Tag Archives: film

The Bus Hub Premieres

My newest indie film, The Bus Hub, premieres this week as part of the Summer Series online festival, presented by NewFilmmakers New York. You can watch the film for free here until the end of the month.

The film was also accepted into the 2026 New York Lift-Off Film Festival. My film is in the Trailblazers Shorts program. There is a paywall for the Lift-Off Festival, but you get access to many high-quality films.

Logline:

The Bus Hub immerses viewers in the sights and sounds of Syracuse’s Centro Transit Hub, revealing the rhythms of a city in motion.

Synopsis:

The Bus Hub is an experimental documentary short that explores the Centro Transit Hub in downtown Syracuse, New York, capturing the rhythms, architecture, and atmosphere of this vital urban space. Through observational footage, the film offers a unique perspective on the daily flow of commuters and the role a transit hub plays in a city’s life. The documentary invites viewers to experience the hub not just as a transportation center, but as a living, breathing part of Syracuse’s urban fabric.

Exterior of the Centro Transit Hub (screen grab).

Director/Artist Statement:

Few places are as diverse or democratic as a city bus hub. Similar to an urban ER waiting room, the hub brings people from all walks of life together in a raw confluence of humanity.

The Centro Transit Hub at the intersection of Salina and Adams streets in downtown Syracuse is a beehive of activity—a small-scale, outdoor Grand Central Terminal. Here we encounter the careworn faces of people heading to work or home to their families.

We see the cycle of life with a diverse mix of young and old passengers occupying the space. It’s a mélange of people who would otherwise not mingle.

For this project, I had intended to meet bus riders (and some drivers) at the hub and interview them, inspired by Studs Terkel’s book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. I am also a bus rider, taking a bus to downtown Syracuse every weekday morning for work, so I can relate to the experience of other Centro riders.

I wanted to ask people at the hub some questions on camera, such as:

Where are you going? Where are you coming from?
Why do you ride the bus?
Do you like riding the bus?
What do you think about while you ride the bus and look out the window?
What kind of work do you do? Do you like it?
Are you happy with your life? If not, why?
What frightens you? What are you passionate about?
What are your hopes and dreams?
What do you want most out of your life?

However, on the very first day of filming at the hub, an angry man snatched my camera (an Osmo Pocket 3) and threatened to throw it on the ground. A Centro staff member interceded on my behalf and defused the situation. But the dangerous encounter spooked me, and I was afraid to approach people and ask them questions. After that, the only interview I conducted was with myself as both filmmaker and bus rider.

Upside down angle after the man took my camera. But the Osmo kept recording.

I kept going to the hub, but I stood back and filmed scenes in wide-angle mode, in an observational documentary style—watching the flow of passengers and sometimes shooting in slow motion. A separate video art piece, Bus Riders, emerged from the production of the documentary short. It is a straight visual expression with no narration.

I must also note that although I have several years of experience in video production, I am not a videographer. I lack the skills involved in that craft (or the strength to haul cameras and gear), but I wanted to try to shoot everything myself with the little Osmo.

Screen grab showing observational style.

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Poecabulary Add Ons

For people in the Syracuse area, I’ll be doing a poetry reading and film screening this Saturday, Oct. 4., at 5 p.m. at Parthenon Books on Salina Street.

Poecabulary front cover.

I’ll talk about the genesis and evolution of my minimalistic book project Poecabulary and then screen the documentary short Ralph Rotella: The Sole of Syracuse, co-directed by my former Syracuse University colleague Shane Johnson.

Ralph’s work bench. Photo Credit: Shane Johnson.

And speaking about Poecabulary, the book was released about three months ago. In preparing for the upcoming talk, I thought about a couple of questions I would like audience members (and you as well) to ponder: Do two words on a page constitute poetry? And can Poecabulary be considered an actual book, a real poetry collection?

And even though I succeeded in spitting these vocabulary words out of my system, I can’t stop writing down other word pairings. It’s a ceaseless literary project and an incurable disease.

So here are some other combinations that have emerged since the book’s publication in June.

Alfresco
Alfredo

Adversary
Anniversary

Ample
Amble

Below
Bowel

Cancel
Cancer

Death
Dearth

Density
Destiny

Erotic
Erratic

Fruitful
Futile

Garret
Garrote

Harass
Harness

Honor
Horror

Impotent
Important

Inventive
Invective

Manic
Magic

Monetary
Monitory

Parish
Perish

Passivity
Positivity

Revel
Revile

Share
Shame

Soap
Soup

Spared
Speared

Tragedy
Trajectory

Uncoupled
Uncounted

Vitreous
Virtuous

Wallet
Walleye

Widow
Window

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Glimpses of Existence (2021)

My experimental documentary short Glimpses of Existence (2021) is now available for viewing on YouTube. I consider it a companion piece to Fragments of the Living (2015).

