December 3, 2025 • 50 mins
What drives someone to leave behind engineering in Rome, leap into filmmaking, and cross continents to Los Angeles? For Sara Alessandrini, it was tenacity, vision, and the belief that stories can change the way we see the world. Her journey from Italy to Hollywood, and from feature film to award‑winning docuseries, is a masterclass in resilience and creative courage.
In this episode of One More Thing Before You Go, host Michael Herst sits down with Italian filmmaker and social commentator Sara Alessandrini, creator of This Is What New Yorkers Say—a five‑part docuseries exploring the resignation of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo through the voices of everyday New Yorkers.
Together, we explore Sara’s motives, methods, successes, and failures, and the personal journey that shaped her voice as a filmmaker.
We Discuss:
- What first drew Sara to filmmaking, and why did she leave engineering behind?
- How did her move from Rome to Los Angeles influence her creative path?
- What compelled her to take on the story of Governor Cuomo’s resignation?
- What were the biggest challenges of producing an independent docuseries largely on her own?
- How did she approach interviewing everyday New Yorkers to capture authentic voices?
- Why did the project shift from a feature film to a five‑part series, and what did that process teach her?
- What moments of success made her feel the project was resonating?
- What failures or doubts did she face, and how did she overcome them?
- What lessons about resilience and storytelling can other creators take from her journey?
- How does she hope This Is What New Yorkers Say will influence conversations about media, politics, and public perception?
What You’ll Walk Away With:
- Insight into the tenacity required to pursue independent filmmaking against the odds.
- A deeper understanding of how stories challenge dominant narratives and spark civic dialogue.
- Inspiration from Sara’s journey of risk, resilience, and creative courage—and how those lessons apply to anyone chasing a vision.
Find us on Apple, Spotify or your favorite listening platform; visit us on our YouTube channel Find everything "One More Thing" here: https://taplink.cc/beforeyougopodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey, One more thing before wego. What drives someone to leave
behind engineering in Rome?Leap into filmmaking across continents
to Los Angeles. For SarahAlessandrini, it was tenacity, a
vision and the belief thatstories can change the way we see
the world. Her journey fromItaly to Hollywood and from feature
film to award winningdocuseries is a masterclass in resilience
(00:23):
and creative courage. Todaywe're going to uncover what it takes
to build a project against theodds, to the lessons learned along
the way and how storytellingcan challenge the narratives we're
told and are taught. Staytuned. I'm your host, Michael Hirst.
Welcome to One more thingbefore you go. Today on One more
(00:52):
thing before you go, we'rejoined by Italian filmmaker and social
commentator SarahAlessandrini. She is the creator
of this is what New Yorkerssay, a five part docu series exploring
the resignation of former NewYork governor Andrew Cuomo and through
the voices of everyday NewYorkers. But Sarah's journey didn't
begin in politics. It beganwith a leap of faith. From studying
(01:14):
electronic engineering in Rometo pursuing filmmaking. From working
in the Italian film industryto relocate into Los Angeles, Sarah
has built a career at theintersection of storytelling, social
criticism and civic awareness.Today we're going to explore her
motives, her methods and hersuccesses and failures and the personal
journey that shaped her voiceas a filmmaker. Welcome to the show,
(01:37):
Sarah.
Hi Michael. Thank you forhaving me. Actually I took many leap
of faith, not just one. Feelslike constantly I take leap of phase.
Eventually something is goingto happen.
Always, as always, life is ajourney. Sometimes we have many obstacles.
Like the seven hills of Rome. Right?
But yeah, actually I was doingengineering in my city. So I'm from
the north of Italy. It'scalled Cesena, it's near Bologna.
(02:00):
That's where I was studyinglike for in high school. I was studying
electronic andtelecommunication because the educational
system is very different inItaly. So I was getting a major in
that in high school and then Idid engineering. But I always wanted
to go to Rome anyway to studyfilm. So that's when first I was
like, I'm not sure if I havewhat it takes to go. I was like not
(02:22):
very self confident. So I waslike, I'm going to just stay here
in my city, keep doing, I havemy friends here. But then it was
impossible. Like I just wantto, like I just felt that call inside.
I have to do this, I have todo this. So eventually after three
years, I was like, I'm goingto try and see what happens? And.
And my dream was actually tocome to this country, but I never
(02:43):
knew how to do that because ofthe visa. Obviously, it's very difficult.
Like, it's not that my familyis rich and so, like, it's not something
you can just do, so. And so Igave up my dreams when I. After high
school, I gave up my dreams,and seven years later, I was actually
living here. So I guess Iwasn't very good at giving up.
But you've achieved somethingthat's really magnificent, especially
(03:05):
when you watch this documenteddocu series. I think what you've
done. It started off as afilm, I think, originally. I mean,
it hit the film festival markets.
Yeah. So I was like, in NewYork and in Los Angeles also, too.
But I focus in New Yorkbecause obviously it's mainly a New
York story.
But yeah, well, it's. It's anachievement, especially within filmmaking,
(03:26):
even to get accepted to filmfestivals. I ran to film festivals
actually. Used to be I didthat many, many years ago. And the
process to get into a filmfestival is diligent. So to achieve
that is like an amazing thingin itself. But I, like, kind of start.
I know we were. You give us aquick rundown where you had gone,
(03:46):
what your passion was, yourpurpose was. You found your purpose
in your passion withfilmmaking and storytelling. From
that perspective, what drewyou to filmmaking? I mean, you said
it was like, I really wantedto do this. You know, I grew up with
films and tv. It was mybabysitter, unfortunately. So I fell
in love with the Madame. Youknow, the mode island of. Of that
(04:11):
genre of creating storiesthrough media, through the TV and
through the. The film genre.
Yeah, I mean, similar for me.Like, I just like, felt I never really
belonged where I was in mycity. I just felt like I couldn't
really understand people. Andso I just ended up, like, watching
a lot of movies. And moviesmade so much sense. So it was for
(04:32):
me, through movies, I was ableto understand life better since I
was a kid. So that was prettymuch like how I started. I just got
so obsessed with moviesbecause they made sense and they
gave me that structure tounderstand life, to understand people.
And so I was just verypassionate about them. And then eventually
(04:54):
someone told me, oh, maybe youshould be a director. And I was not
even thinking about making itlike, something real in my life because
I come from, like, an area ofItaly where it's more like technical,
so people are more likemechanic, engineers, chef, obviously,
because, like, food iseverywhere in Italy. But yeah, yeah.
(05:14):
So it was it was different tothink about, like, making movies.
So I didn't really thinkabout, like, I was my dream to work
in the movie industry somehow.But I didn't really know how, which
role and. But I always likeddoing everything. So that's where
it was very useful when I madethis documentary, because I've done
everything in the movieindustry because, like, to me, it
(05:37):
was just too boring, I guess,the idea to be just the director
or just something else. Sowhen I was in Rome, I studied in
a school there, and I was justlike, learning everything. I was
taking every job possible,every position. So when I approached
my documentary, like, I didn'teven. I was not even planning to
make a documentary. Like, it'snot that I was like, I want to make
a movie. Let's find the topic.No, I was just, like, living my life.
(06:00):
I was happy where I was. I wasworking at the point at the Egyptian
Theater in Los Angeles. Soit's like, for the American Cinematheque,
it was like an artorganization. So it was a different
way to work in movies. Like inthe exhibition part, we were doing,
like, festivals, premieres,and a lot of, like that.
(06:22):
Do you think your training inwhat you've learned and what you
were working with,engineering, helps you shift towards
cinema? Do you think that hadan influence on that?
Yeah, I mean, obviously a verytechnical mentality because, like,
coming up from, like, thatkind of an environment. Like, I always
think in a very practical way.I'm not like a creative. Let's daydream.
(06:44):
So I'm always like, okay, ifI'm gonna do something, I'll do it,
like, from the beginning tothe end. I'm not like, just try something
and then give up. Becausethat's what you're talking about.
There are a lot of peopledon't make it into film festivals.
Don't and don't. They don'tfinish movies. Like, even a lot of
people with a lot of budget,they just don't finish the movie
because they don't have, like.They don't have that mentality. You
(07:08):
really need the mentality tobe like, okay, it's like life or
death. I'm gonna take thiswhere it needs to come or I'm not
gonna start it. So I'm thattype of person.
Yep, it's expensive. It's.It's long hours. It's a lot of work.
You really have to put youreverything into it. So, yes, I agree
with that. I think that. I'msure that the. The. It's interesting
(07:32):
when you, if you don't mind, Ineed to touch back on something.
You said you studiedengineering in high school.
It was, it's not calledengineering, but it was electronic
and telecommunications. Yeah,so yeah, you get a major in high
school, like you can either doa generic high school where you learn
a little of everything, or youcan do, take a major. And so you
have to go to a specificschool. It's not that like you go
(07:53):
to a school where there areall the different majors. You go
to a specific school thathave, like mine has electronic or
they add informatics, somehave chemistry, it depends.
That kind of thing.
So. So yeah, you have. Andlike you spend three years, like
the first two years are kindof generic and then the last three
years, like the 70% of yourclasses that you take are like specific
(08:15):
about that. So it's likedigital, electronic, analogic, electronic,
like designing all that. Soit's very, it was way more like real
stuff than university.University in Italy is very theoretical,
right? So. So high school wasactually much better than engineering,
honestly. So.
(08:36):
Well, that was cool actually.I mean, what an opportunity for someone
to be able to grasp some ofreal world working, you know, skills,
a skill set and a knowledge.And instead of just a theoretical
aspect of it, which I thinkis, that's brilliant from that perspective
and it forces.
You to start thinking earlywhat you want to do in life. Because
like people approachuniversity, college where like they,
(08:58):
they're going to just trysomething they don't know. This way
you already start doingsomething. Like you have to decide
when you're like, I don'tknow, 13, 14 years old. You have
to pick well before becausewhen you pick high school, usually
you already know you're goingto do those kind of majors. So when
you're 12, 13 years old, youalready have to decide what you want
to do. And again, you'llprobably change it eventually. But
(09:21):
by the time you get to 18years old, you're already, you already
done a lot of like thatthinking instead of waiting after
like a university and peoplecomplain, oh, why did I do this university?
And then you're in that here.So yeah, it's. I think it does like
a lot of fraud.
Good, good, good. It's a goodway, good way to approach it. I think
(09:44):
you mentioned that you wereworking in the film industry in Rome.
It's kind of a question inregard to methodology, I guess I
want to explore. So when Ifirst went to film school, I had
learned to shoot on 16millimeter film and then we had to
have it processed and then wehad to rank it down and put it on
a beta and then we had to takethe beta and then put that into a
(10:06):
computer. And then they taughtus the whole process from that perspective.
So we had to learn actualworking with film. Did you start
with like film, like cell filmor just into digital?
