Artist: Roberto Santaguida | Photo: Still from “Goran” provided by artist

Rob Santaguida – Artist in Residence 

RESIDENCY PROJECT – July 2022
Personal Documentary Filmmaking Workshop Series

Where do we go from here? – During the pandemic, Rob Santaguida came to the realization that his single perspective could not hope to capture the nuance of this changing world. The participatory nature of digital creativity entreats us to invite input from participants. However, Santaguida practices a more inclusive approach.

When considering the question, Where do we go from here?, Santaguida’s answer was focused on inclusion. It is time to provide a supportive environment to underrepresented groups, of all ages and skill levels, to express the inner workings of their realities. Inclusion is the best measure of the success of that work. In Santaguida’s work with participants, he applies the principle of never having fear or shame in the dignity of our language, experience and knowledge. 

Rob Santaguida is a documentary filmmaker who works in the subjects of community, neurodivergence and people with lived experience.

During his residency, Santaguida wishes to collaborate with people from his community, the mad community. He wants to transcend the trappings of isolation and open a connection to a wider audience by bringing this group back to the agora by the very technology that tends to screen it from the vital discussion of its survival and fulfillment in society. 

Throughout the month of July, Rob will be running a series of filmmaking workshops and skillsharing sessions for the Port Hope community. People from Port Hope will be invited make short films on the ideas and topics with which they are concerned.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Statement

I see my artistic career divided into three distinct phases.

In my Miraslava phase, I made personal documentaries that offered brief windows into my intimate life, the myriad miniature struggles of my everyday. These short memoirs, which began as chronicles of the looks and sounds of a 24-hour passage of time, soon became a depiction of what is required of a person to survive in our modern world. Stylistically, the films of this period employed a dense, collage-like form. During this phase, my creative approach was irrevocably influenced by the need to make legend out of the world, to fabricate and mythologize it.

My second phase, The Avenuer phase, made a clean break from my former sensibilities. The basic notion underlying my documentary The Avenuers is the desire to let events speak for themselves. The film takes an intimate look at the perennial cycle of birth, life and death as it is worked out by an entire neighborhood. The film makes no editorial statement either through narration or interview.

I recently started to revaluate my approach to making documentaries. My single perspective could not hope to capture the nuance of an evolving world. The participatory nature of digital creativity entreats us to invite input from its audience. I am considering ways to provide a direction for a more an inclusive approach to my work. My experimentation is concentrating on non-linear, non-chronological, episodic and polyphonic storytelling.

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Video excerpt: Goran
https://vimeo.com/445336294