Lorenzo DeStefano
Lorenzo DeStefano | |
---|---|
Lorenzo portrait, sitting | |
Born | Sept 17 1952 Honolulu, Hawaii |
💼 Occupation | playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, photographer |
📆 Years active | 1980s - present |
Notable work | "Shipment Day", “Hearing is Believing”, "The Diarist", "Camera Obscura", “Los Zafiros – Music From The Edge Of Time”, and “Talmage Farlow” |
🌐 Website | lorenzodestefano |
Lorenzo DeStefano (born 17 September 1952) is an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and photographer. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and past member of the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild. He has worked in U.S. and U.K. Theater, has written fiction & non-fiction, original screenplays, and adaptations, and produced and directed documentary and narrative films.
Early life and Education[edit]
Lorenzo DeStefano was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 17, 1952. While still in high school he began working as location scout for local commercial production companies and apprenticed to several independent filmmakers based in Hawai’i. At the same time he was exploring his creative process as a teenage street photographer in Honolulu, chronicling the diverse multi-cultural island life where he grew up. DeStefano’s other photography credits include his traveling exhibition, “Cubanos-Island Portraits - 1993-1998”, which has been shown extensively in Cuba as well as in New York, Chicago, London, Havana, Los Angeles, and Vancouver and is part of the Permanent Collection of MOLAA, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California. His photographs have also been licensed for Print, CDs, TV & Film, including for HBO’s “Six Feet Under” and for the Warner Brothers film, “Queen of the Damned”.
In 1973, he moved to Carmel, California where he expanded his visual explorations to making his own short films and learning more about the film-making process. During this time he was accepted into Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara but decided to change from still photography to film-making, focusing on a career in film editing.
Career[edit]
1970s[edit]
He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and worked at the post-production facilities of National Geographic Films in Hollywood. His first onscreen credit was as an assistant editor on the 1979 National Geographic Special, “Hong Kong - A Family Portrait”, directed by Robert M. Young.[1].
In 1979 DeStefano was accepted into the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild. His first union feature was as an apprentice editor was on the 1980 Avco Embassy film “The Black Marble”, directed by Harold Becker [2].
His next film as an apprentice editor was for the 1980 Columbia Pictures film, “The Blue Lagoon”, directed by Randal Kleiser [3].
1980s[edit]
His early black & white thematic work included “Rest Homes Hawai’i” and “Leahi Hospital – Children’s Ward”. DeStefano’s other photography credits include his traveling exhibition, “Cubanos-Island Portraits - 1993-1998”, which has been shown extensively in Cuba as well as in New York, Chicago, London, Havana, Los Angeles, and Vancouver and is part of the Permanent Collection of MOLAA, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California.
Lorenzo also produced, directed and edited the PBS documentary "Talmage Farlow" (1981)[4][5][6][7]
He was apprentice film editor on the 1982 20th Century Fox film “Making Love”, directed by Arthur Hiller [8].
From 1982-1984 DeStefano worked as First Assistant Editor and Co-Editor on four features with the Academy Award winning editor Richard Halsey, “That Championship Season” (1982 Cannon Films, directed by Jason Miller [9], “Losin’ It” (1983 Embassy Pictures, directed by Curtis Hansen [10], “Dreamscape” (1984 20th Century Fox, directed by Joseph Ruben [11] and “Body Rock” (1984 New World Pictures, directed by Marcelo Epstein [12].
DeStefano’s first solo credit as a Film Editor was on “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” [13]. He followed this up with “Thrashin’” [14], “Winners Take All” [15], “The Killing Time” [16], and as Associate Producer & Film Editor on “Gingerale Afternoon” [17].
As a theater director DeStefano’s work includes the 25th anniversary Los Angeles production of William Inge’s “Natural Affection” (1988 Theatre 40 Beverly Hills & 1989 Zephyr Theatre Los Angeles)
In 1989 DeStefano became a Director member of the Directors Guild of America. From 1989 – 1993 he directed, produced and was Supervising Film Editor on the 4 season/83 episode run of “Life Goes On” the ABC/Warner Brothers drama series starring Patti Lupone, Bill Smitrovich, Christopher Burke and Kellie Martin [18].
