And the journey continues

Photo provided by Luca Guardabascio

On Wednesday November 19th, Luca Guardabascio presented his book, "Stones on the Ocean," at Oberlin College in Ohio. On December 4th, he will return to Detroit for another presentation. He plans to present the book in Philadelphia on December 13th and in New York on December 15th. The New York presentation will be sponsored by La Federazione Delle Associazioni Campane in USA.

Guardabascio is also busy shooting a new movie on the Italian American poet, Zach Aiko at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. Click here to be directed to the official Facebook page of the movie.

Photo provided by Guardabascio

Photo provided by Guardabascio

Mark your calendar!

Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos

The Artist behind Moonlight and Mangos has been very busy wearing many hats, including working for the Nassau County government and preparing for the upcoming Tuesday November 4th election.
The four days leading to the election will be the busiest as The Artist will be managing the Get out to Vote initiative for the re-election campaign of Haitian-American NYS Assemblywoman, Michaelle Solages. This initiative aims to encourage NY residents in especially Elmont and Valley Stream to vote and become more involved in their community's decision-making process.
"It's important to vote," said The Artist. "If people don't get up and vote, they will never get what they deserve."
"People count on us to not vote so they can stay in power," she added. "You can't complain [about your situation] if you don't do something."
The Artist is in charge of coordinating with volunteers and paying workers to make phone calls for the election. Moreover, she is currently looking for poll workers for 2Pm-9PM and 3PM-7PM shifts. The salary is 10/hr. If you are looking to make extra cash and help out an important cause, please get in touch with her at (516) 244-9560.
She also works as the director of Creative Art Space for Kids, a non-profit art center for kids located in the Long Island area. There, you will also find her paintings along the walls for purchase.

"I have been selling a lot of paintings," said The Artist who explained that despite her busy schedule, she always manages to find time to paint. 

There will be an Open House for the Creative Art Space for Kids on November 16th. On December 6th, The Artist will have an Art Exhibition also at the Creative Art Space for Kids. This exhibition will be a celebration of her birthday and a ground to raise money for Haiti Relief Fund, an organization where The Artist serves as Vice President. 34% of the proceeds will go to this organization. 

She further explained that wearing very different hats makes her more creative. 

"This is just the beginning," she stated. "I have no limit." 

She is now working on putting together an art book and a collection of her writings. 

I plan to see all of you at those events. The Creative Art Space for Kids address is below. ;)

CASK Creative Art Space for Kids
48 Atlantic Ave Lynbrook NY 11563

Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos

Photo provided by Moonlight & Mangos

Stones on the Ocean Presentations

The Flyer of the NYPD event on Oct. 23rd. Courtesy of Luca Guardabascio

This upcoming week, Luca Guardabascio will be very busy presenting his new book, Stones on the Ocean: The story of Giovanni Esposito and Joe Petrosinoi, in Michigan. He will be a speaker at the XIV Week of Italian Language in the World event by Wayne State University on Wednesday Oct. 22nd.
The next day, Thursday Oct. 23rd, Guardabascio will be presenting at the New York Pizza Depot (NYPD) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As quoted by David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, Guardabascio's book covers a topic that despite its prominence has not been covered a lot: The great Italian migration.

Stones on The Ocean

The cover of Luca Guardabascio's new book, "Stones on The Ocean

Luca Guardabascio's book on the life of Joe Petrosino and Givanni Esposito, two Italians who migrated to the United States, is now available! The story touches on a very important subject, the Italian migration to the USA, and their contribution to the American culture and history. This project has been a long time coming, and you can see the blog post we wrote on this cool project on May 23rd, 2013 by clicking here.

He will presenting the book in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York.

Ciao!

31 Poems

Sur Mon 31 is officially published and available on Amazon, iTune, Sociéte des Écrivains and Bouquinplus.com. Tanguy Exumé describes it all as a dream come true–something that he wanted to accomplished for a long time now.
Years ago as a staff member of the Salon du Livre de Montréal, he tried to imagine what it would feel like to be one of those authors.
Today he is in Montréal presenting his collection of poetry at the Journée du Livre Haïtien.The official book launch was on August 7th at Le Centre Culturel Francophone in Vancouver. More events will be coming up. On September 7th, he will be reading some of his English work in the Poetic Justice event in Vancouver. He is also planning a spoken word show on September 19th.
Be among the first to know everything happening with Exumé and his new book by following him on Twitter.

