. So I try and just create music that feels true to my taste, and then see what happens. I've kind of honed in on that fact more than ever. Lately I’ve been collecting words and lyrics and kick drum sounds and filters and auto tunes… Whatever it was, and it became this moodboard, this kaleidoscope of truly everything that I like. All I can do is put that together and put it out — and at least I know that it's me.
