The New York Film Academy Finds a Home in Tuscany
The prestigious internationally renown film school which is present in New York, Hollywood, Abu Dhabi, Paris, London, Tokyo and Shanghai opened its new European permanent campus in Florence on the 25th of June.
Our city beat-out Paris and London, which were selected, along side Florence, as the best candidates for the permanent European campus. The Directing, Screenwriting, Acting, Editing, and Photography courses of the NYFA will be available for students from all over the world in the center of Florence precisely located in Piazza San Lorenzo 2.
The NYFA was founded in 1992 by Hollywood movie Producer Jerry Sherlock with the intention of creating a new style of Film school with a very practical approach to teaching based on the motto "learn by doing". NYFA's presence in Florence, which began in 2007 when the ex Mediateca Regionale Toscana hosted the school's first summer program, has now been sealed by the establishment of its permanent European campus. This was all made possible thanks to an increasingly close collaboration with the Regione Toscana and the Fondazione Sistema Toscana. The latter, in particular, helped in finding the location for the new campus and assisted the school in the initial operational stages.
"It's a victory for Florence and for Tuscany - States the Regional Cultural Assessor of the Tuscan Region Cristina Scaletti. The NYFA will become an essential element in the Regional project that we are constructing around the Casa del Cinema and the relaunching of the Teatro della Compagnia. In this context, the Academy is an important milestone towards the completion of our course of action. Tuscany has now become more international thanks to this privileged connection with New York. We are asserting ourselves in the world as a land that creates culture, nurtures talent and encourages creativity. This fresh image of Tuscany will be promoted world-wide thanks in part to the students' works. Hosting the NYFA in Florence will have economic benefits and a positive effect in all of the territory. It is without a doubt an important sign for the international markets: Tuscany is more than able to attract great investments and is at the center of international cultural interest."
"To beat the French and British competition - States Claudio Giua, president of the Fondazione Sistema Toscana - the Region took the initiative and focused on team-work. The results are evident: attracting foreign investments to our territory and the expansion of a working collaboration with one of the most prestigious Film schools in the world. The first piece of the mosaic on which, in 2013, we will develop the new Casa del Cinema at the Teatro della Compagnia".
NYFA's landfall in the Tuscan chief town will bring an estimated investment of 1 million dollars and about 100 students that will reach Florence from all over the world. There are approximately 6000 students a year that attend the NYFA campus in the Big Apple, while in the Florentine headquarters, which has only been opened for a few days, there have already been 38 registered students with 40 more arriving before the end of July showing a constantly growing trend. Students will have the possibility of attending the four or six-week summer programs for Directing and Acting for Film or, starting in September, the one-year program in Directing, Acting for Film and Photography.
"Our courses have an extremely concrete approach and are learning training ground out in the field. - states Diana Santi, Director of the NYFA's Overseas Programs - staying true to the ideals that inspired the School since its founding. In the summer four-week program, for example, every student will have to write, direct and edit three short films. They will additionally collaborate in the role of Director of Photography, Cameraman and Gaffer with other classmates in the creation of nine more film shorts. It is a proven formula with excellent results given that approximately 70% of our American students currently work in the Film industry. Florence is a unique city in the world. The choice was made given the s desire of placing the School in a very defined cultural context and in a well structured project like that of the Casa del Cinema Regionale".
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