Tanguy Exumé: Take a look at the book cover

Book cover of Sur Mon 31

Excitement is definitely in the air as Tanguy Exumé is getting ready to debut his poetry book, Sur Mon 31. The collection is full of reflective pieces on our society, identity and politics.
He also started recording the audio version of the poems, with one of them, Référentiel, being available on soundcloud.
Want to learn more about the poet and his œuvre, connect with him through those following social media:

• Twitter: @titangex
• soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/titangex
• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tanguyexume
• Wordpress: www.titangexume.wordpress.com

Feel free to drop him a note, he'll respond!

The Roving Tree Book Tour

Click here to be directed to Elsie Augustave's website to view more pictures.

Hilary Clinton has a few advices for you

I just wanted to share this article on former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's speech at the Association of American Publishers this year. Her lessons are worth taking notes of. Click here to be directed to it.

Elsie Augustave: List of events

Below is the list of author Elsie Augustave's upcoming events:

• Mar 29, 2014: Elsie Augustave – National Black Writers Conference, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, NY
• Apr 11, 2014: Elsie Augustave – Eastern University, Wayne, PA
• May 4, 2014: Elsie Augustave – Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace Conference, Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
• May 17, 2014: Elsie Augustave – Footprints Foundation Literary Jazz Brunch, Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Coconut Grove, FL

Elsie Augustave: Discussion with a reader

Photo by Sabine Cherenfant

I met Elsie Augustave not too far from Times Square on a cold Thursday evening. She wore a black fur collar coat and held a canvas bag and a purse hinting at her life as a teacher at the Stuyvesant High School in New York. After a "quick" stop, we made our way to the last floor of a building to talk about her debut novel, The Roving Tree, published by Akashic Books.
The novel depicts the brief life of Iris, a young Haitian adopted at the age of five by a liberal American family in the ending years of the Civil Rights Movement. The book takes you to the course of her life as she struggles to fit in and reconnect with her past. She moves from one place to another, all in a subconscious search for identity. Many topics arose from the book– political struggle, racism, Africanism, cultural boundaries and the mere history of humanity.
"Iris is a survivor," concluded Augustave as we discussed this heroine's ability to rise above all challenges and keep her head high despite all traumas.
As a reader, you begin to admire Iris' strength, and her independence becomes inspiring.
Yet, ask Augustave her reason for writing this book and she won't have an answer. Truthfully, she just knew she wanted to write a book. She was not trying to convey a message. Rather, she wanted to express herself leaving the readers the choice to find their own message.
"It wasn't so much that I was going to write a book about this or that," she explained. "The first thing I decided was I was going to write a book. The second thing was 'what about?'"
That is where her strong interest in the Haitian culture and her experience spinning the globe came into play. They guided her in writing the novel.
Even though Augustave's life is distinct from the life of Iris's, they are both travelers and seekers in nature.
"our itineraries are the same," said Augustave who have traveled or lived in all of the places mentioned in the book. Life circumstances led Iris from Haiti to the United States to Senegal, Zaire and France.
I asked Augustave about her most memorable experience traveling to South America, West Africa and Europe, and she recounted her time studying anthropology and archeology in Colombia in the 1970's, stubbornly visiting San Basilio de Palenque, a village founded by escaped slaves, for her final project. The mayor of the village took her in since there was no hotel in this isolated but historical community near Cartagena.
Just like Iris, Augustave grew up in Haiti under the Duvalier era and left at a young age.
"I was much older than miss Iris," she said. "I must have been 12 or 13 years old. It was quite a different experience."
Iris lived in Westchester with her family. Augustave's family first moved in Spring Valley, where few Haitians lived at the time.
"There were only three families [then]," she remembered. Her sister, the son of her father's friend and she were the only Haitians in the school they enrolled in.
On weekends they would visit family members and friends in brooklyn and the city. Seeing how happy those visits made her sister and her, her parents decided to move closer to the city.
Moreover, in addition to their early move to the US, dancing also united Iris and Augustave. Dancing connected Iris to her culture and transported her to Zaire where the second part of the novel takes place. Dancing gave her a purpose. Dancing also connected Augustave to her culture.
"I started dancing in Haiti but nothing structured," said Augustave who used to participate in neighborhood plays in Cabaret, Haiti.
She took ballet and modern dance classes when she moved to the US, studying under a famous Haitian dancer and learning Katherine Dunham's techniques. Augustave went on to choreograph a major production for the National Dance Theater of Zaire.
She also found another way to reconnect with her culture when she received a grant from Howard University and traveled to Haiti for a summer to study Haitian folklore. She spent a large amount of time in the north of the country, attending voodoo ceremonies with a historian friend. That time will shape Iris's return to the land.
"I wanted to write about that kind of world where people believe in life under water," said Augustave. "Monn Neg is an invention of my imagination. I wanted Iris's experience as a Haitian to be from that world."
That supernatural world also feeds this search for identity. We talked about the global aspect of the book, the common need among African descents in the Americas to know the past.
Augustave, who is currently writing her second novel, previously stated writing as her mission.
"When something becomes an obsession, it has to be because it is something you're meant to do," she replied when I asked her to elaborate on writing being her mission. "I'd like to know I have written before I die."
She is a reader at heart though her busy life makes reading and leisure almost impossible.
"I haven't used the word fun in my vocabulary in so long," she joked.
Lastly, I asked her what would be her advice to young writers to which she replied, "... perseverance and discipline are the two most important qualities one needs to achieve a dream."
"You have to persevere," she added. "Your desire to achieve that dream should be stronger than any obstacle."

