Spotlight on Steve McCurdy, La Contadina's newest tour guide

Steve McCurdy has directed and filmed in over 20 countries on 5 continents. His production company, Creative Light Productions, works for companies such as Novell, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Simmons and others.

Steve has a strong interest and love for the people of Italy. He seeks to understand how people discover and find meaning in their lives regardless of circumstances. Steve McCurdy is available to speak on Italian art and culture and offers three feature length documentaries titled Postcards From Italy, Bringing Home Sardinia, and My Own Private Italy.

Steven McCurdy began his film and video production career in 1988 after graduating with a B.A. in Broadcast Communications. His emphasis was in Educational and Corporate Media Design which lead to employment as a scriptwriter. After two years Steve went to work for WordPerfect Corporation where he was the Senior Producer and Associate Manager of the Corporate Video and Film Department. In 1994, he left to pursue freelance work and started his own company, Creative Light Productions. Since then Steve has directed and filmed in over 20 countries on 5 continents and has worked on hundreds of projects as a producer, director, writer and editor. Steve has produced for major companies including: Novell, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Simmons and others.

In 2001, Steve began a transition into documentary and travel film. His work deals with people, places, cultures, and the human experience. He has a strong interest to understand how people discover and find meaning in their lives and believes that life has meaning regardless of circumstances.

He has worked on several short films and in 2003 completed his first feature documentary, “Bringing Home Sardinia.” Steve has completed two additional films to date: “Postcards from Italy,” and “My Own Private Italy.” Steve has a strong interest and love for the people of Italy and is in the pre-planning stages of his next film, "L’Arte Di Arrangiarsi: The Art of Getting By" a story of life in Italy.

Postcards From Italy

Synopsis

“Postcards from Italy” is an insider’s look at southern Italy, from the island of Sicily to the mountain top towns of Irsina and Matera, from the island of Procida to the larger cities
of Naples and Rome.

Joseph Campbell has written, "one way or another we have to find what fosters our humanity in this contemporary life and dedicate ourselves to that." In this film you will see how some Italians are trying to do exactly that, from an art teacher and artist in Palermo to the owner of a doll hospital in Naples, to the Mayor of Irsina and many more, each with a unique story to tell.

”Postcards from Italy” is a fascinating combination of stories and images. It is a collection of vignettes and travel experiences that will unveil places you may not know, introduce you to people you may not have met, and document life in Italy in a way you have never before seen. And as importantly, preserve that life on film before it's gone.

Places visited: Palermo, Monreal, Piana Degli Albanesi, Cefalù, Matera, Irsina, Naples, Procida, Rome, Gubbio, and Spoleto

My Own Private Italy

Synopsis

Filmmaker Steven McCurdy’s newest cultural documentary, “My Own Private Italy” is a personal journey through the sights and sounds, people and places, and magic of everyday experiences mostly in northern Italy. He meets a mask maker in Venice, attends a wedding in Livorno, stays in the mountain top town of St Luce, participates in the festival of San Cataldo in Supino, and meets dozens of people along the way.

His travels take him to Venice, Bassano del Grappa, Varese, Livorno, St Luce, the Cinque Terre, Florence, Supino, Buccino, Vecchio Romagnano al Monte and Rome.

McCurdy’s adventures are interspersed with old 8mm home movies of Italy from the 1950’s and 60’s that take the viewer back to a bygone Italy. The film’s message of cultural preservation and the charm and “enchantment of everyday experiences” challenges the viewer to enjoy Italy without trying to change it too much and at the same time to preserve and enjoy their own cultural heritage.

Bringing Home Sardinia

Synopsis

"Bringing Home Sardinia" is a tender-hearted look at the people of a small island located just off the coast of Italy. After a brief visit to the island years ago, McCurdy returned in 2002 with the aim of not only filming the physical beauty of this place, but of "bringing home" his experience of the islanders as they described their work, their values, and their hopes for themselves and their people. McCurdy is a talented film maker, and so he succeeds in conveying the island’s visual loveliness. More importantly, though, he is an empathetic and curious individual. Consequently, at the heart of his first feature-length film, there is a series of encounters with Sardinians. These encounters evoke for us the efforts of the islanders to preserve their ancient traditions and to adapt them to contemporary life. Through these conversations, we come to appreciate the efforts of Sardinians to preserve the values and modes expressions that create their unique identity. "Bringing Home Sardinia" brings home then, or brings closer to us, the spirit of an ancient people searching to keep their cultural footing in the twenty-first century.