The Story

Italy, Summer 2018. Nausicaa, extrovert and spoiled teenager, is spending the summer with her parents, Anna and Paolo, both university professors, in their beautiful villa in the countryside outside Rome. Motivated by humanitarian impulses, Paolo and Anna decide to participate in a social program for hosting migrants and refugees and welcome a young man named Khalid. Almost immediately, Nausicaa becomes infatuated with the charming and mysterious guest. Despite not returning her feelings, Khalid, struggling to navigate the delicate social situation for himself, always treats the girl with warmth and respect. Yet when Anna and Paolo, suspecting something inappropriate, begin to treat Khalid differently, Nausicaa is exposed for the first time in her life to the subtler, yet no less cruel, realities of racial politics and social prejudices of today's world.

Nausicaa, adolescente estroversa e un po’ viziata, passa un estate oziosa assieme ai genitori Paolo e Anna, entrambi professori universitari, nella loro bellissima villa di campagna. Spinti da un impulso umanitario, Paolo e Anna decidono di partecipare a un programma per ospitare migranti e rifugiati in famiglia e accolgono il giovane Khalid. Quasi immediatamente, Nausicaa si invaghisce del misterioso e affascinante ospite, il quale, pur non ricambiandone i sentimenti, la tratta con rispetto e gentilezza. Ma quando, sospettando qualcosa di improprio, Anna e Paolo iniziano a trattare Khalid diversamente, Nausicaa viene esposta per la prima volta nella sua vita alla crudele realtà del razzismo e dei pregiudizi sociali del mondo contemporaneo.

Why are we making this film?

Burner Of Ships is a coming of age film with a two-fold intent: on the one hand, it chronicles the first adolescent turmoils of our protagonist, Nausicaa, who comes from a place of innocence and for whom, in the beginning, everything is a game; on the other hand, it recounts the disillusionment Nausicaa experiences when she realizes the problematic nature of the way her own parents treat the young migrant Khalid, and the way she may be treating him, too. To them, he is but an exotic object, which they regard with both attraction and suspicion, and which they parade as a trophy. With this film, we aim not only to offer an opportunity for reflection on issues of particular socio-political relevance today, but also to investigate the very nature of the relationship with the 'other', in a manner devoid of rhetoric or moralism.

The film is partly inspired by a famous episode in the Odyssey, in which the hero Ulysses, shipwrecked on the island of Scheria, is rescued by the princess Nausicaa, who falls madly in love with him and helps him plead with her father, King Alcinous. The Phaecians are a notoriously xenophobic people, suspicious of all foreigners, but Ulysses succeeds in entering the King's graces, to the point that the King offers him his daughter's hand in marriage. Just as, in the Odyssey, this episode explores the themes of hospitality and unrequited love, our film references an ancient narrative in order to talk about the present. Like Ulysses, Khalid is a castaway, a stranger in a strange land, welcomed by a king and a queen and loved by a princess whose feelings he does not return. The very etymology of the name Nausicaa, which means 'ship-burner' in Ancient Greek (hence the title of our film), is to be read metaphorically, as it evokes the tragic images we see every day in the news of migrants and refugees shipwrecked in the Mediterranean Sea.

The film takes place in a beautiful villa in the countryside outside Rome where Naausica's family, who are academics belonging to the upper-middle class, lives. Visually, we will focus on the color, the sounds, the flavors and the seductive atmospheres of summer, the typical backdrop to the blossoming of first loves behind which lie the hypocrisies and malices of which we aim to investigate. It is our intention to tell this story with a light touch: a simple yet precise naturalist style, a camera that observes but does not judge, and a tone with mixed elements of realism and fairy tale.

Burner Of Ships é un film di formazione. Il nostro intento é di raccontare, parallelamente, due storie: da un lato, i primi turbamenti adolescenziali della nostra protagonista Nausicaa, innocente e spensierata, per la quale, all’inizio, tutto é un gioco; dall’altro, la disillusione che Nausicaa prova quando si accorge del modo in cui i suoi genitori trattano il migrante Khalid. Per loro, egli é un oggetto esotico da cui sono attratti ma che allo stesso tempo guardano con sospetto. Con questo film vogliamo quindi non solo offrire una riflessione su una questione socio-politica di particolare rilevanza oggigiorno, sia in Italia che all’estero, ma anche investigare il rapporto con l’altro, con il diverso, da un punto di vista esistenzialista, privo quindi di retoriche e moralismi.

Il film si ispira in parte a un famoso episodio dell’Odissea: quello in cui Ulisse, naufrago sull’isola di Scheria, é soccorso dalla principessa Nausicaa, che si innamora perdutamente di lui e lo aiuta a implorare la benevolenza di suo padre, il Re Alcinoo. Il popolo dei Feaci é notoriamente xenofobo e sospettoso di tutti gli stranieri, ma Ulisse riesce a entrare nelle grazie del re, il quale gli offre la mano di sua figlia. CosÌ come nell’Odissea l’episodio tratta del tema dell’accoglienza e dell’amore non corrisposto, il nostro film si rifà a miti antichi per parlare del presente. Come Ulisse, Khalid é un naufrago in una terra straniera, accolto da un re e una regina e amato da una principessa il cui amore lui non ricambia. L’etimologia stessa del nome Nausicaa, che in greco antico significa ‘colei che brucia le navi’ (in Inglese, ‘burner of ships’, da cui il titolo del film), é da leggersi in chiave metaforica, poiché evoca le tragiche immagini dei migranti che naufragano nel Mar Mediterraneo.

