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WHO IS DAVID AND WHAT DOES HE DO?
I am writing this for the many people who have asked me about the specifics of what I do. For many this is cut and dried answer, I am a lawyer, I am a doctor, I work at a bank, etc. In my case I am an independent filmmaker and it is a bit different so let me explain.
Creating independent documentary films requires resourcefulness. It also requires strong survival instincts. The tasks and skills required are many and much of the “work” of making a film is unpaid – done in a effort to save on expenses. Throughout the course of my career I have had to take on many roles in order to make films the way I have chosen to make them. These include but are in no way limited to Writer, Researcher, Interviewer Cinematographer/Photographer, Audio Recordist, Editor and Colorist.
I became proficient at these skills meticlously trying to perfect each one over the course of my career to accomplish the goal of creating films which (as a bare minimum from a technical standpoint) stand with those made to the highest standards. To do this I had to teach myself to learn. I had to become a great student and quick study, and then practice, practice, practice.
On the marketing side of filmmaking I understood that graphic design and layout both for creating websites and printed documents are also very nessesary skills to possess, so I built this website and several others and I also produced; brochures, one sheets, business cards and along the way and even laid out three books.
My time on the internet has most often been to communicate (with podcasts) or to research and learn something. Very little of my time is spent on ‘entertainment’.
This is why I am able to wear so many hats and offer many different professional services.
I have aimed to be a renaissance man, to strive to have wide ranging knowledge and understanding. Any grace I have been granted however, I owe completely and entirely to God.
DAVID BATTISTELLA – Producer • Writer • Director
Award Winning Director
Screenwriter, Story editor, Columnist
Creative Direction, Producer, Film Editor.
“Every life is an archive. Each frame is a documentary.
That’s just how I see things.”
Filmmaker David Battistella lives in Tuscany, Italy. From this ancient region he has created documentaries exploring the themes of people, their daily work and creative life. His film, The Innocents of Florence, initially following an art conservation blossomed into a story about about art, Christianity, humanism, women’s and children’s history. He is a writer and two time Ted speaker in English and Italian.
The son of Italian immigrants to Canada, his journey has led him back to Italy to explore his Italian heritage and roots.
NICE THINGS PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT DAVID’S WORK
SUSAN REISLER Former documentary Journalist and Producer with CBC Television and now a VP at the public relations firm Media Profile
“David is one of the most sensitive and creative people I have worked with. Whether it was shooting video, or editing, David had great ideas for telling the story. And, he always had the latest best equipment to work with. He understood what we were doing from all perspectives and his input always made our work better.”
GERRY FLAHIVE Producer: National Film Board of Canada
“David Battistella is an award-winning filmmaker who has had a long and fruitful relationship with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The NFB is an internationally-respected Canadian film institution created in 1939. It has produced over 13,000 films which have won over 5000 awards.
David is a seasoned filmmaker who places an emphasis on craft. I am pleased to recommend him as an extraordinary creative collaborator.”
CORRADO SILVERI Owner E-motion Genoa
“David is, and actually acts as, a real gentleman. Like a gentleman from the last century, with the honour, the compliance with rules and the respect of the efforts of the crew.
He’s a creative mind of the last century with a technical knowledge of this very time.
His skills as cinematographer are awesome too.
So, you guessed it, I really can’t say more positive words about David.”
GEORGE TATGE Photographer
“David’s films are technically impeccable, but more importantly, they project the passion he infuses them with. He will not choose a subject that does not touch him in an intimate way. And the piecing together of the parts is done with tender loving care. He is a very intelligent, sensitive and gentle man. Working with him was as simple as sitting at a bar with a couple of beers in hand. In fact, he has become a good friend and we hit the bars as much as possible.”
LEWIS BAUMANDER Founder Lewis Baumander Acting School, Toronto
“David has spent hundreds of hours honing his acting skills in my classes and many more refining his skills as a director witnessing other actors work through ongoing scene study and on camera class training.
As a student David regularly attended evening classes and often showed a strong commitment to working toward his goals of being present to the material and his colleagues. As a scene partner David demonstrated a willingness to improve his skill and is generous to his fellow actors.”
CHRISTINA POCHMURSKY Award Winning Filmmaker
“David worked as an editor on one of my award winning documentaries. He brought passion, precision, intelligence, craft, and intensity to every every moment of the project. He’s a talented story-teller, who also knows how to use imagery and digital technology like a master : with reverence for the past combined with a shrewd understanding of future trends.”
GREG TWINNEY CEO, GENERAL FUSION
“I’ve known David since before he made the bold move to Italy to change his life around and pursue what made him curious. I appreciate anyone who works hard toward even seemingly impossible goals because I’ve set high standards my whole career. David and I are in different fields, but I recognize his drive and commitment are universal themes needed to achieve any dream or desire of any magnitude.”