Reintroducing Elizabeth Fabien

Photo Provided by Elizabeth Fabien

Elizabeth Fabien is a poet, playwright and the author of the collection of poems, W.O.R.D.S.: Wisdom to Survival. A four time recipient of the International Library of Poetry Editor's Choice award, she often performs her pieces at Boukan Night in Florida and has over 400 written pieces in counting. She discovered the joy of writing 14 years ago after watching the Christmas contests in Haiti, which were filled with talented composers. The poetic music inspired her to explore her inner writing ability. Moreover, after moving to the U.S., she used writing as a way to learn English. What was just a tool to practice English turned into a form of expression for her, tapping into subjects like love, nature, God, society and the Haitian culture. She had the opportunity to recite her poems at her Alma Matter, at weddings, galas and literary clubs. Fabien hopes to publish her works in the future and to be know nationally and internationally. She is currently working on a project for Haiti, titled “Phoenix has risen.”

Tanguy Exume's "Sur Mon 31" soon to be published!

It came on December 20th, five days before Christmas and 12 days before the new year. It was just an email with a simple subject line yet a message big enough to push a long scream out of Tanguy Exume.
"It was a long yell as if someone in my family passed away [followed by] constant laughter," divulged Exume. "I just couldn't imagine it. Finally I had a positive answer on having something published."
Now begins the process to publishing Exume's collection of poems, "Sur Mon 31," and he is more than ready for it. He has already signed the contract, sent corrections, took out the English poems (including the poem that will feature a rap verse by Mizzy) and replaced them with French poems. He will soon receive a tentative cover, and from there, there will be a lot of back and forth to bring the book to its final look before officially publishing it in four months or less.
It all started 10 months ago in March as a "tentative project" (as Exume describes it) to challenge himself to write 31 poems in 31 days for his 31st year on earth.
"I was working on just following a task, so sometimes it was painful," he admitted. "Some nights, I would be like 'OMG I have to write a poem today.'"
Other nights, he would wake up in the middle of the night realizing he forgot to finish a poem.
"It was the first series not based on inspiration," he said. I was forcing myself to write as opposed to feeling something and writing about it."
The collection is made of a diverse set of poems varying from political and social issues to pure love. As Exume pinpointed, several of the poems contrast with the title, which refers to the expression "Sur mon 31" (meaning to be on your Sunday best).
He wrote one of the poems (also one of his favorites) in Vancouver Island where the aboriginal heritage is celebrated.
"We went by a lot of Totem Poles, and that day I had to write a poem," he narrated. "And I [thought] if they ask me build a Totem Pole, what would it be, what would it contain, what would be my heritage and what would it represent?"

"Mon Totem/ Un poeme/ L'embleme de ma vie boheme/ Le siege de mes dilemmes/ Mon Totem..." he wrote describing every aspect of his life. 

He joked about his inability to draw and explained writing the poem was his way of drawing with words his Totem pole.

