Some say that dates are important. I’ve never been good with dates, bad memory I guess. But there’s one date I remember: 8 September 1943, the day of the armistice with the Allies. I like to tell people that I’ve come to terms too, that I signed the armistice with myself, on 8 September 2011, the day of my arrival in London.

 

It’s not that I was a troubled guy, but restless yes, always restless. I wanted to be a journalist and I ended up writing articles about football matches of unknown leagues I had never seen in a call-centre/newspaper on the outskirts of Rome. So I began to devote myself to videos, it was going pretty well there, but then I decided I wanted to start all over again, abroad; you know, restlessness.

 

In London I discovered that messing around with Facebook and Twitter could also become a job. So, if you see your news feed packed with #GodSaveItalians feel free to blame me.

 

 

Marco Parollo

Sound Recordist and photographer

 

IT'S NOT LONDON IF YOU

DON'T COME BACK

Before finishing my High School Classical Studies I already knew I wanted to work with sound. Electronic Engineering was the wrong choice from the start.

 

A Degree in Sound Engineering in Milan looked like a better idea. Discovering a course in London called Recording Arts sounded like a brilliant idea, but after my degree and the choice of working with sound on film, Italy called me and got me back home so I left London and its awful weather!

 

It's been exactly 13 years since I left  (I got my Degree the day before the September 11 attacks and I flew on that very date). I am back in the city I would never have gone back to, to work on a documentary which tells a story that is also my story.

I grew up in the midst of cameras, or rather behind them. The credit, or the blame, to my dad, the cameraman. The Graphic Design diploma helped me very little, I learned much more during the video editing course in Milan and through years of experience in a local television station in Brescia.

 

Then I decided to go to London, it was 17 July 2013, two days after I turned 27 years old. 

Barista during the week, camera operator and camera assistant on weekends. Until the 18th of June 2014, when I decided that I could devote myself full time to my passion.

 

It took 11 months, so many sacrifices and experiences on sets in London and its environs, but now I can be part of this project that tells many other stories of people like me who, one day, have felt that "London is calling".

 

 

I was born in London in 1966 to an Italian (Neapolitan) father and Swedish, Finnish mother. In the early 60s, my parents moved to London from Rome were they met, to follow my father’s ambition to be a designer. In the mid 70's I moved to Rome with my mother, who always loved its colours, and lived there until I was 20, when I decided to return to London to study. Needless to say, history repeated itself, I studied design, started to become my father, married a German fashion designer, had kids and discovered London all over again.

 

Today I feel equally at home in Italy and the UK and live and work with a mix of talented and interesting minds from different backgrounds and nationalities, who like my parents, chose to leave their family homes and make London their new ‘space’. For that reason, INFLUX is important, it’s a chance to get up close and remind oneself, that it is the ‘journey’ that really counts. So thanks everyone for this amazing ride… but guys… any idea of where the next stop is or where we going?

 

 

I first fell in love with the radio and then, flying to London, I was seduced by the magic of the set. Since then my job consists in 3 stages.

 

The pre-production, where you sleep very few hours, you eat badly, you talk a lot and make ends meet. To relax I do yoga, meditation, unleavened cakes, I meet people and buy shoes that always turn out to be uncomfortable.

 

Then there is the production phase where I'm on the set doing p.r., trying to lead actors with severe bipolarity: happy one minute earlier and hysterical the one after. Meanwhile I look after the crew, I make sure that they do not set themselves on fire, remembering them what we are doing and why and always dedicating them 19 seconds of motivational phrases stolen from cheesy websites shouted out in the way of Sergeant Hartman.

 

At last, the post-production phase sees me committed to play with the calculator while climbing a wall of e-mails thinking that there must be a way not to lose dozens of pens all the times.

 

I’ve been living here for eight years trying to go back to Rome since seven and half, but I guess I got lost. This documentary tells also my story through that of others.

 

 

I was born in Italy but raised and educated in London, I’m an immigrant almost without a clear identity. For English people I’m the Italian one, for Italians I’m the Englishman. This game will never end! I'm a computer animator (working for Moving Image Creation) who likes to tell stories, someone who finds joy in the small details. My relationship with Italy is difficult, "a love/hate relationship." I love the lifestyle that I see when I go on vacation; people are warm, friendly, the smell of coffee, the ‘cornetti’ at midnight, pizza, sunshine, cars, fashion, history and art.

 

Italy for me is the most beautiful country in the world and I have the dream to return one day... but people keep on telling me: "Your dream is madness." One of these people is my own father who left Italy 31 years ago and has never regretted his decision, given the dramatic socio-economic situation Italy is going through.

 

 

My name tells everything about my personality: I'm a magnet for unexpected problems to be managed. I am the peacemaker and the lifeline in critical situations which, thank god, never run out!

 

That’s why I think if I wasn’t called Liana, the alternative would have been Chamomile!