It was already digital becauseyou. I went to school in 2010, so
everything was alreadydigital. Okay. You had like the mini
dv that was like the closestthing to not digital. But it's still
(10:29):
digital obviously. But yeah,that, that's how we were doing it.
It was like a two year schooland I mean it was great. It was inside
Chinichita, so. But it wasgreat because also like one of my
teacher, he was actually afterthe first year he was going to film
a movie. Like he was also likea producer director and so he created
(10:51):
this movie. It was like halfof the people families in Italy were
in that movie. So it was notthe super big budget obviously for
like American standards, but.But obviously it was like a lot of
like all the old famous peoplewith the real budget. It was a real
movie obviously. So. So wewere lucky that like he opened it
up to us like if we wanted tobe intern, obviously for free, but
(11:14):
we got to work there and itwas like, it was very interesting
the fact that of like class oflike 15 people, only three of us
said yes. So we got the chanceto work for free on a real movie,
real budget, real world. Likeyou went to school for that. And
most people prefer just tolive their own summer, just go back
(11:35):
home and enjoy summer insteadof working for free. Well, it was
like work hard for meobviously. But it was like it was
a real experience because likeI was there like for the casting.
So before we even startedfilming. So I was there working in
the office and then on whilewe were filming. Then also I was
(11:56):
like through everything. LikeI had like a real position and all
that type of stuff. So it wasreally a great experience and I learned
so much just by working on one movie.
So that's so cool. Yeah,there's nothing, there's nothing
like being on a movie set. It.It really kind of opens your experience
to the creativity that'sinvolved, the work that's involved
(12:16):
and the opportunity to bring astory to life from, from that perspective.
So I was, I was lucky. When Icame here to Arizona, I went back
to university here. Obviouslythey were in digital at that point.
And because of the digitalaspect, it made life so much easier
than trying to do it at 16millimeter film, it just. Yeah, it's
(12:39):
like, I will never go back.Won't happen. So do you have anything
in particular that motivatedyour move from Rome or from Italy
to Los Angeles? Like.
I grew up, like, watchingAmerican movies and everything. I
just loved this country. I wasjust madly in love with this country.
(12:59):
It just, like, felt this waswhere my future was supposed to be.
But obviously I never livedhere, so obviously, like, yeah, you
can dream. You can dream, butuntil actually you move here, you
don't know if you actuallywant to stay. And so when I was,
like, living in Rome at thetime, like, after three years, and
actually my best friend died,like, best friend that I met there.
(13:20):
So obviously I had to thinkabout a lot of stuff about life.
Like, we're talking aboutdeath. And so I was, like, trying
to figure out my life. Thingswere like. Like, I worked and done
different stuff, like in. InRome. But then my best friend died,
and most people were movingout anyway from. From Rome because
they couldn't find jobs. Andit's very hard over there, like,
(13:43):
to really make a living. Andthere is a lot of nepotism. So, like,
yes, you can figure out how towork in projects, but either they
don't have a real budget orthey only get their friends. So it
was, like, still disappointingto be there, and there was no real
future. And so I was like. Isaw I had some money saved for, like,
(14:06):
a trip to United States, andso I just decided to take a month.
A friend of mine was living inBoston, and so I decided to visit
him. And. And so I came forthe first time to this country. I
was like, in the Boston area.I saw New York. I fell in love with
New York right away. I mean, Ienjoyed Boston. It was fine. But
until I actually went to NewYork, like, it was fine. But then
(14:28):
New York was like, the realdeal. And so then I was like, okay,
I have to figure out how. ButI didn't know how to move to this
country. So then I was like,oh, I'm gonna just go to Australia
because it's easier just tohave, like, some experience abroad.
But I went to Australia. Andthen I was like, I didn't even want
to struggle in Australiabecause my dream was to come here.
(14:49):
So I was like, if I have tostruggle, I'm going to struggle for
this country, not for acountry where I don't want to live.
So after a few months, Iactually left Australia, went back
to Italy, and then tried tofigure out a way to come to this
country. And then I figuredout, came to study a UCLA extension.
And then after a year ofstudy, then I found a job for the
(15:09):
American Cinematheque. Andthen things moved in that direction,
and then I stayed. I cannotsay I loved Los Angeles. I still
don't love Los Angeles. Like,it took me a couple of years because
Los Angeles, it's a verydifferent cities than New York. So,
yeah, I wasn't in love withit. So I wasn't until actually I
(15:29):
started getting my life going.I wasn't sure if I was going to say,
stay here in this country. Soit took a couple of years.
I would say you had theopportunity to take the story of
Governor Cuomo's resignationas a. As a topic to. To kind of make
an expose out, make adocumentary out of it. What compelled
(15:50):
you to. To take that story inparticular and. And kind of elevate
it?
Yeah, like, I mean, ingeneral, like, I start being passionate
about politics when I wasstudying engineering. So when I was
in Italy, I started beingpassionate about politics. And then
when I was in Rome, I wasactually, like, going to a lot of,
like, political events andstuff like that. But then after.
(16:13):
After Rome, I kind of gotdisconnected because, yeah, like,
sometime in life, like, you,like, when you care about politics,
you're always so focused aboutin the external world, but then you're
not actually figuring outthings for yourself. So, like, your
personal growth, like, all ofthat, like, you're so focused on
the outside world and youforget to look inside. And so I put
(16:34):
politics aside. I was just,like, trying to figure out my life,
what I wanted, what I wantedto do, like, just getting jobs, money,
and all that survived,figuring out my life. So I wasn't
really paying attention topolitics anymore. And then during
COVID I guess I had some freetime. And then I was, like, following
(16:55):
politics because of my job,because I was a facility manager.
So I was, like, trying tofigure out when we would reopen,
what the rules were. So I wasfollowing a lot of press conferences
because of that. And then Ijust start seeing Cuomo, and I just
got passionate about the wayhe was talking about government.
And so it's about, like,making real improvements in the life
(17:18):
of people more than thepolitics were. Like, people are just,
like, screaming at each other.It's all the gains. It was about
doing the real work. And so Ilove that. So I was just following
what was happening. And thenwhen he was forced to resign, I was
like, I have to do something.Like, this is unfair, because I could
see how it evolved. But Icould see that a lot of people that
(17:39):
were not following the storythis deep couldn't see what was happening.
And so they just trusted themedia. They just trusted whatever
politician had to say. And soit was like, no, there is, like there
is something else that peopleare not seeing in this story. And
also it was like the media andpolitician were always the one talking
(18:01):
and they were saying, oh, the70% of New Yorkers want him to resign,
but what were actually realNew Yorkers saying? So I felt like
everybody was talking aboutNew Yorkers, everybody was talking
about what qualified to do,but no one really cared about hearing
what New Yorkers had to say.And because it's very different,
like when during COVIDobviously there was also recall system
(18:22):
here in California with GavinNewson. But people had the chance
to decide what they wanted todo because there is a recall system.
So they decided to vote tokeep in play him in place. But in
New York, there isimpeachment. And there are studies
talking about how impeachmentdoesn't really need to have like
a very high standard forsomeone to be impeached in New York
(18:42):
obviously didn't happen often,but still it's. It's been a problem.
Like they, they said it's aproblem the fact that like, there
is no clear standard when toimpeach someone or not. And so they
were trying to impeach toforce him to resign. So it just felt
it was wrong and someone hadto do something. I was not planning
to make a movie. I had $800 inmy bank account. I couldn't afford
(19:05):
to make a movie, but I justfelt I had to do it.
I think it's a brilliant. Ihave to preface this. I grew up in
a journalistic atmosphere. Myfather was a journalist and he was
proud of what he did. And thiswas again, I'm going to age myself.
This was like, you know, I'min my mid-60s, okay? So I. In growing
(19:31):
up with my father, before Ilost him, I used to go and work in
the newsroom with him. I'd sitin the newsroom and watch everybody
take their stories. We're likea hundred typewriters going at the
same time. And I could see thepassion when my father would create
a story, when he would say,I'm doing this to tell the truth.
(19:53):
I'm doing this to bring thisto the public. I'm doing this to
bring. But over that timeperiod, you know, I. From a young
child until now, andespecially in the last, I don't know,
probably 10, 10, 12 years Ihave seen a shift in media, that
media is personal opinion.Media is manipulating what they want
(20:16):
to society to hear. And Ithink is motivated by politics, is
motivated by any number ofthings that it shouldn't be, other
than the ethical and moralaspect of being able to bring a story
truthfully and honestly, withintegrity, with the facts out before
(20:37):
the public and let them publicdecide whether or not based on the
facts and not based onspeculation, not based on hearsay,
not based on unsubstantiated,you know, and we've noticed it really,
really badly, especially inthe last, well, in the last year,
year and a half, two yearsespecially, which I find disheartening
(21:01):
from that perspective. So Iapplaud you for bringing it up to
a point where people couldtalk about it. And I think what I
appreciate about New Yorkersand what you brought there and your
choice in talking to NewYorkers is that they come out and
say like it is, there's no,there's no wish wash. There's no,
(21:23):
well, you know, maybe it's,I'm going to tell you what I think.
And here you are. So do youth,do you feel that your motivation
for telling this story fromthe truth, for telling the story
and bringing it to theforefront, what motivated you to
(21:45):
pick this story in particularof the hundreds or possibly thousands
of other ideas that you mayhave had?
I mean, I was really nottrying to have any idea. It's not
really planning to make amovie. It just really felt. I just
felt like. So I just like,couldn't stand about this story.
Like, I just couldn't, like,because I could see, like the media
(22:06):
was what you were saying. Theywere like always trying to push this
idea on people who Cuomo was.And they still do. Like, every time.
Like, even you saw in thefirst episode where I put all the
archival foot, at a certainpoint they accuse him also to abandon
his dog. And he's like, what'sthe reason to make that kind of story?
(22:27):
Like, you really have to findsomeone to interview specifically
for that because you're tryingto push the idea that he's a horrible
human being. And if you lookthrough that as that perspective,
every time you read the media,every coverage about him, it's always
to try to make him a horriblehuman being. Even now the New York
(22:50):
Post just released aneditorial. There is no reason for
them to talk about this now.Just because, I guess Cuomo sent
this letter to the DemocraticParty where he's sharing his thoughts
about the Crossroads we areright now, etc. But, but that's the.
(23:10):
The New York Post wrote thisarticle, like, pretty much saying
that the voters rejected himand they don't want him. Like, he's
done. No, don't ever be in thepublic eye anymore. It's like also
8. What's that, 900,000 NewYorkers voted for him in this election.
So we're not talking about,like, no one voted for him, but there
(23:31):
was always. They always tryingto find reasons to write about him
and to make him a horriblehuman being, a horrible person, Politicians
and everything. And I just.That was very different from what
I was seeing when I was, like,hearing directly from him and I saw
how the media was asking himthe question, how they were reporting.