Also in the collection is a poem on Aida, the love goddess and on John Coltrane, the famous Jazz saxophone player.
"It about how I feel when I listen to John Coltrane, and the fact that I grew up with my dad playing the saxophone," said Exume. "All of those memories resurface throughout the poem, but the poem is really based on the accomplishments of John Coltrane and his influence on me."
Once the book comes out, he plans to tour and promote his book in Vancouver and Montreal, Canada and of course, his country Haiti.
As mentioned in my first article on Exume, he is also hoping to produce a CD composed of a dozen of the poems. Due to budget and time constraints, he didn't start this project yet. Nonetheless, Exume is determined to give his fans something concrete to remember him in addition to his live performances.
Of course, the upcoming book will also fulfill this goal.
In two weeks, he will his release his video project with new poems on YouTube. Please see the video for a preview.
Exume, elated, talked about his excitement for upcoming reactions for his book.
"I am not afraid," he said, welcoming both positive and negative feedbacks. "I do it because I love writing. I have no commitment to writing. I am very excited for 2014."

Luca Guardabascio

Luca Guardabascio began his tour in Detroit, where he had a very successful stay. On Oct. 27 he held a lecture on his new book, Padula-New York-Pittsburgh:Emigrazione Sangue Speranza - La storia di Joe Petrosino e del suo migliore amico Giovanni Esposito at the Laurel Manor Banquet and Conference Center in Michigan. The following day, Guardabascio held a screening of his documentary on Angela Volpini at Wayne State University. Click here for more information on those events. Both events were sponsored by the Italian Consulate in Detroit and the Italian Program in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Wayne State University and hosted by the Dante Alighieri Society.
He fell in love with the city because of its sublime nature despite it being in decadence and the wonderful people he met there. He plans to put Detroit in the title on his book on Joe Petrosino and began shooting scenes in this city on Oct. 29.
"The city of detroit needs help to show her power to the world so I wish to help," said Guardabascio.
He will be in Pittsburgh from Nov. 1 to Nov. 14 for lectures and screenings at Robert Morris University and Chatham University. He will have a lecture on Italian Neorealism at Oberlin College on Nov. 19. The 21st, Guardabascio will present his documentary at the Italian American Museum in New York.
Dates for presentations in Philadelphia and Cleveland will soon be announced.

Tanguy Exume: "My work is a reflection of who I am and who I want to be"

Photo provided by Tanguy Exume

"I like to see writing as a mirror... and as a writer I believe I am a mirror," revealed Tanguy Exume, a young and passionate Haitian writer with a fierce voice diffused through postcasts accompanied with soft melodies on his blog. "I absorb conversations, sounds and feelings. That's what I try to depict in my writings."
He becomes highly critical of his surroundings, fetching for bits and pieces that he stores for future creative work.
This love for writing mellowed while he lived in Montreal. Far from the homeland, conversations about Haiti erupted among Exume, his friends and his elders.
"...But when you're a kid, you are not heard," he explained, so he began to put his thoughts into papers transforming writing into his voice and bearing his multi-performed piece, Haiti Parle (Haiti Speaks). Yet this very love for writing started much earlier than that with teenage love letters to girls.
"You listen to songs," he divulged with a chuckle. "We didn't have internet back then, so you write lyrics and you start familiarizing yourself with how beautiful those lyrics are. But, more precisely, my love for writing comes from my father."
He described his father as a heavy reader and quoted, "I've never known my father without a book. He used to joke: 'When he's dead, the only thing that he would leave us is a bookshelf.'"
Through books, Exume noticed the important of literature in conveying messages. His goal is to send messages marked mostly by the political landscape and the strong sense of community and family in Haiti.
In the midst of the interview Exume remembered his earliest, most vivid memory as a 4-year old child on a troubled January 1986. His father and mother, then pregnant with Exume's younger brother, led him to a demonstration against Duvalier.
"I remember the day Jean-Claude Duvalier left," he related. "We were living on Rue Capois then, not too far from Palais National. We went out in the streets and chanted."
A song came to mind, and Exume began to sing: "Se nan riyel vayan ohhh! Yo tiye neg vanyan ohhh!"
This song, depicting the massacre of November 29, 1987, resounded in his mind as if it were yesterday.
In his household, the political and social situations in Haiti were the main topics. Under a sweltering sun, his brother and he, grey or brown from the soil, played soccer in the large backyard while the parents and friends from the balcony, discussed the political situation of Haiti.  Furthermore, outside was where most of his cherished and vibrant memories took place.
This desire to be outdoor stayed with him. Unable to write at home, he finds inspiration when he is outdoor.
Outside, little ideas pique his interest and develop into bigger ideas. Writing for Exume is a slow and meticulous task that takes time.