Il film é ambientato in una bella villa di campagna dove vive la nostra famiglia protagonista, appartenente all’alta borghesia intellettuale. Visivamente, ci concentreremo sui colori, i suoni, i sapori e le atmosfere seduttive dell’estate, lo scenario tipico in cui sbocciano i primi amori e dietro cui si celano le ipocrisie e le malizie di cui vogliamo raccontare. E’ nostra intenzione narrare questa vicenda con una certa leggerezza: uno stile naturalista, semplice ma preciso, una telecamera che osserva e non giudica, e un registro a metà tra il realismo e la favola.

The Team

Director/Writer - Leonardo Campaner 

Born and raised in Venice, Italy, Leonardo Campaner left his home country at the age of 19 to pursue his secondary education in the United States. He graduated in 2011 with a B.F.A. in Film Production from Chapman University, Orange, CA. Aside from his long-going love of cinema, he developed an interest in literature during his college years, which led him to pursue an M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing at OTIS College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA, where he studied under notable LA poet Paul Vangelisti. His professional experiences include internships at the 65th Venice International Film Festival and Jigsaw Productions in New York. He is currently earning an M.F.A. degree in Film at Columbia University in New York, where he has taught film history and theory as an assistant to Professor Richard Pena. 

Writer/Producer - Chantel Clark

Chantel Clark is a South African writer/director based in New York City. In her home country she was selected as one of only six filmmakers in the University of Cape Town’s Directing Program.  Her work as editor and co-Producer of Painting Cape Town, a short documentary exploring the city’s Graffiti culture, was showcased at the 35th Durban International Film Festival. She is currently earning her MFA in directing from Columbia University in New York, where she has taught film history and theory as an assistant to Annette Insdorf and Rob King. Her thesis film, Our Albertinia was awarded a Katharina Otto-Bernstein Thesis Film Fund grant in 2017 and was selected for inclusion in the 2018 ASCAP/Columbia scoring workshop. Our Albertinia was also awarded the Columbia University/Big Sky Edit Visionary Award. Chantel is currently a development intern at Big Beach in New York. 

Producer - Gregory J. Rossi

Gregory Rossi is  a freelance producer and director working both in Los Angeles  and throughout Europe, producing content since 1999. An alumnus of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematorgrafia in Rome and Roma Tre University, Gregory is fluent in English, Italian and French, which has allowed him to work with a variety of companies, institutions and distribution networks such as: Lionsgate, GhostHouse Underground, Netflix, UCLA, Warner Village Cinemas, DLV BBDO, 25/7, Cuisine +, MiBAC, Sky, RAI, Mediaset, Minerva Pictures, Greenpeace, Dove, Peroni, Ballandi, Sugar, ACEA, CSC, GMV, IED and others .In  2005, Gregory  founded his own  production company, NeroFilm. His  projects have been screened in film festivals all over the world, including the Venice International Film Festival. Most recently, he produced the award-winning short Viola, Franca which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Gregory’s motto is: "Everything is doable!".

Cinematographer - Ilya Sapeha

Originally from Belarus, Ilya grew up in Rome and attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, graduating in 2015. He has worked as director of photography on numerous successful shorts, including The Sleeping Saint, directed by Laura Samani, selected in 2016 in the Cinéfondation section of the Cannes Film Festival and at the Camerimage Cinematography Festival; Lobster Dinner, directed by Gregorio Franchetti, which won a special mention at the 2018 Berlinale; Primo, directed by Federica Gianni, which premiered in the official selection of the Cinemed Film Festival Montpellier in 2017 and will screen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival; and Semiliberi, directed by Matteo Gentiloni, which premiered at TIFF in 2016. Ilya is now working on a feature film by notable Italian director Pietro Marcello.

What does your contribution mean?

We are shooting in Lazio in late July with the help of  Industry professionals from Rome. As a Columbia University MFA thesis film, Burner of Ships has a guaranteed completion date of May 2018. As anyone who has made a film on a tight budget knows, it is not an easy thing to do. Burner Of Ships has some of its own unique challenges, and our team is ready to take them on. 

Expenses add up for this very ambitious international shoot and we need to raise a considerable amount of money to go into principal photography. €15,000 sounds like a lot of money (and it is), but we've meticulously budgeted how to spend every cent. 

Here are some examples of how your contributions will be used:

€15 pays for dinner for two crew/cast members during the shoot

€35 pays for the Library of Congress copyright fee

€150 pays for our Columbia Risk Management Insurance fee 

€500 pays for wardrobe for the all of the lead roles 

€1000 pays for a roundtrip flight from New York City to Rome, Italy

How can you help Burner Of Ships?

Burner Of Ships is a short film with high aspirations. We've assembled a talented and dedicated crew, including experienced professionals and accomplished film students. Many months of planning have gone into preproduction and we are ready to put all of this planning into action.

But we can't do it without you.

If you are unable to support the campaign financially, please spread the word! You can use the Indiegogo share tools to share our campaign with your friends and family.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook! 

Grazie mille from the team!