Team |  Background  |  Philosophy

Background 

Pietro came up with the idea for DysFest during his undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths University. The research project he undertook in his final year was titled "The understanding and representation of dyslexia in Italy and the Uk". His dissertation allowed him to explore and further develop his interests in documentary film-making and visual anthropology, elegantly leading him to the subject matter of the Anthropology of Cinema.  This discipline examines how feature films may be revelatory of social dynamics and cultural patterns, both on the level of representation and as agents of social change.

While conducting the research for his dissertation began to research films either about dyslexic characters or with dyslexia as a theme. He then realized that a film festival would present the perfect framework from which to debate the issues and challenges that surround dyslexia, with regard to how these are represented in the films. Furthermore, at the festival each film will be followed by a panel of guest speakers that can relate their area of expertise to the representation of dyslexia in the films and comment on that. 

Meanwhile, he got involved with the ISEFF (International Students Ethnographic Film Festival), which aimed to challenge the definition of anthropological/ethnographic filmmaking. In order to do so, it attempted to frame the concept of ethnographic/anthropological filmmaking through the festival, gathering student films from around the world.

The Goldsmiths Anthropology society encouraged him to develop and realize the idea of DysFest and actively collaborate with him on the project.

As part of one of his modules he had a chance to make a 10 minute video, He decided to use this opportunity to show these films to his anthropology course-mates and gather feedbacks on what they thought of the representation of dyslexia.  

Over the summer 2009, Pietro then realized that organizing and managing the festival was not a one man's job. He then sent out a call for collaborators and put together a team of motivated people, who have been working on the festival since. 

That's how Nick, Chloe and Jessica got involved in the project, and have been working on the marketing, logistic, and press side of things since.

Pietro graduated from Goldsmiths over the summer and has now been accepted on to a MA course in Digital Anthropology at UCL. He has used this opportunity to establish meaningful contacts with the UCL Anthropology Society, and UCL Student Union that are currently collaborating to promote DysFest.

As far as the festival's future is concerned,festival to take place in different locations. Using London as a starting point, future editions could potentially take place in Scotland, Italy, Spain, New York, New Zealand, and numerous other locations across the globe.

edited and proofread by Natasha B H Lyons

Pietro Passarelli