BIOGRAPHY:
Luigi Acquisto graduated from the
Swinburne Film & Television School in 1986. His graduate production,
Spaventapasseri (1986),was the first of a wave
of films in the late 1980s made by Italo-Australians that explored
the experience of migration. Spaventapasseri was nominated
for four AFI awards and was screened to great acclaim in Australia
and overseas.
The
following year Acquisto directed the feature Hungry Heart (1988)
and also discovered a passion for directing documentary.
He
has subsequently worked in both drama and documentary, including
co-directing the ground breaking series A Change of Face
(1988), Under the Skin (1993), the five-part documentary series Once Were Monks
(2000) and the two-part epic East Timor – Birth of a Nation
(2002). Episode One of the East Timor series, Rosa’s
Story,was nominated for an unprecedented five AFI
awards for a documentary.
Luigi and
co-producer Stella Zammataro completed, in 2004, a one-hour
documentary for SBS-TV called The Life and Times of Malcolm
Fraser. Fraser, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1975
- 1983, was perceived as conservative and ruthless. Today, Fraser's
past enemies embrace his 'radical' and principled stand on reconciliation
and asylum seekers. This documentary explores the evolution of
Fraser the man and unravels the truth behind the public myth.
It aired on SBS on September 2 2004.
Acquisto
then cmpleted Trafficked in 2004, a one hour
documentary for SBS on the subject of sex trafficking from South
East Asia into Australia. Trafficked tells the story of
a former Australian Federal Police officer's ongoing investigation
into the fate of two young Thai girls trafficked to Australia:
Nikki, a thirteen year old Thai girl found in a Sydney brothel
in 1995, and, Phuongtong Simpalee, a 27 year old Thai woman who
died in custody at the Villawood Detention centre in 2000. It is the highest rating ‘Storyline Australia’ program for SBS TV.
Acquisto
and co-director Andrew Sully also shot The Shearers,
a four part series for the ABC based around a shearing school
in the heart of Tasmania. Trafficked and The Shearers
went to air in 2005.
Acquisto has been involved with many productions in recent years, including Trafficked - The Reckoning (2011), Beatriz' War (2013) and Children of the Sex Trade (2014).
CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
I am a filmmaker because I want to
tell stories that, as John Berger has written, "redeem experience
from oblivion". Spaventapasseri was one of the first
of a new wave of Australian films to look at the experience of
migration, displacement and the accompanying loss of identity.
Once Were Monks is a rare look at the cloistered life of
a community of monks in the heart of Melbourne, and East Timor
– Birth of a Nation tells the harrowing, redemptive story
of a nation and two of its citizens: Rosa, a young widow, and
Lu Olo, a guerrilla fighter – a story hidden from the world for
24 long years of occupation.
East
Timor - Rosa's Story
In these
films I try to give a sense of character and story through the
use of cinematic language. For example, in Spaventapasseri
action often occurs outside the frame, creating a sense of
dislocation akin to the experience of migration. The use of these
formal cinematic elements is quite considered and often extensively
researched prior to making a film. The intention is to tell stories
that are informed in a sophisticated way by the mise-en-scene
of the film. Together with strong literary and visual antecedents
I also bring to my work a conviction that cinema should have a
political basis. In recent times I have rediscovered my passion
for cinema as a vehicle for social action.
The East
Timor series demonstrates how film can effect real, tangible change.
The making of the film not only made people aware that ‘la luta
continua’, that the struggle continues, in East Timor, but also
changed the life of Rosa Martins and her six children, the subjects
of episode one. Through the making of the film a trust fund has
been set up that provides a regular income for the family. This
has allowed Rosa to set up a small business and treat herself
and her children for TB. A number of future projects I am developing
will continue to explore how this sort of productive partnership
can be established between a film’s subject and the production.
You Jump,
You Fly (1988, 27 mins, video, documentary)
Hungry
Heart (1988, 91 mins, 16mm, drama)
A Change
of Face (1988, 3 x 27 mins, video, documentary, co-directors
– Tracey Moffat, Monica Pellizzari, Sophia Turkiewicz), SBS series.
Episode 1 - Journey out of Darkness
Episode 2 - A Change of Face
Episode 3 - A Different Story
Note: all four directors of the series co-directed all episodes.
Postcards
from Italy (1989, 56 mins, video, documentary)
Girls
in School (1989, 28 mins, video, documentary)
A Sense
of Place (1992, 15 mins, 16mm, documentary)
The
Chase (1993, 26 mins, video, drama)
episode of Under the Skin, SBS series.