(23:51):
Like, when he said something,the media would, like, create this
narrative behind what he said,saying this means this, this and
that, his tone means this andthat, which was very different from
my perspective. And so Ireally wanted to hear what actually
real New Yorkers had to sayabout him. And you see a lot of them,
like, speak about him in avery lovely way, and they. They see
(24:14):
a different person, adifferent. Like a different human
being. That it's. It's notwhat the media always portrayed him
to be. So. So I guess that waspart of it. And the media. Yeah,
the fact how the media doesn'tdo its job and what's the accountability
for the media when they don'tdo their job? So obviously the media
needs to be free, but whenthey're not, when, like when they're
(24:39):
not doing their job properly,what's. What do we do?
Coming from growing up with afather that was in the media, you
know, it. It. The mostimportant thing that he had in his
mind was the integrity intelling the story from the, from
the start. And I think you dothat brilliantly with, with the voice
of New Yorkers. I think thatin watching the documentaries, it
(25:02):
shows me that you're talkingto real people. You're not talking
to actors, you're not talkingto politicians or pundits or, you
know, even administrativestaff. From this perspective. You're
not going into the office andsaying, I want to talk to all these
people. You're talking to realpeople. You're talking to real New
Yorkers and asking theiropinion. The ones that voted for
(25:25):
him to say, what do you thinkin regard to this? And I agree. Let's
talk a bit about. You had thisidea. The reality of production only
becomes meaningful, like whenpaired with methods was, you know,
how did you make this happen?How did you. You. You said you had
a little bit of money in thebank, and documentary filmmaking
(25:48):
is expensive. Any kind offilmmaking is expensive. How'd you
make it happen?
More than I thought it wouldactually be, because I didn't really
think this through, honestly.Like, it was a very reckless decision
I took. But once I took it, Iwas now going to walk back. Like,
doesn't matter what stephappening in my life, I'm gonna keep
going. So, yeah, I mean, Idecided, like, I found some people
(26:10):
online that were supportive ofhim. And so I figure out I can do
movies because I wanted to dosomething. I didn't know what to
do, but I was like, well, Ihave a camera, I have sound equipment.
I can just make a movie bymyself. Interview people. And first
it started, like, I was justthinking, okay, I'm gonna just interview
people and maybe just do a fewclips to show online or something.
(26:32):
I wasn't right away thinking,I'm doing a documentary. And so I
was like, that's. But the moreI was thinking about all the topics
involved, it wasn't just aboutCuomo. It was really about, like,
the MeToo movement, womenempowerment, the media, the Democratic
Party, social media, cancelculture. So, like, all these topics
(26:53):
that intertwined with this. Sothen I was like, there is so much
more material to have a realconversation, not just to show what
they think about Cuomo andwhat happened in this situation.
It was really, let's have areal conversation. But again, until
actually, I was in New Yorkinterviewing people, I didn't know
if I would have enoughmaterial because obviously I was.
(27:14):
So I found these peopleonline, and I was asking them to
help me find people tointerview. And so. But I didn't really
know if we would have anyoneto interview. And then eventually,
like, while traveling, thesepeople were amazing. Like, but I
didn't know how much theycould offer. And a lot of interviews
ended up being like an hourand a half. So it was really, like,
(27:35):
deep conversation. It's notlike the sound bites that you normally
see in documentary wheresomeone speaks for, like, 20 seconds
and then you cut to someoneelse. So it was real conversation
with real people, as you said.And so first I was like, I mean,
I had the equipment already,but I just upgraded my equipment,
just got credit card to dothat, the usual capitalistic way.
(27:59):
So. And then I was luckybecause all the stimulus checks,
I didn't get them before, butthey arrived, like, two weeks before.
I. I was traveling before Istarted traveling, so I got the stimulus
checks that helped Me forthis, got a tax refund. So I had
something at least to kept megoing while I was traveling for that
(28:19):
week. And then I dideverything by myself in a documentary
like I am. I was like, all theequipment, obviously, all the positions,
what to do sound andeverything. Because I've done sound
all my life too, so that waseasy. And then after I did the editing
all by myself, so I wasworking 9 to 5, a job, low pay job,
(28:41):
but it still worked out tokeep me going. While I was doing
that, in the evening I wouldgo home and edit. And because, I
mean, I already know all thefootage. So it was very easy for
me to do the editing in acouple of months. And it was just
because. And you see how itgoes from one topic to the next one.
But they're all so connected.It's not just random. It's not that
(29:01):
you have a new chapter. It'slike the people, when they talk,
eventually they start a newtopic on their own. So that's just
how my brain works that cansee those kind of pattern connections.
And so I was like, in a coupleof months I did it, but. But then
got worse the situationbecause the people that I was collaborating
with that helped me find thepeople to interview, then they turned
against me. So then they werethreatening me with like saying they
(29:25):
would sue me and all that kindof stuff. So then I was like going
to work 9 to 5 editing andfighting with these people. And at
a certain point I had to get alawyer just to try to mediate with
them. But then they reallywent all the way crazy. And long
story short, that eventuallypushed them out of the project. But
(29:49):
then at this point I wasworking with a lawyer. So then obviously
I couldn't afford to pay alawyer. So I had to ask help from
my parents just to pay for theretainer. And then also with the
lawyer, I had to go through atthis point like a review. At that
point it was just a featuredocumentary. So there wasn't any
archival footage. The archivalfootage was the most expensive part,
(30:10):
I guess. But. But so at that,at this point it was just mainly
the, the people talking in thedocumentary, in the feature. And
then I would just. They all.You had to check about what they
were saying for defining ifthere was like any risk for defamation.
So all that process. So then Ihad to get insurance, very expensive
(30:31):
process. So then I had to geta loan and they had to get credit
cards just to. To pay for theinsurance, pay for that. So yeah,
I'm still paying my Debt and never.
True filmmaker, truefilmmaker. From, from the get go,
put it on your credit card,take out the loans, work, you know,
from noon to midnight and then some.
(30:53):
So, yeah, it's, it's. It'samazing. Like, it's. I love this
country also because it givesyou this opportunity that, like,
even in Italy, most peopledon't even have a credit card. So
you just live with what youmake. And yes, there are some loans,
there are some things, butit's not that easy. Like, I'm here,
I'm not even a citizen. I'm aperson on a visa. And being able
(31:14):
to apply for credit cards forloans and get them making, like,
little money, it's been great.And obviously it's been a struggle
because, like, every month,paying the rent, paying the bills
and everything, while I keepgetting more and more. Because that
at this point, I finished thisas a feature documentary, I guess,
like in six months prettymuch. So it was super quick process
(31:38):
because I did everything bymyself. Like, I only paid for a friend
to do the color correction andanother person to do the music. But
everything else pretty muchwas on me.
And a lot of logistical andfinancial hurdles.
Yeah, like. And you have, youhave to learn the process too, because
I didn't know about thisdefamation possibility. So I had
(31:59):
to change the editing how Iwas phrasing certain things. And
this was just for the. Thefirst part documentary, that was
the easy part. But then. So Iwent through film festivals and while
I was traveling, showing topeople, obviously, as, as a documentary,
two hours, it's very heavywhere people talk, like back and
(32:19):
forth. So I was like, I thinkeven for me, like one hour and a
half, it's fine. But the last20 minutes start getting heavy. So
that's where I was like, maybeI should split it into episode because
anyway, people end up talkingabout, like topics, like it's two
different topics at thebeginning, and then they evolve two
more topics. So it was easy tothink about how to split it. But
(32:41):
also because, like this, thisway, when it was just interview just
the people, you would heartheir perspective, but you didn't
really see the full story. Ifhe didn't know everything about what
happened, and most peopledidn't know, and even New Yorkers
don't know about all the backand forth, all the lawsuits, what
happened after he resigned. Sothere was so much going on. And so
(33:01):
I was like, I need to do it.But I thought I was. I would not
be able to do it because,like, archival footage is very complicated.
You don't own it. You mighthave to pay a lot of money. I didn't
have any money. So then,because I had the lawyer. So then
I figure out, okay, I can dolike. There is the rule of fair use.
(33:21):
So with fair use, you can usethe footage, it belongs to someone
else, but only if you use itin a very specific way. And some
people think, oh, as long asyou keep three seconds, you're fine.
But that's not how it works.For some clips I had like 30 seconds.
So you can use more, you cando that, but. But you have to do
(33:43):
it in a way that there is areason you cannot just like arbitrarily
just put that footage there.So I had to go through a review with
my lawyer, which took like twoyears at least, if not more, where
I was editing, sending themthe editing, and they were sending
me, okay, now you cannot usethis. You have, you can use to this.
So then every time I was likechanging the voiceover, adding more
(34:06):
to the voiceover so that Icould actually use the right footage.
So it was like two years. Andat this point I was working nine
to five plus I was working inthe evening, another company just
to keep going. And throughoutthis, I was also actually a student
because I was continuing myeducation and I was starting business
(34:27):
during the weekend. I stillhad all my assignments to do. So
it was a pretty crazy thing.Then eventually it was like the beginning
of 2024, I finished theschool. Then I also quit the other
job. So eventually I justended up doing one job. But it was
like a lot of hours and it wasso far. I take public transportation
in Los Angeles. So yeah, youhave to make a lot of sacrifices.
(34:51):
For sure.
That is a journey. I mean,it's a passion project, which I think
is helpful because it's yourpassion to create what you're creating
and you put a lot of work intoit. At what point did it shift from.
You said it started off as afeature film and then it went to
the five part series, which iswhat I watched watched. What shifted
(35:12):
from the feature film to thefive part series was it the. I think
you mentioned in a few minutesago, and correct me if you need,
but I think you mentioned thatit was easier to control the narrative.
To digest for an audience towatch by its 30 minutes episode rather
than watching two hours. Itwould be easier for them, but also
(35:36):
because in general I wanted toadd an extra episode. And so originally
I thought maybe three episodeswould be enough. So the archival
footage and then two episodesof interviews. But Then actually
I was like, oh, actually it'sbetter because I was talking to some
possible distributors. So theyalso told me better this and that.
(35:56):
But then eventually I decidedto self distribute it. So I did all
of that by myself too. So Imean, it was. Yeah, I mean, it was
like I was going through SO2.The first festival was in June 2022.
SO. And then I kept going tofestival until October. So throughout
that process, I mean, I sawthat there was one person. It was
(36:19):
so funny. So this was like in.In a rural area of western New York.
And so it's a very Trumpsupporter area or in general. But
at this festival, there wasthis person. She hated all politicians.
So, like, she was not on oneside or the other one. She hated
Cuomo. And so while she waswatching, she was super nice, but
she. While she was watching adocumentary, she was taking notes
(36:41):
on why she hates Cuomo. And itwas just so funny that, like, that's
all she was thinking about it.But also she. After watching the
documentary, she told me,like, how much she hated Cuomo. She
didn't really want to hearabout him because she hates him.
