(energetic Italian music, cymbals)
After an initial two days
in Palermo sightseeing,
Susan and I jumped on the hyrofoil
boat to Ustica
where the Sicily Web Fest was held.
We had a great time for three days
doing interviews and pitching our series
and then, of course, the, uh,
the celebration of the winners.
And, by the way, "Number of Silence"
won for Best Thriller,
Ha...ha...ha...ha,
and, uh, so, you can look for me
as an actress on that series, upcoming.
Ha, ha, next up...Ustica!
(fun, energetic Italian music)
The volcanic island Usitca
is situated 32 miles north of Palermo
In the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Only six miles across,
it is home to about 1300 people.
Known for scuba diving,
Ustica sports a number of
diving schools on the island.
Daily ferry service to Palermo
brings tourists and day workers.
I wasn’t there for diving,
I came to the Sicily Web Fest,
in its second year.
On the ferry, we
we connected with my new
German friends from “Number of Silence.”
Late Bloomer was an Official Selection,
and I was told I traveled
the farthest to get to the festival.
A van hauled the festival-goers
up the steep grade to our hotel.
We immediately set off to
discover the town,
and cool off with gelato.
Founder Riccardo Cannella
and assistant Cristiano Bolla
organized great events
like this meet and greet.
My friend Susan
accompanied me to Ustica.
Next morning, breakfast was
on a stairway down to the water.
(fun Italian accordion music)
Outdoor lunch at Da’Umberto
became a daily thing.
What could be better
than local island wine
and lentil soup with fresh vegetables?
We’d discovered a
gorgeous terrace garden,
which became the perfect location
for filming our
"Number of Silence" scenes.
Later in the day, WebVee Guide,
which is devoted to finding
and promoting quality web content,
interviewed us about our series.
At the next event,
I saw the largest
caper plant of my trip.
Host Maria Cristina makes
her own preserves and
sells everything from capers,
to lentils, to jars of smoked fish
in her little shop.
I connected with the few
festival guests that spoke English.
(fun Italian music, accordion, cymbals)
Susan and I ducked away for dinner
of eggplant and eggplant, ha, ha.
Then the pitch session in the evening
each web series creator spoke about their series.
The filmmakers from “Number of Silence”
had created a role for me
in the storyline and
we planned to shoot these scenes
while on Ustica.
After an invigorating rehearsal,
ha, ha, it was time for lunch,
again at Da’Umberto.
Turns out the garden terrace
was the home of the family
who owned the restaurant!
It was sunny and quite hot
on the island, and I’d somehow managed
to only bring one long-sleeved,
quick dry shirt to Sicily,
which I wore nearly every day.
To beat the heat,
we set off on a bus ride
across the island to go for a swim.
Excavations in the last twenty years
have unearthed a prehistoric village
on Ustica, dating from
the 14th to 13th century BC.
The Phoenicians occupied the island
around 1500 BC.
Pirate raids and ongoing wars
in the middle ages kept the island unsettled
until the mid-18th century,
when Ustica was settled by a small group
from the Italian island Lipari
who brought their patron saint Bartholomew.
Moving inland, one sees
gardens and small-scale agriculture,
mainly olives, capers and eggplant.
However, water is scarce,
so there is a limit
to how many people
the island can support.
Population swelled in the last two centuries
and waves of Ustica families
emigrated to the United States,
in particular, New Orleans.
The Romans named the volcanic island
Ustica, which is Latin for “burnt”,
known locally as the Black Pearl,
for its black rocky coastline.
(tango, accordian, medium energy)
Prickly pear cactus grows wild all over.
(tango continues)
Our destination was a swimming spot
on the far side the island,
which they had been to the day before.
(tango continues)
Magdalena wasting no time diving in.
A refreshing dip in the Tyrrhenian Sea
after three hot days
was just the ticket
to head into the last night of the festival.
After shower and a change,
we peaked in and the owner
was freshening up his plants
for the shoot the following day.
We headed down to the harbor
for the last seminar,
and I was captivated with the colorful boats.
Susan and I ducked out
for dinner with a view.
A few red carpet photos
are always fun,
before the awards ceremony begins.
And the winner is,…
Number of Silence for Best Thriller.
Director Csongor Dobrotka
racked up another award.
Ha, ha, Late Bloomer didn’t.
Susan had been helpful
in documenting everything,
and she proved indispensible
as a crew of one
on our film shoot the following day.
She held script, reflectors, even traffic,
as Thorsten did double duty
as actor and sound recordist.
(romantic, slow, sentimental accordion)
We couldn’t begin shooting
until the sun was behind our backs,
so we had a lot of accomplish,
six pages of dialogue,
in a short amount of time.
I loved working with these folks
and hope my character is wildly popular
so we can do it all again.
At 10PM we wrapped
our island film shoot.
Back at Da’Umberto,
the family marveled at photos
from the shoot, then
we organized for a group photo
with their fisherman, in the red shirt.
However, the son was missing.
Soon, he appeared
and we reorganized,
as their fisherman
had his hook on me, ha, ha.
It was all in great fun,
and they served up a last meal
of fresh fish, eggplant, and Prosecco.
We rose before daybreak
and had to haul our bags
a half a mile downhill
over cobblestone streets
to make the ferry.
Dawn was just breaking
as we pulled out of the harbor
and headed sleepily back to Palermo
where we said our goodbyes,
for now, to our new friends.
(sentimental accordion ends)
(energetic cymbal smashing music finish!)