MICHAEL GRIPPO CSC Cinematographer
“David is a talented and passionate media professional!”
ANN TAIT Executive Producer: Iron Road
“David creates visual poetry through his haunting images and the powerful rhythms of his editing.”
JUST FILM THE WORLD AROUND YOU
David Battistella – Filmmaker
I believe in making films right where you live. When I lived in the great Toronto Junction, I made films with and about the places and people around me. A filmmaker, especially anyone who considers themselves a documentary filmmaker, must explore the places in the miles immediately around where they live.
Only you can really tell the story about the place you live in, day in and day out. Knowing your surroundings and filming and documenting the people and places around you is an essential way to communicate the intricate nature of community. Community is more about geography now than it has ever been as a wave of global monoculture dispalces the natural flow of the living spaces where humans gather.
THE DOCUMENTARY FILMS
THE INNOCENTS OF FLORENCE
The Quest to Save 600,000 Children
When art restorers in Florence begin work on a 600 year old painting they lead the journey to uncover the story of the city’s forgotten children, and the women who saved them.
It’s 1410 and there is a huge social problem in Florence. Babies are being abandoned and dying at an alarming rate. To solve the problem Florence’s humanists organise and build a hospice for babies and young mothers.
Flash forward 600 years. Two women, an American and an Italian, are tasked with the restoration of the work due to be displayed after the renovation and reopening of the museum.
GEORGE TATGE : LIGHT & COLOR
After 35 years of loading Black and white film into his wooden camera, photographer George Tatge makes a dramatic shift to color and the results of his first show are a delectable treat to the eye.
In March 2019, just prior to the present situation filmmaker David Battistella visited Palazzo Fabroni and took in George tatage’s color work for the first time.
David managed to interview George Tatge again after seeing this show of his Color photography. This film was completed while in Lockdown, then after the complete lockdown of Italy scenes were filmed in other parts of Tuscany.
LIGHT & SILVER
The Photographic Life of George Tatge
This film began with a simple concept. David was expecting delivery of the RED EPIC MX camera, a 5K dynamo that had just been used to film a Spiderman movie. He was about to receive this digital marvel and wanted the first film he made with this new digital tool to honor the process of chemical film. David met photographer George Tatge and after a great lunch at his home they set out to make a documentary about how he makes photographs, one large film negative at a time with his view camera.
SHINNY
The Hockey in All of Us
The best game you can name. When David Battistella set out to make a film about hockey in a hockey mad country, it ended up winning an international award because the jury had finally come to understand how much this game is embedded in the Canadian way of live and in the cultural attitudes and values that Canadians experience through the informal game of Shinny hockey.
Battistella filmed incredible games set in the Canadian landscape and bringing the warmth of the Canadian should to life on the screen.
From the Arctic Circle to each coast one game unites Canadians and their love for the country and their winter season. Pictured here, the rink Davide grew up playing shinny on.
LA SANTA PASQUA 2020
Narratore Luciano Artusi
This film was created while Italy was in total lockdown in 2020 cancelling this celebration for the first time since world war II.
The film was created by David Battistella and co-written with the presenter Luciano Artusi a folklore historian and author in Florence, Italy.
Luciano is largley responsible for researching and returning many Florentine traditions recreating them from the past.
LIGHT & SPIRIT
The Spiritual Life of Don Alessandro Pacchia
Luce e Spirito explores the working life of Don Alessandro Pacchia, an 83 year old priest at the Basilica of Florence, made famous by Brunelleschi’s Cupola. The film traces his 47 years as a simple priest who’s work as Sacristan has never changed.
Captured by filmmaker David Battistella over a period of 15 months with unprecedented access to Don Alessandro’s personal and working life as a priest.
Don Alessandro has a unique job in a unique place, with a unique perspective and his career has helped form his worldly point of view.
BRYAN ADAMS
Bare Bones
Bryan Adams is one of world’s most enduringly popular singer/songwriters. He is most at home in his Vancouver studio, surrounded by his collection of vintage microphones and guitars.
Adams calls it “a very analog space in a very digital world.” In this short documentary, we witness an intimate rendition of his song “One World, One Flame” and hear him speak of his audience-centred approach to performance: “I want it to be fun, I want it to be real.”
FAMILY BAND
The Tragically Hip
In this short documentary about The Tragically Hip, director David Battistella uses a split-screen and acid-etched colours to distil the iconic Canadian band’s essence. After decades together, through hotels, highways, gigs and recording sessions, The Hip’s members have forged a powerful brotherhood. “These guys are my life partners, musically” says bass guitarist Gord Sinclair.
The Hip’s brand of straight-ahead rock and roll has catapulted the band to international stardom, and ensured them a place in Canadian musical history, but at heart, they remain a bunch of guys from Kingston, Ontario, making music together just for fun.