But the episode, the partwhere he talks about the MeToo movement
and women empowerment, it wasvery important. And she said, oh,
(37:04):
I wish, like, more peoplewatched this part because this is
so important. Like, peoplereally need to hear about this. And
that is the part that isreally pretty much not about Cuomo
in the documentary. And nowit's. It's his own episode, which
is like the episode numberfour. And so that was a moment where
I was like, oh, definitely,like, there is an opportunity, because
some people might not reallywant to listen about Cuomo, but because
(37:27):
this documentary is about somany different things, if someone
finds value just in that part,then they can just share that episode
with other people if that'sall they care about it. Because it's.
Again, it started with. Butit's about much more.
It is about much more. Youtalk about the MeToo movement, you
talk about media and therelation between media and the public
(37:49):
and the narrative that'sbrought, whether it be positive or
negative, and how it couldcontrol the narrative to such a point
that it affects other people'sopinions. So it was done very well,
actually. And you've won BestDocumentary Feature, Upstate New
York Film Festival SilverAward, International New York Film
Festival, Best DocumentaryFeature, New York Tri State Film
(38:12):
Festival Award of Merit withCinemaFest Award of Merit Impact
Doc Awards. Best Documentary.I can't even pronounce that name.
So I'm Gonna have to skip thatone. I'm sorry, That's. Thank you.
Chautauqua International FilmFestival, the Cinema New York and
Jury Award, New York, SeattleFilm Festival, and just so many more.
(38:33):
You've had a lot of otherhonorable mentions in. So obviously
I think that, you know, youmade, you're able to make an impact
on your voice and the voice ofothers. And interviewing people,
especially for a documentaryfilm like that, it's not like a casting
call where you call up andsay, okay, we need a male and a female
(38:54):
and a child and they're goingto be this age and they're going
to be this and this and thisand these are actors that are coming
in and they're vying for apart and you pick the best one. These
are real people, these arereal voices, these are real residents
with real opinions, realobjectives. And the voice, you present
(39:16):
the voice the way it'ssupposed to be presented, which is
admirable from that perspective.
Yeah, I feel like a lot ofdocumentary, like people always want
to hear from famous people.They want to hear from the actors,
they want to hear from thepoliticians, whatever. I wanted just
to hear from real people. Andthere are some experts too over there,
but like, they're real peopletalking about perspective. And so,
(39:38):
yeah, I know a lot of people,like, I'm also turned off about my
documentary because they wantthat extra thing and sometimes they
want to know about thesepeople, what job they do. And I'm
like, no, I don't want to tellyou what job they do because I want
you to listen to what theyhave to say as a human beings.
So, and that's brilliantbecause we need to list them as a
human being, not just becauseyou're in a particular field or your
(40:03):
job. And in this case,everything that you brought to the
forefront, all theconversations that you had, those
conversations are humanconversations, has nothing to do
with what they did. So, yeah,well done, well done. I know. You
know, there's risk and there'ssuccesses and there's failures and
so forth. I mean, you'veobviously achieved standing in the
(40:27):
community, especially within adocumentary arena, whether feature
film or whether or not in thefive part documentary series portion
of it, from that perspective,what moments, I just listed off some
of your accolades there.There's many more on your website,
which, you know, we'll talkabout in a moment. What moments of
(40:48):
success made you feel theproject was truly kind of resonating
and that you kind of achieveda little bit of what you wanted to
achieve.
It was the first festival. Andagain, it was a small field festival.
It was their first year. Therewere not that many people in the
room. And I mean, I live inLos Angeles, so all my friends are
here. So when I was showingthe cat or that I was talking about
(41:12):
the documentary, I mean, thatthey didn't say anything bad or good
or anything. It was just like,oh, whatever. Like, I don't know
why I need to care about thisthing sometime. Like, these people.
And so when I approached thefirst film festival, like, it was
the first time, like,strangers would watch it. I didn't
know what they would feel. Andit was very difficult for a festival
(41:34):
because one of the people thatactually, they like, she was collaborating
with me originally. And then,like, she. She was threatening me,
like, all that kind of stuff.So she also. The day before the festival,
she called the film festivalto threaten them and saying, if you
show this movie, I'm gonna sueyour movie theaters because she doesn't
have the rights to show it andeverything. So obviously, I showed
(41:57):
them the rights, lawyer stuffand everything. So it was fine. Then
they screened it. But she wasalso at the screening, and she traveled,
like, hours just to be there.The first screening just, like, to
tell me how bad I was and allthat. So it was obviously the first
pass. It was very difficultbecause, yeah, in general, like,
you don't know how people willperceive it. You don't know what
(42:19):
happened. Plus, I had all thiscrazy situation with, like, this
person threatening me andcoming there and making a big scene
in the theater. But then nextto us, there was this guy that eventually,
like, he chimed in theconversation. Like, this person left.
But this guy started tellingme how much he loved the documentary,
how much it resonated withhim. And you see the. I love in this.
(42:44):
It's not about, oh, you likeit or not, but you see that people
start talking about thesetopics. It's like. And they talk
about, oh, this person saidsomething, this person said this.
And I think this. So it reallysparks a conversation. And so it
was in that moment where,like, for the first time, like, a
total stranger, someone who'salso from New York, watch it and
(43:06):
loved it. And it's not justlike he enjoyed it. It was, like,
really brought so manyconversations, like, so that's what
I love about this documentary.It's not about. It's not about, oh,
do you like the cinematographyor something else? It's like, let's
have a real conversation aboutthese topics. That's all it is about.
And so that was a great Moment.
Yeah. You brought voice. Youbrought voice to it, I think, which
(43:30):
is really appreciative. It'sunfortunate that we have individuals
that try to take that voiceaway from us, especially like the
person that came to there andcaused so much trouble. Hopefully
that situation won't happenagain. You want people to walk away
with something. You want themto walk away with positive, even
a negative, they walk awaywith the negative. They still walked
away with something. They gotsomething out of it. You resonated
(43:51):
with them in some form oranother. So. Or maybe open their
eyes, you know, which I thinkthat in this day and age, sometimes
people would need their eyesopen a little more than what they
are open right now. Becausethis political. Especially this political
environment that's going on currently.
Yeah.
There's no need to be told.Yeah. Do you think you'd ever doubted
(44:12):
yourself, felt the project maynot succeed?
Did I do what did you think?
You have you. Did you everdoubt yourself? Did you think that
you wouldn't succeed?
Myself all the time, likethroughout, like, I just. That that
was like the. The hardest partof the journey was for me to believe
I could make it happen. That.So I had to do a lot like it because
you do a lot of spiritual,like, conversation in this podcast.
(44:35):
So that for me was definitelylike, like I knew I wanted to do
it. I was not going to giveup. But I knew both monetarily, but
also like to think aboutmaking a movie all by myself in general.
Plus about the topic whereeverybody else has a very different
opinion about it. And also I'mtrying to bring like, empathy towards
a politician where everybodyjust want to hate politicians. So
(44:59):
it's obviously verychallenging documentary to do in
general. Plus that. So thatobviously what. And I'm still working
through that, like figuringout, like learning more about myself,
my abilities to make thishappen. And in general, like to break
through like an industry whereyou don't have the studio baking
and you don't have money, likeyou don't have people. Obviously
(45:22):
you have to find your way tobring this to light. So that definitely
I doubted myself. And I don'tdo anymore. I don't do anymore. But
we're talking about maybe Istopped doubting myself four months
ago, not like three years ago.
It has been a journey. It hasbeen a journey. And again, what you've
created, you have no reason todoubt your end result. It's like
(45:46):
a wonderful opportunity for aconversation. And I think that we
all need to haveconversations. Conversation is the
key to communication. If wecan't have a conversation, then you
can't overcome any obstaclesor any of the difficulties or any
of the differences that we allshare. So you brought the conversation
(46:09):
to the forefront and I thinkyou've done it wonderfully. So I
got a couple of things I wantto cover before we leave. I know
that we've got an opportunityfor people to connect with you to
get to watch the documentaryseries and to kind of learn more
about your other projects youmight have up and down. So tell,
tell me about you and how toget your, your documentary series
(46:32):
and what you're up to next.
Well, my documentary is likenow on five platforms, so it's on
Apple TV, it's on Tubi, it'son Google Play, YouTube and Zumo.
So that's where you can findit. So you can either watch just
one episode if you're justinterested in like watching an episode
or watch the full series isover there. So I don't really have
(46:57):
a plan for my future. I'mstill trying to figure out. Exactly.
So it's, I mean it's a, it's aseries now. So if I wanted to do
a second season now, I can doit. So I'm not really like obviously
there is so much that needs tobe tackled in this country. The division
and like the extremism thatwe're all like having to, we're seeing.
(47:20):
So, so definitely there are somany more conversation that needs
to be. Needs to happen. So I'mjust keeping the door open for possibilities.
We'll see.
And you have a website. How dothey reach you?
Yeah, the website is the. Thisis what New Yorkers say dot com.
So it's very simple. So yeah,you can just go on Google, you can
type there the name of thedocumentary. This is what New Yorkers
(47:41):
say. And it should tell youalso like where to find it.
And I'll make sure it's in theshow notes as well. So people have
an easy way just to click itand find you that way, you know,
they can especially, you know,if you have something coming down
the road, then they can joinyour community because that's help
you to build your community alittle bit.
Yeah, they can follow me onsocial media too, like Instagram,
(48:02):
Twitter. Yeah.
How do you hope this is whatNew Yorkers say will influence conversations
about media, about politicsand public perception kind of moving
forward?
I mean. Yeah, definitely. Ijust want people to question what
they think they know. That isall I hope for. It's like to see,
(48:23):
oh, there are differentperspectives and also to empower
people. Because like even whathappened to Cuomo, a lot of people
feel the same way as thesepeople in documentary, but because
then everybody else insociety, the peer pressure, they
feel like, oh, I'm not allowedto think this, I'm not allowed to
say this. And you know, withall this movement, whether it's the
(48:43):
mutual movement or othermovements, there is that pressure
in society that you have tobelieve things in a very specific
way or you're a horrible humanbeing. So it's also to empower people
to hear like what otheractually you really have to say with
no filters and like empoweryou to have your own thoughts and
to question things. It'sreally about questioning things.
That's, that's the only waysociety can thrive. People question
(49:06):
narratives.
That's brilliant, brilliantwords of wisdom. I think that we
all should take thatopportunity to be able to open our
eyes and have a voice, but atthe same time understand that everybody
else has a voice and that weshould use that as a opening our
conversation. SarahAlessandrina reminds us that storytelling
(49:28):
is not just about documentaryevents. It's about questioning narratives,
as she just said, amplifyingvoices and sparking dialogue. Her
journey from Italy to LosAngeles, from engineering to filmmaking,
and from feature film to docuseries is a testament to resilience,
creativity and the power ofindependent vision. Sarah, I want
(49:48):
to thank you for joining us.Thank you for sharing your story,
thank you for sharing yourvoice, thank you for this amazing
docu series and I reallyappreciate you being part of humanity.
