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STUDENT UNION• CENTRO SPERIMENTALE, ROME, ITALY
CINEMA PARADISO
By Natasha Block Hicks
One of the world’s oldest film schools, founded in 1935, the Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia – Scuola Nazionale Di Cinema (CSC) is one of Italy’s leading educational institutes in the art and craft of cinema. Literally called, the ‘Experimental Centre Of Cinematography’, the CSC’s repute is so widespread that has been featured in the Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Top 15 International Film Schools’ list for the last five years’ running.
Adriano De Santis, CSC head and master of the cinematography programme, joins us to throw light on CSC’s cinematography diploma, the equivalent of a three-year bachelor’s degree.
“Collaboration is the key word,” explains De Santis, fresh from the 2022 CSC graduation ceremony in Rome, “we always encourage different classes to collaborate on the same projects.”
Entry into CSC is highly-competitive, with only six places available on the cinematography programme per year. Candidates must be proficient in both Italian and English.
The application process is split into three stages. Prospective applicants – secondary school graduates, who must be aged between 18 and 26 years old on January 1st of the year of enrolment – are invited to submit an online CV, motivation letter and portfolio to the school, between June 1st to July 15th that same year. For cinematography, this must include 20 photographs taken with natural and artificial light, accompanied by a written analysis in Italian. Based on these materials, CSC invites a selection of applicants to an in-person interview, after which a narrower group of candidates access the final step: a two-week preliminary seminar, where they attend general classes and participate in practical exercises.
“We are looking for team spirit, sensitivity and originality,” reveals De Santis. “Through these trials, the teachers and tutors will determine who they believe is most suitable to enter the school.”
CSC has campuses in Abruzzo, Lombardy, Piedmont and Sicily, but students chosen for the cinematography diploma will study at its HQ in the historic complex of Via Tuscolana in the Cinecittà area in Rome, a site shared with the Cineteca Nazionale, the National Film Archive.
For their €2,500 annual fee undergraduates will be, according to the CSC website, “raising and developing their professional profile as a cinematographer.” The online prospectus continues with a detailed analysis of what students can expect to encounter during their time at the school, attending “modules on art-history and in-depth courses about digital and traditional photo shooting, technical and artistic techniques”. In Year 1, the focus is on learning the language of filmmaking, exploring the roles of the cinematographer and other crew members and getting hands-on with technical equipment, of which the school has an extensive state-of-the-art inventory including cameras from the Sony Venice to ARRI Alexa and prime lens sets from Zeiss. “We also have partnerships with various major players of the audiovisual industry,” states De Santis, “who constantly help us in granting to our students the possibility of working with the most advanced technologies, and even directly supporting our more deserving students with scholarships.”
In their fist year, students will study the basics of lighting and attend a weekly interdisciplinary workshop in collaboration with students of the film directing, acting, sound design and editing courses. The prospectus explains that, “Throughout the year students are involved in film production in cooperation with all the different school educational areas.”
In Year 2, students develop their lighting skills, composition techniques and learn the theoretical and practical use of Steadicam. There is increased focus on digital imaging and post-production disciplines, such as colour correction. The CSC has two mixing rooms for student use, a dubbing studio and several editing workstations. All this new knowledge is put to practical
use in the realisation of short productions and movies, which can be screened in the school’s dedicated theatre. “We also have an on-going creative partnership with worldwide renowned brand Campari, through which we develop every year a workshop on branded-content short films,” relays De Santis.
In Year 3, students have a chance to use 35mm celluloid and learn the basics of film restoration, plus there is more opportunity to work with VFX. The main Rome campus has two fully-functioning sound stages, of 150sq/m and 25sq/m respectively, for students to use on their projects. The diploma is consolidated with the production of a graduation film created in collaboration with students of other courses, shot on the ARRI Alexa. Di Donatello Awards in 1986 for his work on Camorra (A Story Of Streets, Women And Crime)/ Un Complicato Intrigo Di Donne, Vicoli E Delitti (1985), is the artistic director of the cinematography programme, assisted by DP Sandro Camerata, a CSC alumnus behind more than 60 African documentaries for Sky.