Photo provided by Tanguy Exume

His poem, Petit Pays, posted on his blog on July 29, 2013, engendered from a regular day of him listening to Cezaria Evora's song, Petit Pays. In this poem, he opines on the inequality between Creole and French and the complicated political situation in the country.
"Petit pays, petit pays, je t’aime beaucoup," he concludes in the poem because as he stated, "despite all this, you can't deny the love you have for this country."

Amid his purpose to describe the crude reality of Haiti, he recounts in Nan Fon Ke'm the pride of Haiti, the pride of being among the descendants of "those who helped Bolivia, nurtured minds like Guevara and Lumumba" ["Men tankou sa-a yo ki te ede Boliva,/ Ki te bwode lide Guevara ak Lumumba]. 

Yet, Exume, who is a multilayered writer, embraces diverse topics aside from Haiti. Questions, such as are we practicing what we preach?, are we happy? and can we believe we will not exist one day? are addressed in his works. 

In two of his poems, Perdu and Nan Yon Kafou, he invites his readers to travel inward and discover the different avenues of their mind. He uses the dilemmas that he faces and present them in his work.
His poem, C’était comme ça dans le temps, was triggered by a twofold question asked by one of his student: What is the difference between abortion and suicide? Isn't it the same thing? [the student gave him permission to write a poem based on the question]

Exume currently has two projects ready for publication. The first is a collection of 31 poems, titled Sur Mon 31, he wrote in 31 days for his 31st birthday. He will also produce a CD version with 12 or 13 of the poems. He intends to have a rap collaboration with Justin Mizzy Mejia on one of the poems. Exume previously recited a poem as the intro track of Mizzy's album, ComMiZZerate Your Soul (CYS).
The second project is a novel about a mathematician who, unable to find a pertinent job, worked at a call center and discovered another side of society. The title of the novel is, Le Centre, and the novel was revised by Gilbert Mirambeau Jr.
Soon, he will posting some of his performances on Youtube not for visual purposes but rather to give his audience a chance to see how he is on stage.
Exume is also venturing into Spanish while finding inspiration from the Chilean poet,  Pablo Neruda because of his ability to condense emotions and send it out to the world in the form of concise, powerful poems. However, his favorite poet remains Michel Welbeck. 

A note from the writers

Dear readers,

It is that time in your life when you feel like every single part of your body, spirit, energy and so forth is yearning to set foot in that next step staring at you. Positive events start to align in front of you, and you realize there is nothing standing between you and your dream to just make it happen.
With that being said, positive changes will come to this blog. Hell! It might soon become more than just a blog. As we are both ready to revamp "the blog" (as we affectionally call it), we will disregard all the difficulties that may come our way. The changes might be short or long. Who knows? We just know there will be changes.
We also want to take this time to thank all of you, readers (lurkers and participants alike) for your loyal support. Here comes the cheesy part: Without you, none of these would have been possible. Those small gestures, whether it was a like, comment, share, retweet, follow or +1, had given us strength in more ways than you can imagine.
We are very grateful to every single one of our artists who sacrificed a bit of their busy time to help us explore their creative mind. Writing about them has inspired us to strive for our own dreams because of their devotion to their work and their journey to success.
Lastly, we want to send thousands of thank-you(s) sealed with kisses to our manager @NattyTan (twitter) who convinced us to start this blog and became our biggest support from then on.
To you all, we say a heartfelt thank you!

With warm wishes,

Bee and Ba

Luca Guardabascio Set to Screen Documentary in The United States

Photo provided by Luca Guardabascio

Luca Guardabascio will be a guest star on the first episode of Facciamo Pace on Rai 2 (Second channel in Italy), a reality show about high school time. It airs TODAY!!!
He is currently working on a book on fairy tales, titled Le Stagioni Delal Fantasia (The Season of Imagination), which should be coming out very soon. He partnered with the visual artist, Eleonora Corrado, for this book.
His other book, Padula-New York-Pittsburgh, regarding the 1873-1980 Italian emigration will be published this Fall. The book is sponsored by Padula Coimart S. P. A., a big production company located in Padula.
This October, Guardabascio will be touring the United States to screen his documentary, Dove Posarono I Suoi Piedi, relating the story of Angela Volpini and the Virgin Mary. He will give lectures at Robert Morris University, Chatham University and Lake Eire College. He will be touring in Philadelphia, New York, Washington and possibly Richmond.