MODERN GLADIATORS
Over 1.6 Million views on Vimeo
Calcio Storico is a game that has been played in Firenze, Italia for centuries. Four teams; RED, WHITE, BLUE and GREEN, representing different parts of the city; punch, kick, run and scrape their way toward victory in a round robin tournament. The tournament resumes next June!
A mix, of rugby, soccer, american football, boxing, MMA and Greco Roman wrestling, CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO is by for the most exciting sporting event I have ever witnessed live.
The whole film was done in Version 1 of FCP X one day after it was publically released.
HAND MADE MONEY
Il Fiorino d’Oro
Need some money? This film demonstrates historical techniques used to hand hammer money in 13th century Florence. The Florentine goldsmith who appears in the film is Paolo Penko. He still uses the technique to make handmade 24 carat gold Florins. Each coin contains more than three grams of solid gold.
It’s a Florentine tradition to give a Florin to a newborn baby as a keepsake, good luck piece and symbol to build for the future.
The phrase, “One gold Florin today for many in the future.” is often used to accompany the tradition.
THE TV COMMERCIALS
LIST OF SOME PAST WORK
SELECTED EDITING CREDITS
SHINNY: The Hockey in all of Us
77 min NFB*
INCREDIBLE MEDICAL MYSTERIES
60min TLC, Discovery, Health*
JIM CARRY Somebody Stop Me
60 min CBC TV*
THE MOST DANGEROUS
ANIMAL IN CANDA
60 min Discovery Channel
TEAM SPIRIT : THE JORDIN AND TERRENCE TOOTOO STORY
60 min CTV*
THE SEXUAL CENTURY
60 min CBC, Channel 4 UK*
INCIDENT AT ROSWELL
60 min History Telelvision*
STRAIGHT ARROW
30 min History Televison
MARY PICKFORD: A LIFE
60 min CBC TV*
THE DANCING GAME
60 min NFB/CBC*
DECODING GIRL POWER
30 min CBC TV*
IF DINOSAURS COULD FLY
60 min Discovery Channel*
STRESS
30 min The Health Show, CBC TV
FLIGHTPATH: Beaver Fever
60 min Discovery Channel
FLIGHTPATH: Airships 2000
60 min Discovery Channel
FLIGHTPATH: Hurricane Hunters
60 min Discovery Channel*
THE UNOFFICIAL STORY
90 min CBC TV
THE HAMBLIN FAMILY
30 min CBC TV
FIELD OF GENES
60 min CBC TV
NEWSREELS TO NIGHTLY NEWS
60 min A&E/History US
AMERICANIZATION
90 min CBC TV
72 Hours
90 min CBC TV
FATHERS, SONS & HOCKEY
30 min CBC TV*
XANADU: Domestic Perfection
60 min CBC TV
*denotes award winning or nominated film
WRITER
Screenplay: UNDONE
Screenplay: ALPHABET PEACE
Screenplay: PLAYING THE RUSH
Screenplay: THE QUITTER
Current Screenplay: LIFE OF FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
Screenwriter : SHINNY, THE HOCKEY IN ALL OF US
Screenwriter/Story Editor: ODD KID OUT
Screenwriter : BRYAN ADAMS, BARE BONES
Screenwriter : THE TRAJICALLY HIP, FAMILY BAND
Screenwriter: RIPPER HOCKEY (five episodes)
Screenplay: Travellers Wasteland
Columnist for The Florentine, in Florence, Italy.
Follow the column here:
CLICK TO VIEW FLORENTINE ARTICLES
Nationally published opinion pieces in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s National Newspaper.
WE NEED A NATIONAL SHINNY DAY
David Battistella: Special to the Globe and Mail
STICKING UP FOR SHINNY
David Battistella: Special to the Globe and Mail
Creative Cow Magazine
15 Published Articles onCreative Cow Website
CLICK TO VIEW CREATIVE COW ARTICLES
ACTOR Film & TV
CSI True Stories: Cold Blood Disturbed (TV)
Breakout (TV)
Forensic Factor (TV)
Ripperhockey Episode 1 (WEB)
Ripperhockey Episode 2 (WEB)
Impact (CORPERATE)
FreeCreditRepot.com (US NATIONAL COMMERCIAL)
Writers Block (SHORT FILM)
Undone (SHORT FILM)
Alphabet Peace (SHORT FILM)
Traveller’s Wasteland (SHORT FILM)
PUBLIC SPEAKING
TED SALON, LONDON
TED X Firenze, Italy
British Institute, Florence Italy
Palazzo Tournabuoni, Florence Italy
Playback Innovations Forum
Alphabet Peace Live Events
Shinny (Public screenings)
IMDB CREDITS
For the most up to date information please click on the link to my IMDB page.