Glimpses of Existence is a zero-budget film in the form of video collage. Using scenes captured with an old iPhone—mostly during the pandemic—it attempts to find meaning in the mundane moments of our lives, seeking the extraordinary amid the ordinary.

The central focus of the film is my son, Colin, who is autistic. He’s nine years old now, but he was about five when this was made. Despite his condition, Colin finds joy in everyday activities, and through his eyes we recognize the importance of treasuring the tiny segments of life we are granted—minutes, seconds, hours—while being reminded about the transitory nature of existence.

Produced, Directed and Edited by Francis DiClemente.

Distributed by OTV – Open Television

Film Festivals:

2023: Official Selection in the Festival of Arts and Cinema, London
2022: Official Selection, Life is Short Film Festival, Los Angeles
2021: Honorable Mention, Global Shorts Film Festival, Los Angeles
2021: Official Selection, NewFilmmakers NY Short Films Program, New York
2021: Semifinalist, Official Selection, Blow-Up International Arthouse Filmfest, Chicago

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Black Box experimental film

For a recent film festival, I had to submit my project through an unlisted YouTube account. Now I’d like you use that account to upload some past projects.

The first is Black Box, a 2013 experimental short film that uses the power of music and dance to explore emotions. In the strictest sense, it is a dance film; however, it serves as a conceptual video art piece as opposed to a straight performance work.

The dancer in the piece clutches a black box representing the human heart as a repository of life’s emotions. It is a metaphor for the turmoil and pain we carry inside. Through a series of movements, the character becomes free from the heavy burden of the black box, and he can leave it behind and thus arrive at a state of inner peace.

The idea for this video originated with the music, the second movement of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. I had always loved this melancholy and stirring piece and thought it could serve as the foundation for an artwork if the song was married to powerful visuals.

Once I developed the concept and treatment for Black Box, I turned to choreographer and dancer Brandon Ellis. Ellis interpreted the concept and developed and executed the dance routine.

For the production I collaborated with Michael Barletta and Courtney Rile, founders of the Syracuse, New York-based production company Daylight Blue Media.

Credits:

Choreography by Brandon Ellis
Cinematography by Michael Barletta and Courtney Rile
Edited by Courtney Rile
Produced and Directed by Francis DiClemente

Official Selection, 2014 Athens International Film and Video Festival (Athens, Ohio)
NewFilmmakers New York screening series (2013)

 

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Smiles of a Summer Night

I’ve been digging through some old poems and found an unpublished poem inspired by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night.

Bergman is a huge inspiration for me, and I’m obsessed with his work. But Smiles is too light for my taste. I prefer the more somber, melancholy Bergman works—The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light.

Nonetheless, I’m glad his summer comedy led to a poem. The verse never found its way into one of my collections because I don’t think it’s worthy of publication. I’m posting it here only because summer is slipping away, and I think it captures the feeling of the season.

Smiles of a Summer Night
(With Apologies to Ingmar Bergman)

Smiles of a summer night
emerge on a human canvas
smeared with cotton candy
and dripping watermelon juice.

Smiles of a summer night
collide in a lovers’ embrace
shielded by corn stalks.

Smiles of a summer night
burst open in collective
“oohs” and “ahs”
elicited by fireworks.

Smiles of a summer night
come caked with dirt after a
head-first slide into home plate.

Smiles of a summer night
are everything that is possible
under the setting sun.

Smiles of a summer night
are fleeting, fleeting, fleeting.
And smiles of summer night
with the onset of September are done.

 

 

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Bocce and Burial

I am following up on my previous bocce documentary distribution post. Our film, The World Series of Bocce: A Celebration of Sport, Family and Community, was screened on Saturday, May 18 at Capitol Cinema in Rome as part of a Local Short Film Showcase. My family, co-producer Bill Vinci and editor Mary Kasprzyk attended the event.

From L to R: Francis DiClemente, Bill Vinci and Mary Kasprzyk.

That same day, in the morning, the cremated remains of my father were buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery. My dad had passed away in 2007, but I only found out recently that the plot he had purchased many years ago remained under his name—meaning we could inter his ashes in the cemetery. My sister, Lisa, had kept them with her in Ohio for all these years.

There’s no headstone or grave marker to indicate where Francis Sr. now rests, but it’s a nice spot tucked in a green corner not far from the intersection of Herkimer Avenue and Cayuga Street. I’m sure he’d approve of the location, especially since it’s only a few hundred feet from his parents’ graves.

St. Peter’s Cemetery in Rome, NY.