Gilbert Mirambeau Jr: Ray of Sun

Photo provided by Gilbert Mirambeau

Please click here to be directed to Gilbert Mirambeau Jr's newest blog entry, "Ray of Sun," depicting a dialogue between a child soldier and his memory.
"I was dreaming all night and couldn't sleep," recollected Gilbert. "I was thinking about these kids, soldier children..."
As he wondered about those kids, he thought of them strolling and wanting to forget about "these monstrosities."
In an effort to understand how those children would surmount the challenge of forgetting their past, Gilbert created this piece.
"I'm always trying to find these impossible dialogues between a writer and his character,"  he explained. "Here I went beyond, where the child is talking to his memory."

Get to Know Jasmine Tate and Help Her Raise $20,000 for Her Life and Love Album

Photo provided by Jasmine Tate

"A lot of times I tell people I'm a Christian who just happens to be an artist," said Jasmine Tate, an emerging singer/songwriter who recently debuted her first EP (Extended Playlist) at number nine on iTunes singer/songwriter chart.
"I stay away from saying I write Christian music," she explained. "I am simply inspired by the things that happen in everyday life, but I'm looking through a different lens. God is my muse."
Tate only picked up the guitar 4 years ago.
"A pretty crazy course of events led me to believe that I was supposed to pursue music," she said. "One day, I said yes to the call."
She remembered making that decision in her mentor's house in March of her freshman year. A week later, while she was in her room, she picked up her dusty guitar and started strumming chords that she'd never been able to play.
"My only explanation is that God taught me how to play the guitar," said Tate, who previously explained that she learned to play the guitar in a supernatural way.
Tate went on to write more than 100 songs, perform on TV and radio shows across the nation, gain popularity in her stance for social justice and win the 2012 Robert Morris University Idol, her Alma Mater.
During her senior year, she decided it was time to share these songs with the public.
"Some friends of mine have a studio in Pittsburgh," said Jasmine. She was able to record four older songs and a new song for the EP there in Skyline Studios.
The recorded songs were then sent to Los Angeles to a friend who works with some well-known artists for the mixing and mastering portion of pre-production for The Jasmine Tate EP. When the finished product was sent back, it was submitted to iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and a few other online stores.
"[The executive producer] invested a lot of money into the project," she revealed referring to a family friend. "He truly believes in my work and the vision I have for my music."
Last weekend was the first radio play of The Jasmine Tate EP on 91.3 WYEP. In addition, on June 20th, she started a Kickstarter Project, called Life and Love project, to raise $20,000 to produce a full length album that will be titled Life and Love. The fundraising money will also help produce a mini video series that will tell the stories of various individuals through the lenses of each song on the album. It will also help her embark on her first tour, in which she hopes provide a platform for upcoming artists across the nation. The Kickstarter Project will end on July 20th.
Aside from her musical talent, Jasmine was a point guard for the Robert Morris University women's basketball team and served as the 2012-2013 senior captain of the team. She also won the Rising Star Award, Professional Focus Award, Signature Leadership Award and Renaissance Award for her academic performance and involvement within the school and community.Please click here to be directed to her website and click here to purchase her EP on iTunes.

More Info on Luca Guardabascio's New Movie

Luca Guardabascio with Don Marcello Stanzione

On June 2nd, Luca Guardabascio will be presenting his new movie project to the International Angel Meeting in Campagna (SA) organized by Don Marcello Stanzione.

"I think all heroes and everyone who fought to have justice, freedom and legality are angels like Joe Petrosino," said Guardabascio. 

Luca Guardabascio Set to Work on A New Movie

Padula (Italy)

Luca Guardabascio is currently working on a movie, which he will be directing. It will be produced by Coimar S. P. A., a big production company in Padula, a commune in Salerno, Italy. This movie will be based on his upcoming book, which will be published by Historica Edizioni and the youngest editor in Italy, Francesco Giubilei, described as "a good friend with an open mind" by Guardabascio.
The working title of the movie is Padula-New York- Pittsburgh: Emigrazione Sangue Speranza (Padula-New York-Pittsburgh : Emigration Blood and Hope) and the subtitle is La storia di Joe Petrosino e del suo migliore amico Giovanni Esposito (The story of Joe Petrosino and his best friend Giovanni).