Yeah, no, thank you so muchfor having me and to watch my documentaries.
Like, yeah, it's alwaysbeautiful to talk to other people
about it.
It's been a pleasure. What NewYorkers Say is a five part docu series
(50:10):
is available on Apple TV,YouTube, Google Play and more. You
can find the links in the shownotes. It'll take you right to them.
That's a wrap for today'sJourney. If something sparked your
curiosity or moved you, shareit. Subscribe, stay connected and
head over to YouTube and catchthe full video version as well. And
remember, you're not justlistening, you're part of this story.
So until next time, keepseeking, keep growing, never stop
(50:32):
asking. And one more thingbefore you go. Thank you for being
part of this community. Thanksfor listening to this episode of
One More Thing before youe Go.Check out our website@beforeyougopodcast.com
youm can find.
Us as well as subscribe to theprogram and rate us on your favorite
podcast listening platform.
Hey, One more thing before wego. What drives someone to leave
behind engineering in Rome?Leap into filmmaking across continents
to Los Angeles. For SarahAlessandrini, it was tenacity, a
vision and the belief thatstories can change the way we see
the world. Her journey fromItaly to Hollywood and from feature
film to award winningdocuseries is a masterclass in resilience
(00:23):
and creative courage. Todaywe're going to uncover what it takes
to build a project against theodds, to the lessons learned along
the way and how storytellingcan challenge the narratives we're
told and are taught. Staytuned. I'm your host, Michael Hirst.
Welcome to One more thingbefore you go. Today on One more
(00:52):
thing before you go, we'rejoined by Italian filmmaker and social
commentator SarahAlessandrini. She is the creator
of this is what New Yorkerssay, a five part docu series exploring
the resignation of former NewYork governor Andrew Cuomo and through
the voices of everyday NewYorkers. But Sarah's journey didn't
begin in politics. It beganwith a leap of faith. From studying
(01:14):
electronic engineering in Rometo pursuing filmmaking. From working
in the Italian film industryto relocate into Los Angeles, Sarah
has built a career at theintersection of storytelling, social
criticism and civic awareness.Today we're going to explore her
motives, her methods and hersuccesses and failures and the personal
journey that shaped her voiceas a filmmaker. Welcome to the show,
(01:37):
Sarah.
Hi Michael. Thank you forhaving me. Actually I took many leap
of faith, not just one. Feelslike constantly I take leap of phase.
Eventually something is goingto happen.
Always, as always, life is ajourney. Sometimes we have many obstacles.
Like the seven hills of Rome. Right?
But yeah, actually I was doingengineering in my city. So I'm from
the north of Italy. It'scalled Cesena, it's near Bologna.
(02:00):
That's where I was studyinglike for in high school. I was studying
electronic andtelecommunication because the educational
system is very different inItaly. So I was getting a major in
that in high school and then Idid engineering. But I always wanted
to go to Rome anyway to studyfilm. So that's when first I was
like, I'm not sure if I havewhat it takes to go. I was like not
(02:22):
very self confident. So I waslike, I'm going to just stay here
in my city, keep doing, I havemy friends here. But then it was
impossible. Like I just wantto, like I just felt that call inside.
I have to do this, I have todo this. So eventually after three
years, I was like, I'm goingto try and see what happens? And.
And my dream was actually tocome to this country, but I never
(02:43):
knew how to do that because ofthe visa. Obviously, it's very difficult.
Like, it's not that my familyis rich and so, like, it's not something
you can just do, so. And so Igave up my dreams when I. After high
school, I gave up my dreams,and seven years later, I was actually
living here. So I guess Iwasn't very good at giving up.
But you've achieved somethingthat's really magnificent, especially
(03:05):
when you watch this documenteddocu series. I think what you've
done. It started off as afilm, I think, originally. I mean,
it hit the film festival markets.
Yeah. So I was like, in NewYork and in Los Angeles also, too.
But I focus in New Yorkbecause obviously it's mainly a New
York story.
But yeah, well, it's. It's anachievement, especially within filmmaking,
(03:26):
even to get accepted to filmfestivals. I ran to film festivals
actually. Used to be I didthat many, many years ago. And the
process to get into a filmfestival is diligent. So to achieve
that is like an amazing thingin itself. But I, like, kind of start.
I know we were. You give us aquick rundown where you had gone,
(03:46):
what your passion was, yourpurpose was. You found your purpose
in your passion withfilmmaking and storytelling. From
that perspective, what drewyou to filmmaking? I mean, you said
it was like, I really wantedto do this. You know, I grew up with
films and tv. It was mybabysitter, unfortunately. So I fell
in love with the Madame. Youknow, the mode island of. Of that
(04:11):
genre of creating storiesthrough media, through the TV and
through the. The film genre.
Yeah, I mean, similar for me.Like, I just like, felt I never really
belonged where I was in mycity. I just felt like I couldn't
really understand people. Andso I just ended up, like, watching
a lot of movies. And moviesmade so much sense. So it was for
(04:32):
me, through movies, I was ableto understand life better since I
was a kid. So that was prettymuch like how I started. I just got
so obsessed with moviesbecause they made sense and they
gave me that structure tounderstand life, to understand people.
And so I was just verypassionate about them. And then eventually
(04:54):
someone told me, oh, maybe youshould be a director. And I was not
even thinking about making itlike, something real in my life because
I come from, like, an area ofItaly where it's more like technical,
so people are more likemechanic, engineers, chef, obviously,
because, like, food iseverywhere in Italy. But yeah, yeah.
(05:14):
So it was it was different tothink about, like, making movies.
So I didn't really thinkabout, like, I was my dream to work
in the movie industry somehow.But I didn't really know how, which
role and. But I always likeddoing everything. So that's where
it was very useful when I madethis documentary, because I've done
everything in the movieindustry because, like, to me, it
(05:37):
was just too boring, I guess,the idea to be just the director
or just something else. Sowhen I was in Rome, I studied in
a school there, and I was justlike, learning everything. I was
taking every job possible,every position. So when I approached
my documentary, like, I didn'teven. I was not even planning to
make a documentary. Like, it'snot that I was like, I want to make
a movie. Let's find the topic.No, I was just, like, living my life.
(06:00):
I was happy where I was. I wasworking at the point at the Egyptian
Theater in Los Angeles. Soit's like, for the American Cinematheque,
it was like an artorganization. So it was a different
way to work in movies. Like inthe exhibition part, we were doing,
like, festivals, premieres,and a lot of, like that.
(06:22):
Do you think your training inwhat you've learned and what you
were working with,engineering, helps you shift towards
cinema? Do you think that hadan influence on that?
Yeah, I mean, obviously a verytechnical mentality because, like,
coming up from, like, thatkind of an environment. Like, I always
think in a very practical way.I'm not like a creative. Let's daydream.
(06:44):
So I'm always like, okay, ifI'm gonna do something, I'll do it,
like, from the beginning tothe end. I'm not like, just try something
and then give up. Becausethat's what you're talking about.
There are a lot of peopledon't make it into film festivals.
Don't and don't. They don'tfinish movies. Like, even a lot of
people with a lot of budget,they just don't finish the movie
because they don't have, like.They don't have that mentality. You
(07:08):
really need the mentality tobe like, okay, it's like life or
death. I'm gonna take thiswhere it needs to come or I'm not
gonna start it. So I'm thattype of person.
Yep, it's expensive. It's.It's long hours. It's a lot of work.
You really have to put youreverything into it. So, yes, I agree
with that. I think that. I'msure that the. The. It's interesting
(07:32):
when you, if you don't mind, Ineed to touch back on something.
You said you studiedengineering in high school.
It was, it's not calledengineering, but it was electronic
and telecommunications. Yeah,so yeah, you get a major in high
school, like you can either doa generic high school where you learn
a little of everything, or youcan do, take a major. And so you
have to go to a specificschool. It's not that like you go
(07:53):
to a school where there areall the different majors. You go
to a specific school thathave, like mine has electronic or
they add informatics, somehave chemistry, it depends.
That kind of thing.
So. So yeah, you have. Andlike you spend three years, like
the first two years are kindof generic and then the last three
years, like the 70% of yourclasses that you take are like specific
(08:15):
about that. So it's likedigital, electronic, analogic, electronic,
like designing all that. Soit's very, it was way more like real
stuff than university.University in Italy is very theoretical,
right? So. So high school wasactually much better than engineering,
honestly. So.
(08:36):
Well, that was cool actually.I mean, what an opportunity for someone
to be able to grasp some ofreal world working, you know, skills,
a skill set and a knowledge.And instead of just a theoretical
aspect of it, which I thinkis, that's brilliant from that perspective
and it forces.
You to start thinking earlywhat you want to do in life. Because
like people approachuniversity, college where like they,
(08:58):
they're going to just trysomething they don't know. This way
you already start doingsomething. Like you have to decide
when you're like, I don'tknow, 13, 14 years old. You have
to pick well before becausewhen you pick high school, usually
you already know you're goingto do those kind of majors. So when
you're 12, 13 years old, youalready have to decide what you want
to do. And again, you'llprobably change it eventually. But
(09:21):
by the time you get to 18years old, you're already, you already
done a lot of like thatthinking instead of waiting after
like a university and peoplecomplain, oh, why did I do this university?
And then you're in that here.So yeah, it's. I think it does like
a lot of fraud.
Good, good, good. It's a goodway, good way to approach it. I think
(09:44):
you mentioned that you wereworking in the film industry in Rome.
It's kind of a question inregard to methodology, I guess I
want to explore. So when Ifirst went to film school, I had
learned to shoot on 16millimeter film and then we had to
have it processed and then wehad to rank it down and put it on
a beta and then we had to takethe beta and then put that into a
(10:06):
computer. And then they taughtus the whole process from that perspective.
So we had to learn actualworking with film. Did you start
with like film, like cell filmor just into digital?
It was already digital becauseyou. I went to school in 2010, so
everything was alreadydigital. Okay. You had like the mini
dv that was like the closestthing to not digital. But it's still
(10:29):
digital obviously. But yeah,that, that's how we were doing it.
It was like a two year schooland I mean it was great. It was inside
Chinichita, so. But it wasgreat because also like one of my
teacher, he was actually afterthe first year he was going to film
a movie. Like he was also likea producer director and so he created
(10:51):
this movie. It was like halfof the people families in Italy were
in that movie. So it was notthe super big budget obviously for
like American standards, but.But obviously it was like a lot of
like all the old famous peoplewith the real budget. It was a real
movie obviously. So. So wewere lucky that like he opened it
up to us like if we wanted tobe intern, obviously for free, but
(11:14):
we got to work there and itwas like, it was very interesting
the fact that of like class oflike 15 people, only three of us
said yes. So we got the chanceto work for free on a real movie,
real budget, real world. Likeyou went to school for that. And
most people prefer just tolive their own summer, just go back
(11:35):
home and enjoy summer insteadof working for free. Well, it was
like work hard for meobviously. But it was like it was
a real experience because likeI was there like for the casting.
