L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano " We like the idea of combining Ameri- cans' fresh mentali- ty with our Italian taste, and with that u n i q u e a b i l i t y , t y p i c a l o f those born and raised in our beautiful country, to think outside the box." T a l e n t , d e t e r m i n a t i o n a n d a v o c a t i o n f o r c h a l - l e n g e s l e d S e r g i o B a r b a s s o a n d A n n a Z a n n i n o t o L a s V e g a s where the two young people from Milan found the ideal conditions to realize their e n t r e p r e n e u r i a l i d e a a n d vision. Sergio, a designer, w r i t e r , d i r e c t o r , g r a p h i c d e s i g n e r , a n d A n n a , p a s - sionate about marketing and psychology, have combined t h e i r p a s s i o n s a n d w o r k experiences in Italy to found an independent film festival, the Vegas Movie Awards ™. With films hailing from m o r e t h a n 7 0 c o u n t r i e s around the world, the festi- val has featured over 4,500 films since March 2019. "We listen to the artists, we take care of them, and we make t h e m p a r t o f a f a m i l y i n which they always feel wel- comed and justified in their daring choices," Sergio and A n n a t e l l m e f r o m t h e i r home, which is only a few miles from the most famous S t r i p i n t h e w o r l d . " E v e r y o n e m u s t h a v e t h e opportunity to consolidate or build their career in the most authoritative and mer- itocratic way possible." H o w d i d t h e i d e a o f founding a film festival come about? We are also filmmakers and entrepreneurs who are deeply disappointed by the treatment of independent cinema by the Film Festival industry. By studying the m a r k e t i n t h e v a r i o u s f o r u m s a b o u t i t , w e s o o n realized that we were just a drop in an ocean of disap- p o i n t e d f i l m m a k e r s . W e found this carelessness so disrespectful, frustrating, and in some cases humiliat- i n g , t h a t w e r e a l i z e d t h i s could be a battle worth our time and energy. Why did you decide to dedicate the festival to independent films? As an independent pro- ducer and director it seemed like a logical choice, first of all for a great personal pas- sion and secondly because, at an entrepreneurial level, I (Sergio) always prefer to try m y h a n d a t s o m e t h i n g I know deeply. Furthermore, a common problem to all independent directors is not really knowing what to do with their work once it is finished; how to promote it, where, how, and who to rely on. We are here to answer those questions. How does your festi- val help emerging direc- tors and actors? O n a n e m o t i o n a l l e v e l , the artist is exhausted from having created film, and as soon as they approach the world of festivals they end u p i n a w h i r l w i n d f r o m which they generally emerge with a broken motivation. In our organization and our team, artists can find respect and continuous communica- tion, essential elements of their experience with us. We also promote the best winners, both online and offline, offering them in an exemplary way to an audi- ence of over 10,000 profes- sionals and their peers, in order to establish synergies and make it easier for them to find distribution and peo- ple who believe in their pro- jects. How do you interact with the artists? Filmmakers use our web- s i t e , w w w . v e g a s - movieawards.com, directly t o s u b m i t t h e i r f i l m o r script, or the FilmFreeway platform which currently h a s m o r e t h a n 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 a c t i v e f i l m m a k e r s . W h e n t h e y w a n t t o t a l k t o u s , a r t i s t s f r o m a l l o v e r t h e world find us at all hours on our Facebook and Instagram p a g e s , a n d a t o u r e m a i l a d d r e s s , i n f o @ v e g a s - movieawards.com W h y c h o o s i n g a n o n l i n e f e s t i v a l w i t h monthly competitions? We loved the high-quality monthly online competition formula, where the winners of each edition could com- pete for our annual awards at a physical ceremony in b e a u t i f u l L a s V e g a s . Independent cinema is over- flowing with talent, eager for recognition for their hard w o r k , a n d w e k n e w w e couldn't help enough people with just an annual competi- tion. How did you manage the festival during the pandemic? D e s p i t e t h e e n o r m o u s efforts in terms of money and time invested we had to cancel our first big annual ceremony in Downtown Las Vegas, and refund up to the SILVIA GIUDICI last ticket. If nothing else, since then our monthly com- petitions have become very popular, and we have invest- ed all our time studying a lot, creating synergies in the city, and training our collab- orators to create an impec- c a b l e o r g a n i z a t i o n t h a t responds to an ever increas- ing number of participants. How many categories and awards does the fes- tival have? G i v e n t h e i m p r e s s i v e number of filmmakers cur- rently in circulation, making a lot of categories has always m e a n t o n e t h i n g f o r u s : being able to give a voice even to those who usually have beautiful but risky / uncomfortable projects and, f o r t h i s r e a s o n , a r e l i t t l e c o n s i d e r e d b y t h e f i l m industry. And also, through specific categories such as Best Producer, Best Actor, b u t a l s o B e s t E d i t i n g , o r B e s t C h o r e o g r a p h y , w e manage to somehow reward all those people involved in a film who work with pas- s i o n b o t h i n f r o n t o f t h e c a m e r a a n d b e h i n d t h e Sergio Barbasso and Anna Zannino, founders of the Las Vegas Movie Awards (Photo courtesy of Sergio Barbasso and Anna Zannino) Sergio and Anna, the Italian founders of the Vegas Movie Awards Continued to page 20 LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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