OTM Academy

Curated by Davide Monteleone with the technical partnership of

14 July 10am-1pm
15 July 3 pm – 6 pm
Cost: 99€
Language: Italian and English
Participants: 25

In this two-day participatory lecture, Davide Monteleone will explore, through the presentation and analysis of his projects, the evolution from more traditional and purely photographic documentary projects to more recent transmedia projects that integrate photography with video, data, mapping and involve multiple collaborators. The talk will focus on how to identify key themes and develop contemporary and narrative approaches, as well as the dynamics and expressive and commercial reasons behind the decision to extend and integrate a photographic visual project with other media. This meeting is aimed at professionals, but also at students and amateurs interested in discovering how to develop visual documentary projects on a new level of narrative and impact.

Introduction (30 minutes)
10am – 1pm

1. Introduction (30 minutes)
   1. Introduction and overview of the speaker’s early career.
   2. Importance of ideas and concepts in developing traditional photographic projects.
2. Insights into early projects
   1. Analysis of significant projects and discussion of narrative motives and aims.
   2. How themes and motifs emerge and are developed in documentary projects.
      
3. Developing into more complex projects – case studies
   1. Case studies of how early work has influenced more complex projects.
      
4. Questions & Answers (30 minutes)
   1. Q&A session

Day 2: Extension and transmedia projects
3pm – 6pm

1. Transmedia projects – why?
   1. Presentation of projects that integrate photography, video and other media.
      
   2. Discussions on the technical and creative challenges of transmedia production.
2. The development of a transmedia project and possible distribution channels
   
   1. Strategies (creative and practical) for developing and managing a transmedia project.
   2. Practical tips for maintaining consistency and narrative impact across different media.
3. Questions & Answers (30 minutes)
   1. Q&A session

Bio
Davide Monteleone is a photographer, artist and National Geographic Explorer whose research encompasses image-making, journalism and writing. The recurring themes in his work are geopolitics, geography, identity, data, and the interaction between image and science.
A regular contributor to major magazines such as National Geographic, Time and The New Yorker, Monteleone’s work has been presented in exhibitions and installations in galleries and museums around the world, including the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, the MEP in Paris, the Palazzo Delle Esposizioni in Rome and the Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles.
Monteleone’s awards include the Carmignac Photojournalism Award (2013), the EPEA Award (2012), the European Publisher Award (2011) and several World Press Photo Awards.
Monteleone is also a 2018 Asia Society Fellow of the National Geographic Society and received a grant from The Climate Pledge Foundation for his climate change projects in 2023.
With an MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, Monteleone is a curator and educator for numerous public and private institutions.

A full biography is available at this link.

Curated by Paolo Sodi with the technical partnership of Sony.

14 July, 3pm – 6pm
15 July, 10am – 1am
Cost: 160€
Language: Italian and English
Participants: 15

A complete immersion in which you will learn how to approach the world of documentary filmmaking, from pre-production to distribution.
You will have the opportunity to make a 60 second short film.
No particular advanced skills are required for this workshop, but it is important that you bring a photo/video camera with at least one standard lens (e.g. 18.55mm).
Dress appropriately, in layers, with walking boots (preferably waterproof) and bring a change of clothes.
The second day will be spent in nature, even in bad weather.

DAY 1
3pm – 3.30pm
Introduction of teachers and students.

3.30pm – 4pm
Why the idea of working as a documentary filmmaker, what is the role of the documentary filmmaker?

4 pm – 4.30pm
What are the figures in documentary production. Compromises, in-camera editing, the importance of making a shot that has a life of its own. Visual examples.

4.30pm – 5 pm
Pre-production, production, post-production. The workflow.

5pm – 6 pm
Examples of documentaries made (Remembering Papua New Guinea, etc.), comparisons between production time/equipment/crew.

DAY 2
10 am – 10.30 am
Field selection, basic techniques.
Why Sony FX30/Sony Fx6 (or similar), which tripod, which lens kit, etc.
Getting used to the context, tiptoeing, respect, curiosity.

10.30m am – 11.30 am
Creation of 60-second short films in nature by the participants.