So before we even startedfilming. So I was there working in
the office and then on whilewe were filming. Then also I was
(11:56):
like through everything. LikeI had like a real position and all
that type of stuff. So it wasreally a great experience and I learned
so much just by working on one movie.
So that's so cool. Yeah,there's nothing, there's nothing
like being on a movie set. It.It really kind of opens your experience
to the creativity that'sinvolved, the work that's involved
(12:16):
and the opportunity to bring astory to life from, from that perspective.
So I was, I was lucky. When Icame here to Arizona, I went back
to university here. Obviouslythey were in digital at that point.
And because of the digitalaspect, it made life so much easier
than trying to do it at 16millimeter film, it just. Yeah, it's
(12:39):
like, I will never go back.Won't happen. So do you have anything
in particular that motivatedyour move from Rome or from Italy
to Los Angeles? Like.
I grew up, like, watchingAmerican movies and everything. I
just loved this country. I wasjust madly in love with this country.
(12:59):
It just, like, felt this waswhere my future was supposed to be.
But obviously I never livedhere, so obviously, like, yeah, you
can dream. You can dream, butuntil actually you move here, you
don't know if you actuallywant to stay. And so when I was,
like, living in Rome at thetime, like, after three years, and
actually my best friend died,like, best friend that I met there.
(13:20):
So obviously I had to thinkabout a lot of stuff about life.
Like, we're talking aboutdeath. And so I was, like, trying
to figure out my life. Thingswere like. Like, I worked and done
different stuff, like in. InRome. But then my best friend died,
and most people were movingout anyway from. From Rome because
they couldn't find jobs. Andit's very hard over there, like,
(13:43):
to really make a living. Andthere is a lot of nepotism. So, like,
yes, you can figure out how towork in projects, but either they
don't have a real budget orthey only get their friends. So it
was, like, still disappointingto be there, and there was no real
future. And so I was like. Isaw I had some money saved for, like,
(14:06):
a trip to United States, andso I just decided to take a month.
A friend of mine was living inBoston, and so I decided to visit
him. And. And so I came forthe first time to this country. I
was like, in the Boston area.I saw New York. I fell in love with
New York right away. I mean, Ienjoyed Boston. It was fine. But
until I actually went to NewYork, like, it was fine. But then
(14:28):
New York was like, the realdeal. And so then I was like, okay,
I have to figure out how. ButI didn't know how to move to this
country. So then I was like,oh, I'm gonna just go to Australia
because it's easier just tohave, like, some experience abroad.
But I went to Australia. Andthen I was like, I didn't even want
to struggle in Australiabecause my dream was to come here.
(14:49):
So I was like, if I have tostruggle, I'm going to struggle for
this country, not for acountry where I don't want to live.
So after a few months, Iactually left Australia, went back
to Italy, and then tried tofigure out a way to come to this
country. And then I figuredout, came to study a UCLA extension.
And then after a year ofstudy, then I found a job for the
(15:09):
American Cinematheque. Andthen things moved in that direction,
and then I stayed. I cannotsay I loved Los Angeles. I still
don't love Los Angeles. Like,it took me a couple of years because
Los Angeles, it's a verydifferent cities than New York. So,
yeah, I wasn't in love withit. So I wasn't until actually I
(15:29):
started getting my life going.I wasn't sure if I was going to say,
stay here in this country. Soit took a couple of years.
I would say you had theopportunity to take the story of
Governor Cuomo's resignationas a. As a topic to. To kind of make
an expose out, make adocumentary out of it. What compelled
(15:50):
you to. To take that story inparticular and. And kind of elevate
it?
Yeah, like, I mean, ingeneral, like, I start being passionate
about politics when I wasstudying engineering. So when I was
in Italy, I started beingpassionate about politics. And then
when I was in Rome, I wasactually, like, going to a lot of,
like, political events andstuff like that. But then after.
(16:13):
After Rome, I kind of gotdisconnected because, yeah, like,
sometime in life, like, you,like, when you care about politics,
you're always so focused aboutin the external world, but then you're
not actually figuring outthings for yourself. So, like, your
personal growth, like, all ofthat, like, you're so focused on
the outside world and youforget to look inside. And so I put
(16:34):
politics aside. I was just,like, trying to figure out my life,
what I wanted, what I wantedto do, like, just getting jobs, money,
and all that survived,figuring out my life. So I wasn't
really paying attention topolitics anymore. And then during
COVID I guess I had some freetime. And then I was, like, following
(16:55):
politics because of my job,because I was a facility manager.
So I was, like, trying tofigure out when we would reopen,
what the rules were. So I wasfollowing a lot of press conferences
because of that. And then Ijust start seeing Cuomo, and I just
got passionate about the wayhe was talking about government.
And so it's about, like,making real improvements in the life
(17:18):
of people more than thepolitics were. Like, people are just,
like, screaming at each other.It's all the gains. It was about
doing the real work. And so Ilove that. So I was just following
what was happening. And thenwhen he was forced to resign, I was
like, I have to do something.Like, this is unfair, because I could
see how it evolved. But Icould see that a lot of people that
(17:39):
were not following the storythis deep couldn't see what was happening.
And so they just trusted themedia. They just trusted whatever
politician had to say. And soit was like, no, there is, like there
is something else that peopleare not seeing in this story. And
also it was like the media andpolitician were always the one talking
(18:01):
and they were saying, oh, the70% of New Yorkers want him to resign,
but what were actually realNew Yorkers saying? So I felt like
everybody was talking aboutNew Yorkers, everybody was talking
about what qualified to do,but no one really cared about hearing
what New Yorkers had to say.And because it's very different,
like when during COVIDobviously there was also recall system
(18:22):
here in California with GavinNewson. But people had the chance
to decide what they wanted todo because there is a recall system.
So they decided to vote tokeep in play him in place. But in
New York, there isimpeachment. And there are studies
talking about how impeachmentdoesn't really need to have like
a very high standard forsomeone to be impeached in New York
(18:42):
obviously didn't happen often,but still it's. It's been a problem.
Like they, they said it's aproblem the fact that like, there
is no clear standard when toimpeach someone or not. And so they
were trying to impeach toforce him to resign. So it just felt
it was wrong and someone hadto do something. I was not planning
to make a movie. I had $800 inmy bank account. I couldn't afford
(19:05):
to make a movie, but I justfelt I had to do it.
I think it's a brilliant. Ihave to preface this. I grew up in
a journalistic atmosphere. Myfather was a journalist and he was
proud of what he did. And thiswas again, I'm going to age myself.
This was like, you know, I'min my mid-60s, okay? So I. In growing
(19:31):
up with my father, before Ilost him, I used to go and work in
the newsroom with him. I'd sitin the newsroom and watch everybody
take their stories. We're likea hundred typewriters going at the
same time. And I could see thepassion when my father would create
a story, when he would say,I'm doing this to tell the truth.
(19:53):
I'm doing this to bring thisto the public. I'm doing this to
bring. But over that timeperiod, you know, I. From a young
child until now, andespecially in the last, I don't know,
probably 10, 10, 12 years Ihave seen a shift in media, that
media is personal opinion.Media is manipulating what they want
(20:16):
to society to hear. And Ithink is motivated by politics, is
motivated by any number ofthings that it shouldn't be, other
than the ethical and moralaspect of being able to bring a story
truthfully and honestly, withintegrity, with the facts out before
(20:37):
the public and let them publicdecide whether or not based on the
facts and not based onspeculation, not based on hearsay,
not based on unsubstantiated,you know, and we've noticed it really,
really badly, especially inthe last, well, in the last year,
year and a half, two yearsespecially, which I find disheartening
(21:01):
from that perspective. So Iapplaud you for bringing it up to
a point where people couldtalk about it. And I think what I
appreciate about New Yorkersand what you brought there and your
choice in talking to NewYorkers is that they come out and
say like it is, there's no,there's no wish wash. There's no,
(21:23):
well, you know, maybe it's,I'm going to tell you what I think.
And here you are. So do youth,do you feel that your motivation
for telling this story fromthe truth, for telling the story
and bringing it to theforefront, what motivated you to
(21:45):
pick this story in particularof the hundreds or possibly thousands
of other ideas that you mayhave had?
I mean, I was really nottrying to have any idea. It's not
really planning to make amovie. It just really felt. I just
felt like. So I just like,couldn't stand about this story.
Like, I just couldn't, like,because I could see, like the media
(22:06):
was what you were saying. Theywere like always trying to push this
idea on people who Cuomo was.And they still do. Like, every time.
Like, even you saw in thefirst episode where I put all the
archival foot, at a certainpoint they accuse him also to abandon
his dog. And he's like, what'sthe reason to make that kind of story?
(22:27):
Like, you really have to findsomeone to interview specifically
for that because you're tryingto push the idea that he's a horrible
human being. And if you lookthrough that as that perspective,
every time you read the media,every coverage about him, it's always
to try to make him a horriblehuman being. Even now the New York
(22:50):
Post just released aneditorial. There is no reason for
them to talk about this now.Just because, I guess Cuomo sent
this letter to the DemocraticParty where he's sharing his thoughts
about the Crossroads we areright now, etc. But, but that's the.
(23:10):
The New York Post wrote thisarticle, like, pretty much saying
that the voters rejected himand they don't want him. Like, he's
done. No, don't ever be in thepublic eye anymore. It's like also
8. What's that, 900,000 NewYorkers voted for him in this election.
So we're not talking about,like, no one voted for him, but there
(23:31):
was always. They always tryingto find reasons to write about him
and to make him a horriblehuman being, a horrible person, Politicians
and everything. And I just.That was very different from what
I was seeing when I was, like,hearing directly from him and I saw
how the media was asking himthe question, how they were reporting.
(23:51):
Like, when he said something,the media would, like, create this
narrative behind what he said,saying this means this, this and
that, his tone means this andthat, which was very different from
my perspective. And so Ireally wanted to hear what actually
real New Yorkers had to sayabout him. And you see a lot of them,
like, speak about him in avery lovely way, and they. They see
(24:14):
a different person, adifferent. Like a different human
being. That it's. It's notwhat the media always portrayed him
to be. So. So I guess that waspart of it. And the media. Yeah,
the fact how the media doesn'tdo its job and what's the accountability
for the media when they don'tdo their job? So obviously the media
needs to be free, but whenthey're not, when, like when they're
(24:39):
not doing their job properly,what's. What do we do?