Joking aside, there have been many work experiences but one is that I'd like to continue and make the main one: Emotional Coach for Luca Vullo.

 

At the end of the day I’m always the big sister, and I think the time has come to go beyond this door and get to know London. This is the spirit that holds me up every day and make me proud in sharing it, because it’s a dream come true.

 

Thank you Luca.

 

 

Renata:

A three month internship diverted me from South Africa to London and 8 years later I am still here, at The Italian Bookshop with its many events and activities. A week in the city was enough to make me fall deeply in love! And I am still loving this city to bits, even if sometimes I feel a bit of anger and frustration, I keep on forgiving it as it never stops amazing me. 

The idea of discovering its boundaries came along with Katuscia, while strolling from stations at the end of the tube lines to the most unexpected places, trying to understand how, where and whether London eventually ends... 

 

Katuscia:

I arrived in London, at The Italian Bookshop, 4 years after Renata, with no plans at all. It was a big mistake, because in London you need to have a plan, a project or a goal to achieve. So you can start running after it. But I am still trying to orientate myself, to understand who I am and where I want to go, and I have lost track of time and space quite a few times. When it happens, I usually learn a lot but in most cases it's not useful even though some of those lessons came in handy for Luca Vullo... 

 

Are we going back to Italy? Well, not today! We'll see with the next influx...

 

 

When I was young and I decided to be a DJ, very few believed in my choice. A guy out of the box, a bit weird and if I can choose a metaphor, the drums do not really depict my attitude: I am not really talkative, inscrutable instead.

 

I am in love with the piano and I can see myself likewise, its balck and white keys summarize my life style: for good or for bad, no way in between, I want it all or nothing. London has been one of my first destination while travelling in order to improve and develop my music skills and knowledge and I am happily back in town through this project and my new ones.

 

Artistically speaking, open up and face other enviroments is a winning key to fulfill a dream. London represents my new start to express myself with the language I love: my 2014 revive!

When I was skiving off of school with my mates we were often ending up at the station looking at trains leaving to the northern cities.  From the faraway southern east of Italy we daydreamed about the world, Europe and the big American cities, where most of the music and movies which influenced our adolescent imagination, were born.

 

Some choices of life that drove me working in the cinema industry came out from this desire of living and explore this imaginary world. After years, it's all about balancing those young pulses and the hectic (working) pace on the set.

 

I spent quite a few years working in Italy aiming for being able to tell about the country through images, but now the idea of leaving is getting exciting. Therefore, I am facing the desire of going away being struggled by a strong bond with my roots, even though I have always been back to the place I left.

Giuseppe Vasapolli is a classical trained pianist and composer. After several years spent as a classical piano performer he was introduced to the world of jazz and started an intense career as a jazz pianist having the chance to share the stage with some of the best jazz musicians of Italy and Europe and to perform worldwide.

 

As a film composer Giuseppe scored various tv shows, short films, features films and documentaries, some of them got Emmy awards or Emmy nominations. In 2014 Giuseppe composed the main theme for the Oscar Red Carpet Live that opened the ceremony of the 86th Academy Awards.

 

Giuseppe Vasapolli has written music for many TV shows such as Disney’s Kickin’It, The Pitch, America’s Book Of Secrets, Freakshow, Ancient Aliens, Secrets Societies of Hollywood, Genealogy Roadshow, In Search of Aliens, Race To The Scene, The Curse of Oak Island, MTV Movie Awards and for TV networks like History Channel, AMC, National Geographic, ABC, ReelZ, E!, PBS, MTV, Disney XD and more.

I was born in Southern Italy and I've constantly moved a step further north. Since I’ve arrived in London I’ve decided to be the one who chooses instead of being chosen. My cat Akira and my partner are the link to a concept normal life that, being a freelancer, sometimes seems impossible to achieve. But I love my job. I always try to put things in the right place. This is probably my talent. When I think I’ve achieve a good result, I try to make it better. I'm always looking to improve myself because I think there's always a reason to do so. I’m a trailers and documentaries editor because I like to achieve the essential out of countless possibilities.

London has been part of my dreams for a long time; a multicultural city with centuries of history, art, opportunities and above everything else, the capital of the country where modern journalism was born. In August 2013, I decided to turn my dreams into reality, by leaving the pleasant but boring village in Northern Italy where I had spent most of my life (with some interruptions-luckily- in Bolonia, Milan and Dublin for my studies) for the British capital.

 

For many reasons, I opted for a different approach from the Journalism schools, by following two short courses in journalism and attending internships in financial journalism, national magazines and newspapers.

 

Despite all the challenges, I continue to pursue my journalism career and develop a new freelance career as Communications Officer for Documentaries.

 

After all, the best thing you can do is creating a professional space for yourself by putting together the things you love, and with INFLUX, I can do that by mixing communications and networking, cinema and London.

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