Indie filmmaker Diego Ongaro shares lessons learned during his experience making two acclaimed films in the Berkshires.
September 20, 6:30–8:30pm via Zoom
Making movies outside the Hollywood system: Achieving success while maintaining creative control—and a tight budget
You’ve got a clear vision of the film you want to make, and it doesn’t involve overblown budgets and Hollywood razzamatazz.
Join local independent filmmaker Diego Ongaro to learn how he made two award-winning films in the Berkshires (Bob and the Trees, 2015; and Down with the King, 2021) that both earned critical acclaim on the international film festival circuit and beyond.
Diego will walk you through the process of making these two fiercely independent feature films, breaking down the creative process, budget planning, the intricacies of casting, production and post-production, festival strategy, and distribution. He’ll explain how to best use the resources you have at hand and how to stay nimble in order to make production feasible and maintain creative control.
Cost: $35. Class size is limited.
About the Instructor
Diego Ongaro is a French writer/director living in rural Connecticut; he was named one of Movie Maker Magazine’s “Writers to Watch” in 2022. Down With the King, his second feature film, premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix at the Deauville American Film Festival in France. It was released by Sony Pictures on June 28, 2022, and was named a “Critic’s Pick” by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott.
Diego’s first feature film, Bob and the Trees, had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, won the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and screened in more than 20 international festivals throughout the world. He was short-listed for the Someone to Watch Award at the 2016 and 2022 Independent Spirit Awards for both feature films.
Prior to that, Diego directed more than 100 children’s programs for French Television in his early 20s, then wrote and directed four acclaimed short films: Me My Bag and My Ball, Return to Labradoria, Rice and Meat and Bob and the Trees (the short that inspired the feature bearing the same name).