Coming from growing up with afather that was in the media, you
know, it. It. The mostimportant thing that he had in his
mind was the integrity intelling the story from the, from
the start. And I think you dothat brilliantly with, with the voice
of New Yorkers. I think thatin watching the documentaries, it
(25:02):
shows me that you're talkingto real people. You're not talking
to actors, you're not talkingto politicians or pundits or, you
know, even administrativestaff. From this perspective. You're
not going into the office andsaying, I want to talk to all these
people. You're talking to realpeople. You're talking to real New
Yorkers and asking theiropinion. The ones that voted for
(25:25):
him to say, what do you thinkin regard to this? And I agree. Let's
talk a bit about. You had thisidea. The reality of production only
becomes meaningful, like whenpaired with methods was, you know,
how did you make this happen?How did you. You. You said you had
a little bit of money in thebank, and documentary filmmaking
(25:48):
is expensive. Any kind offilmmaking is expensive. How'd you
make it happen?
More than I thought it wouldactually be, because I didn't really
think this through, honestly.Like, it was a very reckless decision
I took. But once I took it, Iwas now going to walk back. Like,
doesn't matter what stephappening in my life, I'm gonna keep
going. So, yeah, I mean, Idecided, like, I found some people
(26:10):
online that were supportive ofhim. And so I figure out I can do
movies because I wanted to dosomething. I didn't know what to
do, but I was like, well, Ihave a camera, I have sound equipment.
I can just make a movie bymyself. Interview people. And first
it started, like, I was justthinking, okay, I'm gonna just interview
people and maybe just do a fewclips to show online or something.
(26:32):
I wasn't right away thinking,I'm doing a documentary. And so I
was like, that's. But the moreI was thinking about all the topics
involved, it wasn't just aboutCuomo. It was really about, like,
the MeToo movement, womenempowerment, the media, the Democratic
Party, social media, cancelculture. So, like, all these topics
(26:53):
that intertwined with this. Sothen I was like, there is so much
more material to have a realconversation, not just to show what
they think about Cuomo andwhat happened in this situation.
It was really, let's have areal conversation. But again, until
actually, I was in New Yorkinterviewing people, I didn't know
if I would have enoughmaterial because obviously I was.
(27:14):
So I found these peopleonline, and I was asking them to
help me find people tointerview. And so. But I didn't really
know if we would have anyoneto interview. And then eventually,
like, while traveling, thesepeople were amazing. Like, but I
didn't know how much theycould offer. And a lot of interviews
ended up being like an hourand a half. So it was really, like,
(27:35):
deep conversation. It's notlike the sound bites that you normally
see in documentary wheresomeone speaks for, like, 20 seconds
and then you cut to someoneelse. So it was real conversation
with real people, as you said.And so first I was like, I mean,
I had the equipment already,but I just upgraded my equipment,
just got credit card to dothat, the usual capitalistic way.
(27:59):
So. And then I was luckybecause all the stimulus checks,
I didn't get them before, butthey arrived, like, two weeks before.
I. I was traveling before Istarted traveling, so I got the stimulus
checks that helped Me forthis, got a tax refund. So I had
something at least to kept megoing while I was traveling for that
(28:19):
week. And then I dideverything by myself in a documentary
like I am. I was like, all theequipment, obviously, all the positions,
what to do sound andeverything. Because I've done sound
all my life too, so that waseasy. And then after I did the editing
all by myself, so I wasworking 9 to 5, a job, low pay job,
(28:41):
but it still worked out tokeep me going. While I was doing
that, in the evening I wouldgo home and edit. And because, I
mean, I already know all thefootage. So it was very easy for
me to do the editing in acouple of months. And it was just
because. And you see how itgoes from one topic to the next one.
But they're all so connected.It's not just random. It's not that
(29:01):
you have a new chapter. It'slike the people, when they talk,
eventually they start a newtopic on their own. So that's just
how my brain works that cansee those kind of pattern connections.
And so I was like, in a coupleof months I did it, but. But then
got worse the situationbecause the people that I was collaborating
with that helped me find thepeople to interview, then they turned
against me. So then they werethreatening me with like saying they
(29:25):
would sue me and all that kindof stuff. So then I was like going
to work 9 to 5 editing andfighting with these people. And at
a certain point I had to get alawyer just to try to mediate with
them. But then they reallywent all the way crazy. And long
story short, that eventuallypushed them out of the project. But
(29:49):
then at this point I wasworking with a lawyer. So then obviously
I couldn't afford to pay alawyer. So I had to ask help from
my parents just to pay for theretainer. And then also with the
lawyer, I had to go through atthis point like a review. At that
point it was just a featuredocumentary. So there wasn't any
archival footage. The archivalfootage was the most expensive part,
(30:10):
I guess. But. But so at that,at this point it was just mainly
the, the people talking in thedocumentary, in the feature. And
then I would just. They all.You had to check about what they
were saying for defining ifthere was like any risk for defamation.
So all that process. So then Ihad to get insurance, very expensive
(30:31):
process. So then I had to geta loan and they had to get credit
cards just to. To pay for theinsurance, pay for that. So yeah,
I'm still paying my Debt and never.
True filmmaker, truefilmmaker. From, from the get go,
put it on your credit card,take out the loans, work, you know,
from noon to midnight and then some.
(30:53):
So, yeah, it's, it's. It'samazing. Like, it's. I love this
country also because it givesyou this opportunity that, like,
even in Italy, most peopledon't even have a credit card. So
you just live with what youmake. And yes, there are some loans,
there are some things, butit's not that easy. Like, I'm here,
I'm not even a citizen. I'm aperson on a visa. And being able
(31:14):
to apply for credit cards forloans and get them making, like,
little money, it's been great.And obviously it's been a struggle
because, like, every month,paying the rent, paying the bills
and everything, while I keepgetting more and more. Because that
at this point, I finished thisas a feature documentary, I guess,
like in six months prettymuch. So it was super quick process
(31:38):
because I did everything bymyself. Like, I only paid for a friend
to do the color correction andanother person to do the music. But
everything else pretty muchwas on me.
And a lot of logistical andfinancial hurdles.
Yeah, like. And you have, youhave to learn the process too, because
I didn't know about thisdefamation possibility. So I had
(31:59):
to change the editing how Iwas phrasing certain things. And
this was just for the. Thefirst part documentary, that was
the easy part. But then. So Iwent through film festivals and while
I was traveling, showing topeople, obviously, as, as a documentary,
two hours, it's very heavywhere people talk, like back and
(32:19):
forth. So I was like, I thinkeven for me, like one hour and a
half, it's fine. But the last20 minutes start getting heavy. So
that's where I was like, maybeI should split it into episode because
anyway, people end up talkingabout, like topics, like it's two
different topics at thebeginning, and then they evolve two
more topics. So it was easy tothink about how to split it. But
(32:41):
also because, like this, thisway, when it was just interview just
the people, you would heartheir perspective, but you didn't
really see the full story. Ifhe didn't know everything about what
happened, and most peopledidn't know, and even New Yorkers
don't know about all the backand forth, all the lawsuits, what
happened after he resigned. Sothere was so much going on. And so
(33:01):
I was like, I need to do it.But I thought I was. I would not
be able to do it because,like, archival footage is very complicated.
You don't own it. You mighthave to pay a lot of money. I didn't
have any money. So then,because I had the lawyer. So then
I figure out, okay, I can dolike. There is the rule of fair use.
(33:21):
So with fair use, you can usethe footage, it belongs to someone
else, but only if you use itin a very specific way. And some
people think, oh, as long asyou keep three seconds, you're fine.
But that's not how it works.For some clips I had like 30 seconds.
So you can use more, you cando that, but. But you have to do
(33:43):
it in a way that there is areason you cannot just like arbitrarily
just put that footage there.So I had to go through a review with
my lawyer, which took like twoyears at least, if not more, where
I was editing, sending themthe editing, and they were sending
me, okay, now you cannot usethis. You have, you can use to this.
So then every time I was likechanging the voiceover, adding more
(34:06):
to the voiceover so that Icould actually use the right footage.
So it was like two years. Andat this point I was working nine
to five plus I was working inthe evening, another company just
to keep going. And throughoutthis, I was also actually a student
because I was continuing myeducation and I was starting business
(34:27):
during the weekend. I stillhad all my assignments to do. So
it was a pretty crazy thing.Then eventually it was like the beginning
of 2024, I finished theschool. Then I also quit the other
job. So eventually I justended up doing one job. But it was
like a lot of hours and it wasso far. I take public transportation
in Los Angeles. So yeah, youhave to make a lot of sacrifices.
(34:51):
For sure.
That is a journey. I mean,it's a passion project, which I think
is helpful because it's yourpassion to create what you're creating
and you put a lot of work intoit. At what point did it shift from.
You said it started off as afeature film and then it went to
the five part series, which iswhat I watched watched. What shifted
(35:12):
from the feature film to thefive part series was it the. I think
you mentioned in a few minutesago, and correct me if you need,
but I think you mentioned thatit was easier to control the narrative.
To digest for an audience towatch by its 30 minutes episode rather
than watching two hours. Itwould be easier for them, but also
(35:36):
because in general I wanted toadd an extra episode. And so originally
I thought maybe three episodeswould be enough. So the archival
footage and then two episodesof interviews. But Then actually
I was like, oh, actually it'sbetter because I was talking to some
possible distributors. So theyalso told me better this and that.
(35:56):
But then eventually I decidedto self distribute it. So I did all
of that by myself too. So Imean, it was. Yeah, I mean, it was
like I was going through SO2.The first festival was in June 2022.
SO. And then I kept going tofestival until October. So throughout
that process, I mean, I sawthat there was one person. It was
(36:19):
so funny. So this was like in.In a rural area of western New York.
And so it's a very Trumpsupporter area or in general. But
at this festival, there wasthis person. She hated all politicians.
So, like, she was not on oneside or the other one. She hated
Cuomo. And so while she waswatching, she was super nice, but
she. While she was watching adocumentary, she was taking notes
(36:41):
on why she hates Cuomo. And itwas just so funny that, like, that's
all she was thinking about it.But also she. After watching the
documentary, she told me,like, how much she hated Cuomo. She
didn't really want to hearabout him because she hates him.
But the episode, the partwhere he talks about the MeToo movement
and women empowerment, it wasvery important. And she said, oh,
(37:04):
I wish, like, more peoplewatched this part because this is
so important. Like, peoplereally need to hear about this. And
that is the part that isreally pretty much not about Cuomo
in the documentary. And nowit's. It's his own episode, which
is like the episode numberfour. And so that was a moment where
I was like, oh, definitely,like, there is an opportunity, because
some people might not reallywant to listen about Cuomo, but because
(37:27):
this documentary is about somany different things, if someone
finds value just in that part,then they can just share that episode
with other people if that'sall they care about it. Because it's.
Again, it started with. Butit's about much more.
It is about much more. Youtalk about the MeToo movement, you
talk about media and therelation between media and the public
(37:49):
and the narrative that'sbrought, whether it be positive or
negative, and how it couldcontrol the narrative to such a point
that it affects other people'sopinions. So it was done very well,
actually. And you've won BestDocumentary Feature, Upstate New
York Film Festival SilverAward, International New York Film
Festival, Best DocumentaryFeature, New York Tri State Film
(38:12):
Festival Award of Merit withCinemaFest Award of Merit Impact
Doc Awards. Best Documentary.I can't even pronounce that name.