11.30 am – 12.00
Questions from the participants and end of work

BIO
Paolo Sodi is an Italian director and director of photography. Ever since he was a child he knew what career path he was going to take. The desire to try himself out has led him worldwide. His productions are a blend of artistic and technical beauty and captivating stories to tell.
“My goal is to trigger thoughts in people, i relish profoundness and I want my stories to be true and authentic. ” As an eclectic professional, he devotes himself to both documentary and commercial productions, although he favors subjects of a natural as well as anthropological kind. He has directed and filmed 9 short films and 3 feature films in the genres of natural history and people & nature, as well as a cornucopia of campaigns and commercials for leading brands and international production houses: TBN, Off The Fence, and WildAid amongst many others. A regular at RAI, Italy’s national public broadcasting company, Paolo directed and filmed some of the most successful titles for the company’s steemed GEO documentary program, such as Pietro the Hermit, Civita di Bagnoregio, The white gold of Cervia, The Guardians of the Camargue, Delta del Pò and Gran Paradiso. He has filmed in countries as diverse as Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Kenya,Sierra Leone, Denmark, Spain, France, Finland and Cameroon. His latest feature, Blood Scales, on the people combating wildlife crime in Cameroon,won the Best Foreign Film award at its premiere at the Wildlife conservation Film Festival in Fall 2021. In May 2021 he directed an international TV series starring Andrea Bocelli, engaged in an extraordinary pilgrimage on horseback,on the Via Francigena, from Rome to his home. Lately, he has directed Path of the Bear, hosted by Chris Morgan Wildlife, to further protection and conservation of the critically endangered Marsican bear.

Myriam Boulos

Diving into documentary. An intensive and intimate workshop on editing long term and ongoing projects.

July 16 and 17, 11 am-8pm
Cost: 250€
Language: Italian and English
Participants: 15

During this intensive and intimate workshop on documentary photography, we will try to get to the essence of the participants’ work, focus on the editing and how to present the projects to the world. Each participant will choose one long term and ongoing project on which they want to focus. In this active and collaborative approach, we are all going to participate in the editing of each other’s projects.

The participants should bring a portfolio and a big edit of an ongoing project (printed images or digital files that we will projected).

• Different elements we will tackle:
• Ethical documentary
• Collaborative approaches
• Editing
• Sequencing
• How to present the work to the world

DAY 1
11am – 8pm
-Presentation of Myriam Boulos’s work (1 hour)
-Focus on the work of 7 participants (1 hour / participant)

DAY 2
11am – 8pm
-Focus on the work of 8 participants (1 hour / participant)

BIO
Myriam Boulos (1992, Beirut, Lebanon) began using her camera at the age of sixteen in order to get closer to reality. In 2015, she graduated with a master’s degree in Photography from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts. She has taken part in both national and international group exhibitions, including Close Enough at ICP, New York; Infinite Identities at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; and Troisième Biennale des Photographes du Monde Arabe at l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. Her work has been published in Aperture, FOAM, Time, GQ Middle East, Vogue Arabia and Vanity Fair France, among other publications. In 2020 she co-founded and became the photo editor of Al Hayya, a bilingual magazine that publishes literary and visual content on the works, interests and struggles of women in the Arab world. In 2021 she joined Magnum Photos as a nominee. In 2023, her book, What’s Ours, was published by Aperture and she was awarded the W. Eugene Smith fellowship.
Click here to book

Kublaiklan

Exhibiting Photography

18 July, h 10am-6 pm
Cost: 120€
Language: Italian and English
Participants: 20

The workshop aims to provide participants with a method and a complete vision to consciously approach the exhibition form of photographic projects, from layout to budgeting. We will delve into the different phases of exhibition design through field work, visiting together the exhibitions of Cortona On The Move and studying the type of materials, from photographic papers to unconventional supports.

BIO
Kublaiklan is a curatorial collective that explores widely accessible ways of interacting with photography by designing exhibitions and educational projects. Over the years, Kublaiklan has specialized in exhibition design for photography, with a particular focus on unconventional and site-specific modes. Members of the collective met in 2016 at Cortona On The Move. They currently carry out various collaborations with festivals, foundations and private clients; they hold a course in Exhibition Design for Photography at the IED Turin, and teach at Spazio Labò, Fondazione Studio Marangoni and other institutions.