Luca Guardabascio, Pino D'aloia (actor) and Francesco Giubilei

"The story [will depict] the strong friendship of Giuseppe (Joe) Petrosino and Giovanni Esposito, growing up in Italy in Padula near the Certosa (the biggest monastery in Europe) with their friends until they decide to leave Italy to go to the United States to have a better life," narrated Guardabascio.
Giovanni, who is the first one to migrate to the United States, embarks in a long trip to Ellis Island, also called the island of hope, with this simple promise from Joe: "We will meet you there."
In the United States, he survives through illegal means whereas Joe becomes a New York City police officer and a pioneer in the fight against organized crime.

Nino Melito Petrosino in Joe Petrosino Museum

"This strong brotherhood of the two men will be described through the double face of emigration, and thanks to Petrosino and his honest way of life, Giovanni will understand the sense of his life," recounted Guardabascio.
The movie will mainly focus on the true story of Petrosino and will tell the amazing story of migration from 1860 to 1980.
It will also cover the Italian unification and the earthquake that hit the south of Italy (Irpinia) on Nov. 23, 1980 when a very old Giovanni Esposito comes back to Padula after years of building his life in the United States.
"It will be an important movie about the good Italian emigration in the world that produce true hero like Joe Petrosino a man who fight all his life against the Mafia," Guardabascio quoted.
The movie will also show non-fictional personalities like singer Enrico Caruso and former US president, Theodore Roosevelt.

Luca Guardabascio in Pittsburgh

"It will be a movie about legality, justice, love with some part ironic because the Italians are people who overcome all situations with passion and laugh in a 'Tragicomical' way'," explained Guardabascio. "The emigration will be described to remember all the men and women who built Italy and America in an honest way."
Guardabascio, along with the producers of Coimar S. P. A (Caputo, Cancellaro, Giobbe, LaManna), decided to film most of the movie in Padula as a way to pay tribute to this important and historical little village and the culture of the Italian people.
"The Casa Museo Joe Petrosino is a very important museum that you have to visit once in your lifetime because it is an example of memories against all the Mafias. The house was the original house where Petrosino was born and lived until 12 years old and where he cames back before being killed in Palermo (Sicily)."

Luca Guardabascio and Joe D'Andrea

Parts of the movie will be shot in New York thanks to different associations like the Lt. det. Joseph Petrosino Ass. Of America inc. and l’Associazione Internazionale Joe Petrosino, handled by his nephew, Nino Melito Petrosino.
Guardabascio also wants to shoot parts of the movie in Pittsburgh, where he was a Rooney Scholar at Robert Morris University in 2011.
"Part of my heart is there," confessed Guardabascio. "The people are nice, and I work with them on many projects, which was great."
"There are professors and filmmakers like Michael Di Lauro who helped me grow in my career. I love Professor Joe D’Andrea, the one who gave me suggestions with his emigration story to write this story."

Luca Guardabascio in Pittsburgh

Guardabascio would love to make use of some RMU students and professors for the movie, including Di Lauro, John Radamacher, Jim Vincent, Lutz Bacher, John Lawson and Helene Vanhala. He would also love to work with Joe Hale, Ray Zapparoni and Steve Troutman because of their technical talents.
He described the RMU president, Greg Dell'Omo as a "super nice friend who loves Italy and who is another good example of the wonderful things Italian American people do in the United States."
"I would also like to collaborate with American artist like George Nista and teachers like Paola Basile, Ida Mansourian and Viviana Altieri of Mondo Italiano, people who can give me more input to film my movie."
"But one of my best friend and part of my crew is Lisa Nutt, a very strong woman who will be translating my book in English and Spanish and who will be the best production assistant on set I've ever had in my life."
His goal is to go back to RMU next fall, give lectures on the topic, show his next documentary and try to organize the movie in the best way with the people he considered his best friend.
He is currently working on the screenplay along with Stefano Stanzione and Giovanni Cancellaro. Luigi Spagnol, the "maestro," is supervising the project. They are currently holding a contest and looking for a female writer who can collaborate and give the screenplay the right touch it needs.
Guardabascio mentioned that the book will be ready in a couple of months. In addition, in the upcoming weeks, he will be a guess at Cancellaro's hotel, Villa Cosilinum, which has a great view of Padula. This will help foster his imagination for the movie.

All photos are provided by Luca Guardabascio