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.

Lecce was the latest stop on the SISS tour, which combines music with an educational focus on images. Building on the project launched with IULM University, several students from the Television, Cinema and New Media Master’s programme — who won scholarships — attended the event to report on and document it. As in Tallinn, their work will be compiled into short audiovisual ‘urban symphonies’: portraits of the city in which music, locations and emotions converge.

Giada Maria Scarfiello, a scholarship holder, director and filmmaker, says «We filmed at the Castle of King Charles V for all three days of Imaginary Landscapes. Being from Puglia, I was able to experience the city with fresh eyes and capture details that everyday life tends to obscure». She also highlights the encounter with a musical culture with which she had had little prior experience and the concept of “imaginary landscapes” as a space for dialogue between cinema and music.

Raffaella Greco, an editing fellow, describes the difference between her expectations and the reality she experienced: «From the call for applications, I had no idea about the artistic and musical content. It was a revelation to experience it live». On her first visit to Lecce, she adds that walking through the ancient streets and monuments “reinforced the sense of discovery”, while listening to the performances became “an exercise in attention”.

From a technical perspective, Giada emphasises the learning process involved in operating a new video camera and navigating work rhythms and “lighting rounds”. For Raffaella, the trips into town provided inspiration for editing images in relation to music.

Imaginary Landscapes, which took place in Lecce from 27 February to 1 March, was thus the setting for further SISS initiatives: a bridge between the AFAM world and universities, cinema and music, and young talent and experts. It is a concrete reminder of the importance of doing and learning by listening.