1990s[edit]
As a playwright DeStefano’s first produced full-length play was “Providence” (1998 Stages Theatre Company, Los Angeles), an adaptation of the screenplay by the late English dramatist David Mercer. “Camera Obscura”, the true story of Boston eccentric Arthur Crew Inman and his 17 million word “Inman Diary”, published by Harvard University Press. The play was developed at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 2001 and had its World Premiere in 2002 at the Almeida Theatre in London, both productions helmed by the English director Jonathan Miller[19]. “Camera Obscura” was the basis for the chamber opera “The Inman Diaries”, by American composer Thomas Oboe Lee, based on DeStefano’s play, received its world premiere in September 2007 at the Intermezzo Opera Company, Boston. The photographic memoir “La Hora Magica/The Magic Hour – Portraits of a Vanishing Cuba” (1996), and the travel memoir “Callé Cero–An Encounter with Cuban Film Director Tomas Gutierrez Alea” (Cuba Update 1994). Horton Foote’s “The One-Armed Man” (1990 Theatre 40 Beverly Hills), the world premiere of Robert Schenkkan’s “Conversations with the Spanish Lady” (1993 Theatre 40 Beverly Hills), the world premiere of “Twisted Twain” (1997 Theatre 40 Beverly Hills), “Jitters” by David French (1998 Theatre 40 Beverly Hills), “Providence” (1998 Stages Theatre Production, Los Angeles),
2000s[edit]
Subsequent documentaries he produced and directed are “Los Zafiros – Music From The Edge Of Time”[20][21][22], a multi award-winning film about the Beatles of 1960s Cuba.
DeStefano is founder of the Ventura Film Society, a California-based cinema cooperative bringing people together in the dark since 2008.
2010s[edit]
DeStefano started work on his next projects, “Hearing is Believing”[23][24] [25] [26][27][28], about the young musician and composer, Rachel Flowers, about the life of Rachel Flowers, a young musician and composer in California. The factual short story “Hitchhike” (2019), the memoir “Visitations–Finding A Secret Relative In Modern-Day Hawai’i” (2017 “Diary of a Nobody” [29], “Deep Inside” (2016), “Cropper’s Cabin” (1998, from the novel by Jim Thompson), “Appointment in Samarra” (1995 co-writer, from the novel by John O’Hara), “Waiting for Nothing” (1998, based on the novel by Tom Kromer, and “Creeps” (1986, from the play by David E. Freeman).
DeStefano’s produced one-act plays include “Shipment Day” (2016 PlayBuilders of Hawaii & 2018 Manoa Valley Theatre)[30][31][32] [33], the true story of DeStefano’s cousin, Olivia Robello, a teenage girl diagnosed with leprosy in 1930s Honolulu, had its World Premiere in 2018 at the Hawaii Performing Arts Company/Manoa Valley Theatre and “Stairway to the Stars” (2019 PlayBuilders of Hawaii).
2020s[edit]
DeStefano has written fiction & non-fiction, including the short story collection “The Shakespearean” (2020), the essay “On Knowing Daniel Aaron” (2020) [34] and the novel “House Boy” (2022).
As a screenwriter DeStefano’s scripts include “Shipment Day” (2022), “The Diarist” (2022), “House Boy” (2022), “Stairway to the Stars” (2021), “Lads” (2022).
As a writer/producer/director DeStefano’s narrative films include “Shipment Day” (2022)[35][36] [37][38][39], a filmed adaptation of his prize-winning play, and the narrative short film “Stairway to the Stars” (2021), a based on his One-Act play[40]
As a writer/producer DeStefano’s narrative film projects include “The Diarist” (2022)[41], a 5-Part Limited Series, and “House Boy” (2022), a 3-Part Limited Series, the true story of a young Dalit man from India who is held captive in an upper caste Brahmin household in North London, adapted from his novel.
External Links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Hong Kong: A Family Portrait". National Geographic. 14 December 1979.
