FRATELLIWREN
Storytelling is to our mind the sole unifying thread which has coursed through the veins of humanity ever since birds' ancestors ceded the Earth to our kind. It has shaped the evolution of people, created stability in uncertain and confusing times, and allowed knowledge to be transmitted arguably from the genesis of human intelligence - to this present day. To partake in storytelling then - is to partake in something beyond the ages, beyond ancient.
Film's magic is to be able to fire all the senses most relevant to immersion in a story, most able to facilitate the imbibing of an idea, an atmosphere, and a mood. A film can speak to the illiterate, or to the over-literate. Audiences are more sophisticated than ever - what would have washed in the 1980s, will be considered risible today. There is supposed to be nothing new under the sun, 'only seven stories ever told' - however we continue as film-makers to invent new ways to enthrall, surprise, confuse, discombobulate, take stock, look within - the list goes on. The power of film is limitless because as a species we are too - to quote Jeff Bezos, "The Earth isn't our environment - the Universe is". The possibilities are simply stupendous, and more so today than ever.
One day a Bengali met an Italian - and a storytelling venture was born. Frank is the ideas-man, the thinker and true storyteller. Arif is the self-confessed wordsmith, philosopher, 'psychologist'. The macro and the micro. In combination - we seem to have proved to be a force to be reckoned with. We seek now to come out of the shadows and put our name to our work.
MORE ABOUT FRATELLIWREN | FRANK
Born in the heart of London, I grew up with my brother in 1980s Islington, sons of Italian migrants. My father was a night worker at London's Dagenham Ford plant, my mother a dinner lady.
I studied at St Aloysius RC School in Highgate where notable students were Peter Sellers CBE (The Pink Panther, Dr. Strangelove), Sir Michael Gambon CBE (Harry Potter, The Kings Speech) and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther).
I had a turbulent time growing up, often bullied and ridiculed. This culminated in my arriving at a dark and lonely place. Thankfully my passion for storytelling provided solitude. I began to scribe comics, magazines & newsletters for school and my local youth club in Clerkenwell. I left school to study at The City & Islington College.
Every summer I’d escape to my Italian roots (and routes!) - Atina, a small rural village in Italy, where often I would find sanctuary from the difficulties in London. I would often explore the mountainous terrain just with a backpack, notepad and pen - disappearing literally from twilight to night.
My passion for film started when my father could afford to buy our first VHS player. I would often head to the video library for hours as I could not decide what to watch - my father always needing to collect me before it closed. I remember my father taking me for my first cinema experience - ET at the Odeon in Holloway Road. I was blown away, and the fuse-paper had been lit.
I would walk to West End premiers hoping to meet my idols – I once smuggled my friend into the opening of Copland and managed to meet Sylvester Stallone (very strong hand shake!) and Robert De Niro.
I started to work in the City in the financial district where I worked for the FCA, PwC and WTW. It was at the FCA (then FSA) I met Arif.
I recently completed the Raindance Screenwriters Programme and am a full-fledged Raindance member.
MORE ABOUT FRATELLIWREN | ARIF
Born in 1974 in Edgware, London - I grew up steeped in the magic of the 1980s. These were pioneering times for audio and visual media, among so much else - I remember handling my first CD whilst at secondary school. I was always a HiFi-head, audiophile and 'cinephile'.
Film-wise - I got to witness the first Terminator film (my older brother snuck me in - Empire/Odean, Ruislip). That film changed my life - melding my fascination with science and technology, with incredible storytelling.
School (Haberdashers Aske's Elstree, 1985-1992) contained one character who only further-forged my fascination with things technical and production-related - Lucien Nunes Vaz. He was a few years ahead of me, I was to him some annoying scrote I'm sure - but when he was 'working', I followed him everywhere. He was a fellow student but also the school's audio and lighting guru - so likely heavily responsible for lighting and sound design for the school's well-equipped assembly-hall productions. One thing I learnt was how crucial sound/the acoustic landscape was to production and storytelling. I learnt the word and role 'Foley' in this time (cracking celery anyone?), and what canon/XLR connectors were and did and were for (he showed me this himself).
Habs also meant I had Matt Lucas as a classmate throughout my school career (if you're reading this - Chemistry with Eric Berger). Older school brethren were Sacha Baron Cohen (likely closer to Lucien in age), and those-who-attended a good while before me I'm sure are David Baddiel, David Isaacs, Damon Hill. One hopes that such hallowed walls conferred something of value on me too.
A keen photographer (British landscape, on film - still!) - I loved the idea of conveying sentiments and atmosphere/mood with (actual!) film. As a landscape photographer however, unlike my journalist counterparts, I was never quite going to tell full stories with film...
Wind on a decade or so - the Bengali meets the Italian. This was Canary Wharf, still in the period where it was threatening to be London's great multi-billion dollar white elephant - no-one knew if it would really survive as a district. So there me and Frank were, on the largest possibly-sinking ship of all the World's financial districts - occupying our time chatting films and scripts. Little did I know how serious and progressed Frank's relationship with storytelling really was.
I certainly felt and feel that film combines all of the key tools for effective and moving storytelling. I came to all this from the other end to Frank - he's a storyteller who's discovered cinema as a medium - I'm a tech head and philosopher who's done the same...
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This industry is all about reaching out. We wish to partake in an era of film-making which is collaborative, symbiotic, and breaks previous models and moulds.
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