Michele D’Attanasio AIC, two-time winner of a David Di Donatello Award for his cinematography on Italian Race/Veloce Come Il Vento (2016) and Freaks Out (2021), has visited to teach at the school, as has Gianni Mammolotti AIC, known for mafia drama Malarazza: UnaSstoria Di Periferia (2017). On a side note, Mammolotti received the 2007 Néstor Almendros Award for emerging directors of photography; the Oscar-winning Almendros was himself an alumnus of CSC.
CSC alumni working in the Italian industry who have returned to teach at the school include award-winning DP Federico Annicchiarico AIC, known for shorts Child K (2014) and A Christmas Carol (2017), Spanish DP Ferran Paredes Rubio, who lit multi-award-winning movie Indivisible/Indivisibili (2016) and Sarajevo-born DP Vladan Radovic AIC, winner of the 2015 David Di Donatello Award for Best Cinematography for Black Souls/Anime Nere (2014).
“We always work to involve international professionals in order to encourage students to enlarge their horizons,” says De Santis. The cinematography programme’s last international lecturer was Nicolaj Brüel DFF, the Danish DP known to international audiences as the DP behind the Oscar-nominated Pinocchio (2019) and recipient of a David Di Donatello award for Dogman (2018). Brüel delivered a two-day workshop for cinematography students centred on colour correction, plus a masterclass addressed to the whole school to convey his work experiences.
The “final period of the academic year,” concludes the prospectus, “is aimed at guiding students’ transition to the employment world.”
“CSC students are in contact with active professionals throughout their training process,” reiterates De Santis.
“During their senior year, they all have access to internships that strengthen their knowledge of the job market. Last and not least, they are involved with and invited to film festival and contests throughout their studies.”
CSC graduate film A Conspiracy Man/Il Barbiere
Each course at CSC has a core group of faculty staff, supported by numerous visiting industry professionals who deliver lectures, workshops and laboratories.
CSC alumnus Giuseppe Lanci, the Italian DP known for winning Best Cinematography at the prestigious David Complottista (2022), directed by Valerio Ferrara and lit by DP Andrea Pietro Munafò – featured in the last issue of this magazine as ‘One To Watch’ – won 1st prize in La Cinef Selection of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The pair were also recognised in the 2021 David Di Donatello Awards when their student film Roman Nights/Notte Romana (2021) was nominated for Best Short Film. The Dependent Variables/Le Variabili Dipendenti (2022), the graduate film of director Lorenzo Tardella, lensed by Simone Rossi – who also took the role of assistant camera on Pietro Munafò’s films above – was selected for the Berlin International Film Festival where it was nominated for both a Teddy and a Crystal Bear.
Film schools are uniquely positioned to positively influence the cultural diversity and gender variety of the film industry, and CSC takes a proactive stance in this area.
“The application process is designed to duly encourage diversity and inclusivity, particularly towards gender equality, by appointing a majority of female commissioners,” says De Santis. “Our effort aims also to broaden our student’s horizons toward other cultures.”
This year CSC invited two Ukrainian refugees to enrol on their courses as students, and enlisted Sahraa Karimi, an award-winning director escaping from Afghanistan, to join their teaching staff. The school has a strong international presence as a member of the International Association Of Cinema, Audiovisual & Television Schools (CILECT) and its regional branch GEECT, the European Grouping Of Film & Television Schools.
With fully-owned subsidiary company, CSC Productions, overseeing the projects of CSC students and entering into distribution and marketing agreements
on their behalf, often supporting individuals beyond graduation into the creation of their first full-length features as professionals out in the industry, CSC may well be featured on some Top 15 lists for years to come. 2022 applications are now closed. Submissions for the 2023 enrolment open June 1st 2023.
https://www.fondazionecsc.it/
