An interesting pair of creative people and both named Alessandro, were wandering through Barga Vecchia this morning. One was well known to barganews – Alessandro Stefani, who’s videos have appeared often on the site – the cube He was here scouting for interesting locations for scenes in the film Ameriqua which is being shot in Barga later on this month.
The other Alessandro was new to Barga but he too was looking for locations to photograph. His name was Alessandro Puccinell and normally he can be found in Portugal where he is making a large name for himself for his photographs of the sea
He was here in Barga not to photograph a seascape but instead he was looking for a window – a particular window. In fact had a photocopy image in his hand of the kind of window that he looking for. A window surrounded by thick walls of rough stone with a flat shelf underneath.
Various places were tried in Barga Vecchia, all of which did not quite match up the the required window until finally deep down in the cantinas below Casa Cordati, a window was found which matched , more or less, the image on the photocopy.
Another of those nice circular things that happen ever now and again in Barga – the same cantinas that were used to hide American servicemen during the last war. Maybe the film Ameriqua has just found another location in which to tell their story ?
Alessandro Puccinelli’s site is here
AmeriQua is a fresh feature comedy, written and starred in by Bobby Kennedy III, that transports the sweet debauchery of the classic American college-movie to the Renaissance jewel of Bologna, Italy. Drawing on the wild characters and strange situations Bobby encountered while studying there in 2005, AmeriQua is the story of a lazy recent graduate, CHARLIE (Bobby Kennedy), whose rich parents cut him off with a $5000 check and an ultimatum to start a life of independence and responsibility. Instead, he buys a plane ticket to Italy, gets robbed upon arrival and winds up in Bologna in the care of his new friend LELE (Lele Gabellone), the self-proclaimed King of Bologna, who lives with a scraggly punkabbestia, BALLO (Gianlucca Bazzoli), and the insatiable prostitute frequenter, IL PISA (Giuseppe Sanfelice). In Bologna, LELE teaches CHARLIE the subtle strategies that the King knows so well, namely hitting on Italian women, throwing all-night parties and inciting general anarchy. CHARLIE takes to it like a pro and in the process meets the dangerously beautiful VALENTINA (Alessandra Mastronardi) and all-American VICKY (Eva Amurri). It may have been a simple story of cultural exchange had CHARLIE not accidentally pissed off two vicious mafia bosses, DON FERRACANE (Giancarlo Giannini) and DON FARINA (Ernesto Mahieux) in his wanderings. What chance does a timid American kid, who doesn’t speak Italian and hangs out with sloppy Italian party hounds, have against the dark forces of organized crime in Italy? See for yourself and don’t miss AmeriQua (site here) coming out in 2011!