Professor Giuseppe Carrieri, who supervised students on the Master’s degree programme in Television, Cinema and New Media at IULM University during SISS Productions’ travelling film activities, recounts the experience and reports the students’ personal comments.

Against the backdrop of echoes of Italian silent cinema and melodies from the Neapolitan school, winter in Tallinn saw a number of students enrolled on the Master’s Degree in Television, Cinema and New Media at IULM University embark on a training experience as part of the SISS project.

The scholarship recipients were Vincenzo Mattias, a director and filmmaker, and Johan Marco Spirolazzi, an editor and film editor. During their time in the Estonian capital, the two graduates not only filmed the two cine-concerts hosted in the theatre, but also worked in the urban space, filming the city according to a script inspired by the visual symphonies of the 1920s. They also collaborated with musicians from the Trento Conservatory over two mornings, who performed impromptu at various locations around the city. These performances were then translated into images, creating brief poetic moments of dialogue between sound and landscape.

Above all, Johan emphasises the unexpected quality of the experience: «We didn’t think Tallinn would be such a beautiful and welcoming city». He adds, «Working with the conservatory musicians was truly enriching. There was a continuous dialogue to find the best way to represent them through images».

For Vincenzo, the educational value of the trip was paramount: «I learned a lot about preparing and organising a project linked to a concert and a festival». However, he notes that the most important legacy concerns the ability to react: «I learned to adapt. I’ve always been someone who plans everything, but here we often had to reinvent our work on the spot».

Thus, Tallinn inaugurates a journey that aims to build a concrete bridge, step by step, between university education, audiovisual practice, and European musical culture