My impressions of ”Terre di Cinema”, by Gert Keyaerts
TV-director, teacher at LUCA (Leuven University College of Arts)

My impressions of ‘Terre di cinema’? Easy. First I fell in love. In love with beautifull Sicilia, the atmosphere, the temperature, the people. Secondly I was impressed by the enthousiasm and the spirit of the international filmcrews that work together in this project. Of course the difficulty of working from one day to another with students from different countries and cultures isn’t easy. For me the great challenge was to let the teams work together, communicate and function as a professional production crew. As difficult as it was, in the very end the crews succeeded in working together as a team. Even with the cultural and language barriers. The different knowledge and experience level was an interesting mixture for each teammember. The youngest and least experienced generation could take giant steps because of the excellent professional attitude of the more experienced (former) students. Always ready to explain and teach the youngsters. I’m also impressed by the organization of this event. Vincenzo, Manuela and Caterina did an excellent job here. I feel really privileged to be part of this experience!
The shooting in Forza D’Agro was extremely hard because of the choice to make advantage of the lowlight possibilities of the used Arri Alexa-camera. Thanks to this amazing professional digital cinema camera it was possible to shoot in almost any lighting conditions with only the use of the available light. Sunrises, nightshootings, daylight,… everything looked amazing with this camera. Of course the short nights were part of the deal, and after a few days most of us were really tired… . Collesano was all about the heritage of the ‘Targa Florio’. Through creative suggestions and interviews the students tried to relive this historical rally event in a serious of short documentaries. Th excellent weather and the use of some fantastic vintage cars were a magnificent bonus.

Gert Keyaerts