Director, producer and editor Anton Califano primarily works on documentary films. He regularly self-shooting with HD formats and originally trained on 35mm film. His short films have been shown at over sixty film festivals worldwide.

Anton previously worked on a wide range of short films as an editor including a series of innovative award-winning films with human rights themes films as well as on a series of science films and two series of Three Minute Wonders for Channel 4, UK.

For the fourth year running he has also been appointed as the Executive Producer on the Eastern Edge Film Fund which finances and supports new and emerging filmmakers in London.

He recently completed a 40 min short called Election Day which looks at the Labour Party’s fight to win the Glenrothes by-election in Scotland.

His series of documentary short films entitled Seafront, look at the lives of various characters who work and play within the seaside area of Portsmouth.

The film was originally commissioned by The Arts Service is Portsmouth. They were looking for a film about the seafront on Portsmouth which showed the diverse range of people who inhabited the environment. I lived in Portsmouth between the ages of 6 and 8 and spent a lot of time on the seafront, and so was very excited by making a film about a place that had been important to me as a child. The original film I made is about 20 minutes long, but I later also edited a series of 3 minute films featuring each of the main characters.

My approach to making the film was a little bit experimental in the sense that I wanted to be in the "space" and see if I could find the truth about it through the characters that I met, rather than starting with a preconceived idea of what I wanted to make. Although I did research the characters in the pre-production stages, and did 'cast' several characters for the film. But in terms of what they talked about, it mainly came from them, with me just provoking them with questions.

During the shoot, I directed the film, working together with Mark Raeburn, a very skilled cameraman, who I had previously worked with on a number of occasions. The film was shot on a PD170, a small DV camera. I also operated the boom during the interviews. So it was just the two of us really, running around with the camera. I edited the film on my own computer using Final Cut Pro. It was pretty much the first time I had worked with such a small crew, and self-edited - so it was quite liberating really. In the editing stage, I then employed a sound editor Fabrice Pougnard, and a composer Graham Jeffery who created original music for the film.

The film has been selected for several festivals and online platforms including the BBC Film Network, a showcase for short films. The 3 minute version featuring the two BMX bikers "Mark and Effraim" also won 2nd prize in Al Gore's Current TV launch contest and has been broadcast on the Current TV channel. I won a Sony Z1 camera, which is now the camera I use for shooting my latest films. On Youtube the films have had quite a lot of hits too and some really positive comments. I have recently had someone in Japan contact me completely out the blue because they loved the film so much after seeing it on Youtube.

Well, as I said, I took a slightly experimental approach to making the film. So on the whole I was pleased with how the film came out. However, as you make more films and as you have more time to reflect on your films, you begin to see how you could have approached things differently. At the time of shooting the film, I was very limited with time due to the budget of the film, and the fact I live in London, so it wasn't easy to go to Portsmouth to shoot without having to plan it well in advance. I think with more time I would have liked to shoot more material and get to know the characters more, and therefore create something more deeply layered. I think some of the films meaning felt more apparent to me at the time on a personal level, but when you open a film up to scrutiny from a global audience on the internet, you realise that to make it accessible by as wide an audience as possible, you need to make it in a different way. So I do reflect on this quite a bit.

I am interested in making films about real people who are engaged in the world in an interesting way. I want to make films that show that the world is a positive place to live, and that we have to try to look beyond the most obvious, and realise that we are all connected and that our survival is reliant on us working together. I am currently now much more interested in subjects for a film that I can self shoot, where it wouldn't necessarily be that easy to go with a crew, where a real personal story can emerge because I am the only person there with the camera and therefore there is a real connection between me and the character(s). I am interested in showing how people are contributing positively to the world, often despite the barriers that life has created for them.

I am currently working on a political film about the Labour party campaign during the recent election. And developing many more ideas.

You have to really believe in what you are doing and care about it passionately to get anywhere. Don't rely on it for a stable income!!!

Many thanks to Anton for taking the time to speak to us!

More info: www.antoncalifano.com