THE LONG ISLANDER'S RECORD - NEWSPAPER
Volume 12, Issue 38

NORTHPORT
A Film (Career) By Alexia Anastasio

By Michael R. Sisak
msisak@longislandernews.com

Through her daring and gritty short films, Alexia Anastasio of Northport has explored a marquee of topics, from relationships and love to the meaning of girlhood and the fascinating equation of the saccharine childhood board game Candy Land with the daunting realities of adulthood.

Anastasio, a 1999 graduate of Northport High School and a 2003 graduate from Purchase College, has completed six films and is at work on a seventh, a fantasy narrative about a girl who tries to save the world, but lives in her dreams, resigned to involve herself in a live action role-playing game in the south of France.

"[Filmmaking] was the one way I could merge a lot of my interests," Anastasio said. Anastasio sits in front of many titles. She acts, writes, photographs - both for still-based projects and in motion for
her films - directs and produces. "I started doing acting when I was 11 and I've always had that inside me."

Anastasio became involved in the arts and theater while in high school and, at Purchase, received a degree in new media studies with a concentration in video, film studies and photography. From there, she began work at film festivals and became immersed in the independent film industry, all the while keeping up with her own projects. She worked for the entertainment lawyer Vinca Jarrett and as a production assistant for Carla Stockton, a producer and director.

Anastasio and her friends now have a festival of their own, the locally-based independent film movement C.A.M.P. Festival, where the acronym stands for Cinema, Arts, Music and Politics and the mission is to bring together the individual artist and the community. She has formed a collaborative group that helps to work together on a series of film projects and she has twice attended the Cannes Film Festival
in France, including this year's.

"For me, personally, making a feature film for people to see at festivals is a success," Anastasio said. "A lot of filmmakers say a theatrical release is a success. I think if you're able to share your film with people, that's a success."

The independent movement has allowed filmmakers to produce high-quality productions while keeping within a confined budget. Anastasio records her films digitally with a Sony TRV-900 DV camera using mostly available light, which saves further on costs, in the 16:9 format that is becoming increasingly commonplace with the proliferation of high definition television. She loads her recorded footage through an Apple PowerBook laptop and edits it with the broadcast grade software package Final Cut Pro.

"I'll go back and forth between film and digital because some pieces I'll shoot on film, especially for resolution purposes, and then I'll scan the negative," Anastasio said, bringing the ballance of cost and quality to both still and motion pictures. "[With digital photography] you can take a zillion photos and then pick one, instead of developing one million rolls - that can get pricey. Same thing with the reels."

Anastasio and her C.A.M.P. colleagues are working on several upcoming programs in the area, including a possible showing of their work at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. More details will be posted on
the webiste, www.campfestival.com, when they become available.

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