So I'm Gonna have to skip thatone. I'm sorry, That's. Thank you.
Chautauqua International FilmFestival, the Cinema New York and
Jury Award, New York, SeattleFilm Festival, and just so many more.
(38:33):
You've had a lot of otherhonorable mentions in. So obviously
I think that, you know, youmade, you're able to make an impact
on your voice and the voice ofothers. And interviewing people,
especially for a documentaryfilm like that, it's not like a casting
call where you call up andsay, okay, we need a male and a female
(38:54):
and a child and they're goingto be this age and they're going
to be this and this and thisand these are actors that are coming
in and they're vying for apart and you pick the best one. These
are real people, these arereal voices, these are real residents
with real opinions, realobjectives. And the voice, you present
(39:16):
the voice the way it'ssupposed to be presented, which is
admirable from that perspective.
Yeah, I feel like a lot ofdocumentary, like people always want
to hear from famous people.They want to hear from the actors,
they want to hear from thepoliticians, whatever. I wanted just
to hear from real people. Andthere are some experts too over there,
but like, they're real peopletalking about perspective. And so,
(39:38):
yeah, I know a lot of people,like, I'm also turned off about my
documentary because they wantthat extra thing and sometimes they
want to know about thesepeople, what job they do. And I'm
like, no, I don't want to tellyou what job they do because I want
you to listen to what theyhave to say as a human beings.
So, and that's brilliantbecause we need to list them as a
human being, not just becauseyou're in a particular field or your
(40:03):
job. And in this case,everything that you brought to the
forefront, all theconversations that you had, those
conversations are humanconversations, has nothing to do
with what they did. So, yeah,well done, well done. I know. You
know, there's risk and there'ssuccesses and there's failures and
so forth. I mean, you'veobviously achieved standing in the
(40:27):
community, especially within adocumentary arena, whether feature
film or whether or not in thefive part documentary series portion
of it, from that perspective,what moments, I just listed off some
of your accolades there.There's many more on your website,
which, you know, we'll talkabout in a moment. What moments of
(40:48):
success made you feel theproject was truly kind of resonating
and that you kind of achieveda little bit of what you wanted to
achieve.
It was the first festival. Andagain, it was a small field festival.
It was their first year. Therewere not that many people in the
room. And I mean, I live inLos Angeles, so all my friends are
here. So when I was showingthe cat or that I was talking about
(41:12):
the documentary, I mean, thatthey didn't say anything bad or good
or anything. It was just like,oh, whatever. Like, I don't know
why I need to care about thisthing sometime. Like, these people.
And so when I approached thefirst film festival, like, it was
the first time, like,strangers would watch it. I didn't
know what they would feel. Andit was very difficult for a festival
(41:34):
because one of the people thatactually, they like, she was collaborating
with me originally. And then,like, she. She was threatening me,
like, all that kind of stuff.So she also. The day before the festival,
she called the film festivalto threaten them and saying, if you
show this movie, I'm gonna sueyour movie theaters because she doesn't
have the rights to show it andeverything. So obviously, I showed
(41:57):
them the rights, lawyer stuffand everything. So it was fine. Then
they screened it. But she wasalso at the screening, and she traveled,
like, hours just to be there.The first screening just, like, to
tell me how bad I was and allthat. So it was obviously the first
pass. It was very difficultbecause, yeah, in general, like,
you don't know how people willperceive it. You don't know what
(42:19):
happened. Plus, I had all thiscrazy situation with, like, this
person threatening me andcoming there and making a big scene
in the theater. But then nextto us, there was this guy that eventually,
like, he chimed in theconversation. Like, this person left.
But this guy started tellingme how much he loved the documentary,
how much it resonated withhim. And you see the. I love in this.
(42:44):
It's not about, oh, you likeit or not, but you see that people
start talking about thesetopics. It's like. And they talk
about, oh, this person saidsomething, this person said this.
And I think this. So it reallysparks a conversation. And so it
was in that moment where,like, for the first time, like, a
total stranger, someone who'salso from New York, watch it and
(43:06):
loved it. And it's not justlike he enjoyed it. It was, like,
really brought so manyconversations, like, so that's what
I love about this documentary.It's not about. It's not about, oh,
do you like the cinematographyor something else? It's like, let's
have a real conversation aboutthese topics. That's all it is about.
And so that was a great Moment.
Yeah. You brought voice. Youbrought voice to it, I think, which
(43:30):
is really appreciative. It'sunfortunate that we have individuals
that try to take that voiceaway from us, especially like the
person that came to there andcaused so much trouble. Hopefully
that situation won't happenagain. You want people to walk away
with something. You want themto walk away with positive, even
a negative, they walk awaywith the negative. They still walked
away with something. They gotsomething out of it. You resonated
(43:51):
with them in some form oranother. So. Or maybe open their
eyes, you know, which I thinkthat in this day and age, sometimes
people would need their eyesopen a little more than what they
are open right now. Becausethis political. Especially this political
environment that's going on currently.
Yeah.
There's no need to be told.Yeah. Do you think you'd ever doubted
(44:12):
yourself, felt the project maynot succeed?
Did I do what did you think?
You have you. Did you everdoubt yourself? Did you think that
you wouldn't succeed?
Myself all the time, likethroughout, like, I just. That that
was like the. The hardest partof the journey was for me to believe
I could make it happen. That.So I had to do a lot like it because
you do a lot of spiritual,like, conversation in this podcast.
(44:35):
So that for me was definitelylike, like I knew I wanted to do
it. I was not going to giveup. But I knew both monetarily, but
also like to think aboutmaking a movie all by myself in general.
Plus about the topic whereeverybody else has a very different
opinion about it. And also I'mtrying to bring like, empathy towards
a politician where everybodyjust want to hate politicians. So
(44:59):
it's obviously verychallenging documentary to do in
general. Plus that. So thatobviously what. And I'm still working
through that, like figuringout, like learning more about myself,
my abilities to make thishappen. And in general, like to break
through like an industry whereyou don't have the studio baking
and you don't have money, likeyou don't have people. Obviously
(45:22):
you have to find your way tobring this to light. So that definitely
I doubted myself. And I don'tdo anymore. I don't do anymore. But
we're talking about maybe Istopped doubting myself four months
ago, not like three years ago.
It has been a journey. It hasbeen a journey. And again, what you've
created, you have no reason todoubt your end result. It's like
(45:46):
a wonderful opportunity for aconversation. And I think that we
all need to haveconversations. Conversation is the
key to communication. If wecan't have a conversation, then you
can't overcome any obstaclesor any of the difficulties or any
of the differences that we allshare. So you brought the conversation
(46:09):
to the forefront and I thinkyou've done it wonderfully. So I
got a couple of things I wantto cover before we leave. I know
that we've got an opportunityfor people to connect with you to
get to watch the documentaryseries and to kind of learn more
about your other projects youmight have up and down. So tell,
tell me about you and how toget your, your documentary series
(46:32):
and what you're up to next.
Well, my documentary is likenow on five platforms, so it's on
Apple TV, it's on Tubi, it'son Google Play, YouTube and Zumo.
So that's where you can findit. So you can either watch just
one episode if you're justinterested in like watching an episode
or watch the full series isover there. So I don't really have
(46:57):
a plan for my future. I'mstill trying to figure out. Exactly.
So it's, I mean it's a, it's aseries now. So if I wanted to do
a second season now, I can doit. So I'm not really like obviously
there is so much that needs tobe tackled in this country. The division
and like the extremism thatwe're all like having to, we're seeing.
(47:20):
So, so definitely there are somany more conversation that needs
to be. Needs to happen. So I'mjust keeping the door open for possibilities.
We'll see.
And you have a website. How dothey reach you?
Yeah, the website is the. Thisis what New Yorkers say dot com.
So it's very simple. So yeah,you can just go on Google, you can
type there the name of thedocumentary. This is what New Yorkers
(47:41):
say. And it should tell youalso like where to find it.
And I'll make sure it's in theshow notes as well. So people have
an easy way just to click itand find you that way, you know,
they can especially, you know,if you have something coming down
the road, then they can joinyour community because that's help
you to build your community alittle bit.
Yeah, they can follow me onsocial media too, like Instagram,
(48:02):
Twitter. Yeah.
How do you hope this is whatNew Yorkers say will influence conversations
about media, about politicsand public perception kind of moving
forward?
I mean. Yeah, definitely. Ijust want people to question what
they think they know. That isall I hope for. It's like to see,
(48:23):
oh, there are differentperspectives and also to empower
people. Because like even whathappened to Cuomo, a lot of people
feel the same way as thesepeople in documentary, but because
then everybody else insociety, the peer pressure, they
feel like, oh, I'm not allowedto think this, I'm not allowed to
say this. And you know, withall this movement, whether it's the
(48:43):
mutual movement or othermovements, there is that pressure
in society that you have tobelieve things in a very specific
way or you're a horrible humanbeing. So it's also to empower people
to hear like what otheractually you really have to say with
no filters and like empoweryou to have your own thoughts and
to question things. It'sreally about questioning things.
That's, that's the only waysociety can thrive. People question
(49:06):
narratives.
That's brilliant, brilliantwords of wisdom. I think that we
all should take thatopportunity to be able to open our
eyes and have a voice, but atthe same time understand that everybody
else has a voice and that weshould use that as a opening our
conversation. SarahAlessandrina reminds us that storytelling
(49:28):
is not just about documentaryevents. It's about questioning narratives,
as she just said, amplifyingvoices and sparking dialogue. Her
journey from Italy to LosAngeles, from engineering to filmmaking,
and from feature film to docuseries is a testament to resilience,
creativity and the power ofindependent vision. Sarah, I want
(49:48):
to thank you for joining us.Thank you for sharing your story,
thank you for sharing yourvoice, thank you for this amazing
docu series and I reallyappreciate you being part of humanity.
Yeah, no, thank you so muchfor having me and to watch my documentaries.
Like, yeah, it's alwaysbeautiful to talk to other people
about it.
It's been a pleasure. What NewYorkers Say is a five part docu series
(50:10):
is available on Apple TV,YouTube, Google Play and more. You
can find the links in the shownotes. It'll take you right to them.
That's a wrap for today'sJourney. If something sparked your
curiosity or moved you, shareit. Subscribe, stay connected and
head over to YouTube and catchthe full video version as well. And
remember, you're not justlistening, you're part of this story.
So until next time, keepseeking, keep growing, never stop
(50:32):
asking. And one more thingbefore you go. Thank you for being
part of this community. Thanksfor listening to this episode of
One More Thing before youe Go.Check out our website@beforeyougopodcast.com
youm can find.
Us as well as subscribe to theprogram and rate us on your favorite
podcast listening platform.
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