“Every life is an archive.
Each frame is a documentary.
That’s how I see things.”
Davide Cristiano Giuseppe Battistella
Filmmaker
Tuscany, Italy.
I make hand made films from start to finish as Producer, Director, Cinematographer and Editor.
I’ve presented Ted Talks in English (in London) and Italian (in Florence).
I am a writer and podcaster.
MY APPROACH
In Filmmaking, like painting, brushstrokes must come from the same hand.”
For the many people who have asked me about the specifics of what I do. For most professions this is cut and dried answer, “I am a lawyer, I am a doctor, I work at a bank”, etc. In my case as an independent filmmaker it is different, so let me explain.
I am like a resourceful farmer, without infinite resources, needing to solve daily problems.
Creating independent documentary films requires resourcefulness. It also requires strong survival instincts. The tasks and skills required are many and much of the “work” of making a film is unpaid. Throughout my career I have performed many roles, including Writer, Researcher, Interviewer, Cinematographer, Photographer, Audio Recordist, Editor, VFX and Colorist. I now make films independently unless I am commissioned to one.
Using these skills I try to make films to the highest cinema industry standards. I am a perpetual student, a quick study. I refined my skills with practice, practice, practice and more study. Repetition is the mother of skill.
To market my films I understood graphic design and layout of websites and printed documents were vital skills to possess. I taught myself to build this website and several others and I also produced brochures, one sheets, business cards and along the way even laid out three books.
I have aimed to be a renaissance man.
Any grace or good I have been granted, I owe completely and entirely to God.
All of my mistakes I claim as my own.
SAMPLES
RECENT FILMS
FREE ADVICE
“FILM THE WORLD AROUND YOU”
I believe in making films right where you live. When I lived in the great Toronto Junction, I made films with and about the places and people around me. A filmmaker, especially anyone who considers themselves a documentary filmmaker, must explore the places in the miles immediately around where they live.
Only you can really tell the story about the place you live in, day in and day out. Knowing your surroundings and filming and documenting the people and places around you is an essential way to communicate the intricate nature of community. Community is more about geography now than it has ever been as a wave of global monoculture dispalces the natural flow of the living spaces where humans gather.
FILMS
DUE TO A MUSIC RIGHTS ISSUE INVOLVING THE HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA THEME USED FOR 8 SECONDS IN THE FILM THE NFB HAS CHOSEN TO REMOVE THIS FILM FROM PUBLIC VIEW.
Pictured, the rink I grew up playing shinny on.
SHINNY
The Hockey in All of Us
NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
The best game you can name. When I set out to make a film about hockey in a hockey mad country, it ended up winning an international ROCKIE AWARD. Jury members told me personally how they came to understand through the film how much this game is embedded in the Canadian way of life. The film showed them the cultural attitudes and values that Canadians experience through the informal game of Shinny hockey. I filmed incredible games, now historically significant, set in the Canadian landscape and bringing the warmth of the Canadian winter to life on the screen.From the Arctic Circle to each coast one game unites Canadians and their love for the country and their winter season.
LA SANTA PASQUA 2020
NARRATED BY: Luciano Artusi
This film was created while Italy was in total lockdown in 2020 cancelling Easter celebrations for the first time since world war II.
The film I created was co-written with the presenter Luciano Artusi, a Florentine folklore historian and author. A gentleman in every sense.
Luciano has researched and helped revive many Florentine traditions recreating them from the past and writing about them in his books.
BRYAN ADAMS
Bare Bones – NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
Bryan Adams is one of world’s most enduringly popular singer/songwriters. He is most at home in his Vancouver studio, surrounded by his collection of vintage microphones and guitars.
Adams calls it “a very analog space in a very digital world.” In this short documentary, we witness an intimate rendition of his song “One World, One Flame” and hear him speak of his audience-centred approach to performance: “I want it to be fun, I want it to be real.”
FAMILY BAND : The Tragically Hip –
NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
In this short documentary about The Tragically Hip, director David Battistella uses a split-screen and acid-etched colours to distil the iconic Canadian band’s essence. After decades together, through hotels, highways, gigs and recording sessions, The Hip’s members have forged a powerful brotherhood. “These guys are my life partners, musically” says bass guitarist Gord Sinclair.
The Hip’s brand of straight-ahead rock and roll has catapulted the band to international stardom, and ensured them a place in Canadian musical history, but at heart, they remain a bunch of guys from Kingston, Ontario, making music together just for fun.
MODERN GLADIATORS
THE OTHER FLORENTINE BLOODSPORT
Calcio Storico is a game that has been played in Firenze, Italia for centuries. Four teams; RED, WHITE, BLUE and GREEN, representing different parts of the city; punch, kick, run and scrape their way toward victory in a round robin tournament. The tournament resumes next June!
A mix, of rugby, soccer, american football, boxing, MMA and Greco Roman wrestling, CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO is by for the most exciting sporting event I have ever witnessed live.
The whole film was done in Version 1 of FCP X one day after it was publically released.