Once
Were Monks
Terra
Incognita (1997, 26 mins, video, documentary)
Once
Were Monks (2000, 5 x 26 mins, video, documentary, co-director
– Andrew Sully)
Part 1 - Moving House
Part 2 - Taking a Gamble
Part 3 - Keeping the Faith
Part 4 - Remembrance Day
Part 5 - Another World
East
Timor – Birth of a Nation (2002, 2 x 55 mins, video, documentary)
Episode One - Rosa's Story (Director: Luigi Acquisto)
Episode Two - Lu Olo's Story (Directors: Luigi Acquisto
& Andrew Sully)
The Life
& Times of Malcolm Fraser (2004, 63 mins, documentary, FFC/SBS)
Trafficked
(2004, 56 mins, documentary, Film Australia/SBS TV)
The Shearers
(2005, 4 x 26 mins, documentary series, FFC/ABC TV, co-director
– Andrew Sully)
Singles Club (2007, 5 x 26 mins, documentary series, SBS)
Survival School (2007, 55 mins, producer/director, documentary)
Trafficked – The Reckoning (2011, 54 mins, producer/director, documentary)
A Guerra da Beatriz (2013, 105 mins, Co-writer & co-director, drama)
Children of the Sex Trade (2014, 57 mins, director, documentary)
AWARDS:
Spaventapasseri
Spaventapasseri
The
Kodak Script Prize for a Swinburne Graduate film, 1986.
Best
Film and Best Direction Awards at the Swinburne Film and Television
School's Graduate Film Screening, 1986.
Best
student film at the Melbourne Film Festival, 1987.
A Commendation
at the Sydney Film Festival, 1987.
The
Cinevex Laboratory Prize, 2nd Prize, at The St Kilda Film Festival,
1987.
Nominated
for four Australian Film Institute Awards in 1987:
Best
Short Fiction
Best
Achievement in Direction
Best
Achievement in Screenplay
Best
Achievement in Cinematography
The South
Australian Film Centre Award at the 1988 Adelaide Frames Festival.
1988
Atom Awards Finalist.
Hungry
Heart 1988
A.C.S. Merit Award for Cinematography. Category - Telefeature
& fictional drama shorts.
A Change
of Face 1989
Atom Awards Finalist.
1989
Special Citation at the United Nations Peace Awards.
East
Timor - Lu Olo's Story
Postcards
from Italy 1990
Atom Awards Finalist.
Girls
in School 1990
Atom Awards Finalist. Awarded a Certificate of High Recommendation.
The Chase 1994
Atom Award: Best Television Serial/Series - Under The Skin.
East Timor
– Birth of a Nation Episode One - Rosa's Story 2002
Real - Life on Film Festival. SBS Award for the Promotion of Cultural
Diversity through Film - Outstanding Achievement in Documentary.
2002 Nominated
for five Australian Film Institute Awards:
Best
Documentary
Best
Achievement in Direction in a Documentary
Best
Achievement in Cinematography in a Non-Feature Film
Best
Achievement in Editing in a Non-Feature Film
Open
Craft Award in a Non-Feature Film for Original Score
ACS Gold
Medal for Cinematography in a Documentary (VIC & TAS).
FESTIVALS:
Once
Were Monks
Spaventapasseri Overseas
1987
Edinburgh Film Festival.
1987
Tyneside Film Festival.
1988
Auckland Film Festival.
1988
Wellington Film Festival.
1989
Clermond Ferrand Festival of Short Film.
1989
London Film Festival.
2002
Squardi Australiani (Genoa).
Local
1987 Spoleto
Festival.
1987
Piccolo Spoleto Festival.
1987
St Kilda Film Festival.
1987
Festival of the Equinox.
1987
Melbourne Film Festival.
1988
Adelaide Frames Festival.
Also shown
on SBS-TV in November 1988 as part of the "Australian Shorts"
season of films.
Hungry
Heart
Overseas
1989 Edinburgh
Film Festival.
1989
Montreal Film Festival.
East
Timor - Lu Olo's Story
Local
1988
Adelaide Frames Festival.
1988
Spoleto Festival.
1988
Festival of the Equinox.
1989
A.F.I. Carnivale Screening, Sydney.
A Change
of Face Overseas
1989 Banff
Television Festival.
East Timor
– Birth of a Nation Overseas
2002 Inaugural
East Timor Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Episodes 1
& 2 screened)
2002
Hawaiian Film Festival (ep 1)
2003
DocAviv Film Festival (eps 1 & 2)
2003
Singapore International Film Festival (ep 1)
Local
2002
Real - Life on Film Festival (ep 1)
2002
First Dorrigo Documentary Film Festival (ep 2)
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"Short
Circuit" by Vikki Riley, Cinema Papers, November
1986.
"Piccolo
Spoleto - A Homegrown Product" by Gib Wettenhall, Directions,
1987.
"On
the Spot" by Mark Harding, The Herald, September 1987.
"Italy
in Australia" by John Flaus & Paul Harris, Buff’s Choice,
The Age, September 25, 1987.
