STORYTELLING
the human need to tell stories and gather round the stories of others is one of the key things that binds us together.
by Paolo Blanco and Alice da Cunha
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This pandemic is already taking a huge toll on the performing arts. The truth is a number of things have been lost during this pandemic. Many films will be left unmade because of rising production costs due to the expense of health safety protocols.
It’s now impossible to even shoot a short film without the crew looking like an episode of ER. If film is about an up-close revelation of our lives, about discovery and intimacy, how do you do that while keeping 6 feet apart and wearing masks?
Can we use the technologies that helped us to connect with our audiences during the lockdown and use them not to replace the live experience but to continue to give access to a wider number of people. How can we take this moment to rethink the theatre so that it better serves and represents its communities and their current and future needs?
At a time we’re forced to stay apart as people and as nations, it’s become clear that the human need to tell stories and gather round the stories of others is one of the key things that binds us together. Whether it’s bingeing fiction on Netflix, reading a short story about how someone just like you is coping with the pandemic all the way across the world, or watching documentaries that let you discover the world from your living room.
And during this time of great division and polarisation, I think it’s our responsibility as filmmakers to focus on telling stories about what unites us, about our shared experience of hardship, of small joys, so that we can act as a counterbalance to the forces trying to tear us apart.
We need to stand up and tell our stories, that really matter.
It’s guaranteed they’ll resonate with hundreds, thousands of people worldwide.
We’re not that different, and we’re all in this together.
And it’s film - and art’s - responsibility to remind us of that.
— Paolo Blanco
This pandemic is already taking a huge toll on the performing arts. Theater has historically survived the times and will be back.
How can we take this moment to rethink the theater so that it better serves and represents its communities and their current and future needs?
Can we use the technologies that helped us to connect with our audiences during the lockdown and use them not to replace the live experience but to continue to give access to a wider number of people.
— Alice da Cunha
We’re not that different, and we’re all in this together. And it’s film - and art’s - responsibility to remind us of that
Paolo Blanco, writer and director
Alice da Cunha, actress and producer
OUR SPEAKERS
Paolo Blanco
Born in New York City, Paolo was raised in several countries, from Latin America to Europe. He studied Philosophy and History at the London School of Economics, and French Literature at University College London. He was accepted to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, to pursue a Master’s degree (MFA) in Film Directing and Screenwriting. During the 3-year program at NYU, Paolo wrote and directed two short films and one documentary, completed a cinematography course at F.A.M.U. (Czech Republic), and was director of photography on 5 short films and one feature documentary.
After a directing internship with Spike Lee on Sucker Free City , Paolo worked extensively throughout Europe, the US and Brazil, and then began work on “Goodnight Irene”, his first feature film, which had its theatrical release in 2008. Paolo then directed another feature film for television, "O Dez", aired on RTP1 in March 2010. In 2011, "Brass Monkey," a screenplay Paolo wrote based on a story by Nicolai Fuglsig, was sold to Paramount Pictures.
Alice da Cunha
Originally from Brazil, Alice da Cunha is an actress and producer who has worked in Portugal, the US and the UK. While in London, Alice worked as an actress as well as producing a weekly short film festival, ShortCutz London, and working as the Marketing Director for CASA- London’s Latin American Theatre Festival. In 2014, Alice co-founded and became a co-Artistic Director of Physical Theater Festival Chicago, an annual contemporary, visual and physical theater festival that has brought theater companies from 13 different countries from around the world to Chicago.
Alice also serves as Artistic Consultant to Theater Unspeakable, an award-winning touring theater company that has performed its original works across the US in venues such as The Lincoln Center (NYC) and The Kennedy Center (DC). Alice has also acted in various films, TV and theater shows including “United Flight 232” (Jeff for Best Ensemble & Best Mid-Sized Prod.).
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Individuals contributed with their image and content in a personal capacity, not as a part of their role in any institution or company listed on this website.
Resources and points of view
After the war, the arts came back stronger. They can do so again now, article in The Guardian
Covid-19 has devastated our theatres and museums. But with imagination we can create something better than before, says Guardian columnist Charlotte Higgins.
Stories Matter: Why Stories Are Important to Our Lives and Culture, article in TCK
Stories are central to human cognition and communication. We engage with others through stories, and storytelling is a lot more than just a recitation of facts and events.
How Telling Stories Makes Us Human, article in TIME
Storytelling is a powerful means of fostering social cooperation and teaching social norms, and it pays valuable dividends to the storytellers themselves, improving their chances of being chosen as social partners, receiving community support and even having healthy offspring.
The Psychological Comforts of Storytelling, article in The Atlantic
Why, throughout human history, have people been so drawn to fiction?