Under gray skies, Father I. presided over the burial service, sprinkling holy water while small, flying insects buzzed around us, my sister swatting them away.

Father I. said, “We are returning Francis. He stayed with you for a while, and now it’s time for him to rest. We know his spirit is already in heaven.”

Father I. then said the most consoling words I’ve ever heard at a wake, funeral or memorial service: “When you see him again, he will not look old. He will not look young. He will just be. And you will know him, and he will know you.”

And just a final note. The documentary will make its broadcast premiere on WCNY on July 11. But you can watch it for free now through the PBS app.

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Bocce Documentary Distribution

I want to share some distribution details for our indie documentary short, The World Series of Bocce: A Celebration of Sport, Family and Community.

The film will make its theatrical premiere on Saturday, May 18 at Cinema Capitol in Rome as part of a Local Film Shorts Showcase. I’m excited to see the other films on the schedule. The screenings start at 1 p.m.

It’s a fitting location for the documentary’s debut since the subject matter is about Rome. Side note: I saw my first movie at the Capitol when I was kid. I can’t remember which came first—but it was either Mary Poppins or The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

Another screening will be held at 12 p.m. on Saturday, June 22 at Valley Cinemas in Little Falls.

The film will make its broadcast premiere on WCNY at 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 11. Additional broadcast dates are July 21 and 27. I’m waiting on broadcast dates for WXXI in Rochester. The film has also been accepted for national distribution to PBS stations via NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association).

And in a case of serendipitous timing, the screening at the Capitol falls on the same day my sister Lisa and I had planned the burial of our father’s cremated remains at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Rome. My dad passed away in 2007, and my sister had his ashes in her possession ever since. I even wrote a short poem about it:

St. Peter’s Cemetery

I extend a hand to touch an angel trapped in marble.
Its face is cool and damp, like the earth beneath the slab.
I pose a question to my deceased father,
Knowing the answer will elude me.
For his remains are not buried in this cemetery,
But instead rest on a shelf in my sister’s suburban Ohio house.

But I found out last year that my father had purchased a plot in St. Peter’s Cemetery and we could bury his remains there. After trying for several months, I was able to schedule the burial on May 18. I heard from the Capitol a week later that the Local Films Shorts Showcase would be held the same day. It was a nice coincidence or what my former boss, Stu Lisson, would call a “God wink.”

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Shoe Guy Available Online

My indie documentary short Ralph Rotella: The Sole of Syracuse, co-directed by my Syracuse University colleague Shane Johnson, has been selected as part of NewFilmmakers NY’s Spring 2024 Screening Series. Click on this link to watch the full film (until May 31).

Since emigrating to the U.S. from Italy in the 1970s, Ralph Rotella has owned Discount Shoe Repair in downtown Syracuse. Each day he opens the store, fixes shoes, works with his hands using antiquated equipment, and converses with customers.

Photo Credit: Shane Johnson

In his daily interactions with people, Rotella reveals himself to be a witty, beatific, George Bailey-type figure who draws people to himself, building a sense of community with his shoe repair shop as a hive of activity. The film examines the value of work and what constitutes happiness, while also honoring an unsung hero in the Central New York community.

Ralph’s work bench. Photo Credit: Shane Johnson.

 

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Taking Ralph on the Road

I’m happy to announce that my indie documentary short Ralph Rotella: The Sole of Syracuse, co-directed by my Syracuse University colleague Shane Johnson, is an official selection of the 2023 Culver City Film Festival.

The film will be screened in the 2 p.m. block on Monday, Dec. 4 at Cinemark 18 and XD, 6081 Center Drive in  Los Angeles.

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Little Victories

Happy Halloween everyone. I want to share some good news. I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but then I thougth: you have to celebrate the little victories because they don’t come along that often.

Our Syracuse University Marketing video team won an Emmy over the weekend at the 66th annual New York Emmy Awards ceremony in Manhattan.

The Emmy-winning Syracuse University Marketing video team. From left to right: Amy Manley, Joseph Heslin, Shane Johnson, Tom Colling, Joshua Waldby, Francis DiClemente, and Bob Gerbin. Not pictured: Alex DeRosa, Mary Kasprzyk, John Caiella, and Dara Royer.

Our video, Rise Beyond: Syracuse University, earned the honor in the category of Branded Content (Short or Long Form Content). The piece highlights the amazing faculty, students and alumni who pursue excellence on the Hill and beyond; in the aggregate, their individual achievements— along with the strong bond of the Orange community—define the Syracuse University brand.

Photo by Shane Johnson.

This marks my second Emmy. The first was for co-writing, producing and directing the indie documentary short The Real Bedford Falls, It’s a Wonderful Life (Honest Engine Films, 2020).

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