A NIGHT IN NEW YORK
With Alberto Veronese
by Karen Guthry
 The first thing that strikes one about Alberto Veronese are the eyes, wide and luminous as if they were drinking up the light in the room. The second thing about him is his manner, quiet and resolute. His voice is soft and his lips easily part with bold smiles. Like most photographers and film makers, he is an outdoors person, which probably explains why every time I’ve met him he was wearing sunglasses on his head. This peculiarity leaves the impression that given a chance, he’d escape the stale office building to get out in open.
Travel has always been an integral part of Veronese’s life. Since childhood in fact, he has been accustomed to being uprooted and moving somewhere else. While growing up, he lived in Norway, the United States, Italy and Switzerland where today, he has settled in a bucolic village in the French-speaking part. Moving around has helped develop his linguistic abilities, which come in handy in his chosen profession.
Veronese has worked as an independent film maker since 1986. During this time, he has produced about seventy different works, which include documentaries, commercials and video clips. In February this year, he finished making his first feature, a work of fiction called A Night In New York. Filmed on location, the 44 minute film was written in collaboration with his sister, Alessandra, and directed by Veronese himself. Ruth O’Briain and Christian Sorge star in the film; the soundtrack is by Philippe Kohler.
In February, after receiving a month’s suspension on his driver’s license, Veronese left Switzerland to visit his sister in Manhattan. During this time, they worked on the script together. “I felt I should do something other than staying home and having to take the bus,” he reasoned. Countless cups of coffee and many discussions later, the script developed into its final draft. “From the second day, writing became a routine each morning and four days later, a story and some dialogue were nicely written down on 14 pages.” Following an ad in the paper to look for actors, they were astounded to receive over 300 calls. “They were all willing to work for a piece of bread,” he says.
The production was a home-grown affair. Every evening, the cast and crew met for rehearsals and dinner at Alessandra’s apartment, after which they’d venture out into the cold New York night to shoot into the early hours. “It was cold, but we had blankets and hot coffee.”
The film was edited on a portable PowerBook G3, on FCP and took about a month to complete, which is what’s so great about digital video technology — it allows a filmmaker to produce and edit feature films out of a suitcase. If you’d like to view some of the stills from the movie, or learn more about A Night In New York and get a look at cast and crew, go to www.qtvr-movie.com/. In addition to featuring information about the film, Veronese’s well-organised site features much of his writings and work with QuickTime VR — perhaps the best medium to adequately showcase the diverse talents of this multimedia artist.
|  | |
| none |
|
| The purpose of this banner is to raise funds for a new VR community project VRMag will launch in a few months.
| |