- ↑ "The Black Marble". IMDB. 7 March 1980.
- ↑ "The Blue Lagoon". IMDB. 19 June 1980.
- ↑ "Talmage Farlow". IMDB. 1 July 1981.
- ↑ "Profile of a Guitarist". N.Y. TIMES. 2 July 1981.
- ↑ "Jazz Guitarist's Hobby Became Vocation". N.Y. TIMES. 25 October 1981.
- ↑ "Talmage Farlow Documentary Film collection, 1979-2011". NPR Weekend Edition. 21 September 2020.
- ↑ "Making Love". IMDB. 12 February 1982.
- ↑ "That Championship Season". IMDB. 14 January 1983.
- ↑ "Losin' It". IMDB. 22 April 1983.
- ↑ "Dreamscape". IMDB. 17 August 1984.
- ↑ "Body Rock". IMDB. 28 September 1984.
- ↑ "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". IMDB. 12 April 1985.
- ↑ "Thrashin'". IMDB. 29 August 1986.
- ↑ "Winners Take All". IMDB. 1 February 1987.
- ↑ "The Killing Time". IMDB. 23 October 1987.
- ↑ "Gingerale Afternoon". IMDB. 25 August 1989.
- ↑ "Life Goes On". IMDB. 12 September 1989.
- ↑ "Arthur Inman's Revelations of an Improper Bostonian". Arthur Crew Inman. 13 October 1985.
- ↑ "Los Zafiros – Music From The Edge Of Time". IMDB. 11 April 2003.
- ↑ "Los Zafiros, Captured on Film". NPR WEEKEND EDITION. 25 May 2003.
- ↑ "Los Zafiros – Music From the Edge of Time". VARIETY. 22 July 2003.
- ↑ "Hearing is Believing". IMDB. 16 June 2017.
- ↑ "'Hearing Is Believing' displays blind musician's impressive talent". L.A. Times. 15 June 2017.
- ↑ "4 Ways the Rachel Flowers Documentary Will Give You So Much Joy". Verily Magazine. 26 June 2017.
- ↑ "Filmed over three years, 'Hearing Is Believing' documents the world of blind musician Rachel Flowers". Pasadena Star News. 15 June 2017.
- ↑ "Feature Documentary Hearing is Believing to screen at HIFF". Broadway World Movie News Desk. 7 November 2016.
- ↑ "Girl in Motion". The Daily Telegraph. 18 March 2016.
- ↑ "Diary of a Nobody". The Guardian. 7 May 2002.
- ↑ "Hawaii-born Lorenzo DeStefano explores tragic era in 'Shipment Day'". Honolulu Star Advertiser. 20 November 2018.
- ↑ "'Shipment Day' Breaks the Stigma of Patients Associated with Hansen's Disease". KHON "Living 808". 5 November 2018.
- ↑ "'Shipment Day' recalls painful era in Hawaii history". Honolulu Star Advertiser. 10 November 2018.
- ↑ "Broadway World". MVT's 50th Anniversary Season Continues With Moving World Premiere Of SHIPMENT DAY. 31 October 2018.
- ↑ "The Black Marble". Daniel Aaron, Americanist. 24 November 2020.
- ↑ ""Long Story Short" TV interview". PBS Hawaii. 25 June 2019.
- ↑ "'Shipment Day' highlights dark chapter in Hawaii history". KITV 4 Island News. 6 November 2018.
- ↑ "Kalihi to Kalaupapa: A New Play Shares One Woman's Story of Surviving Exile". Honolulu Magazine. 9 November 2018.
- ↑ "'Shipment Day' highlights dark chapter in Hawaii history". KITV 4 Island News. 6 November 2018.
- ↑ "'Shipment Day' recalls painful era in Hawaii history". Honolulu Star Advertiser. 10 November 2018.
- ↑ "PlayBuilders of Hawaii". PlayBuilders of Hawaii. 1 April 2019.
- ↑ "Diary from a darkened room". Harvard Gazette. 10 March 2011.
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