Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197129
Winter 2020 The Costume Designer 71 O n October 24, 2019, Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis moderated the Costume Design Panel at the Rome Film Festival. This event was part of the Festa del cinema di Roma and was presented in collaboration with the UCLA David C. Copley Center for Costume Design, Istituto Luce Cinecittà and Associazione Italiana Scenografi, Costumisti e Arredatori and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The participants discussed how costumes create the characters that populate a film and gave the audience a behind-the- scenes look at filmmaking from the perspective of some of the industry's most successful and prolific Costume Design- ers. Panelists included Carlo Poggioli, President of the Italian Association of Production Designers and Costume Design- ers (ASC), Academy Award winner Gabriella Pescucci (The Age of Innocence, The Brothers Grimm), Eva Coen (Adored, Let's Mambo), Daniela Ciancio (The Great Beauty, Mission: Impossible III), and Stefano De Nardis (Coco Chanel, All the Money in the World, Catch-22). The Academy created a video montage of each designer's work and live streamed the event. This was the third in an ongoing series of discussions about the challenges that are common to Costume Design- ers around the world. Natasha Rubin, Director of Research at the UCLA/TFT David C. Copley Center for Costume Design, describes the theme of the program, "Despite any differences, designers speak a common language. They all face the same obstacles: a lack of pre-production time, anemic costume bud- gets, unequal pay, and, sadly, a lack of respect from industry colleagues, especially when it comes to designing modern films. In spite of these hurdles, every designer from these panels are bursting with energy and love for their work, and they can't imagine having any other career." Previous events were held in France and Spain, and fu- ture panels are already in the works. According to Landis, the international nature of the panelists is the program's great- est strength. "Costume Designers everywhere have more or less the same concerns; respect, recognition, and pay equity," she explains. "I know this because for the past three years, I have been moderating regional Costume Designer panels and speaking candidly with our Costume Designer cousins. The first panel was in Paris in 2017 at the Mona Bismarck Foundation. Then in 2018 in Madrid with the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España. These pan- els are very unusual because the French, Spanish, and Italian Costume Designers speak their own languages with the audi- ence and myself listening to simultaneous translation. In this way, designers can use their own terms of art and not feel constrained or inhibited. They can speak freely about their (sometimes steep) challenges and local production practice outside the Hollywood halo. These unmissable Master Classes are attended by students, professionals, fans, and friends." These international panels are made possible by the generous support of Swarovski. The Copley Center will take this panel to Berlin in fall 2020, with German, Swiss, and Austrian Costume De- signers participating—all in German of course. Rome Film Festival Costume Design Panel Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Costume Designer Stefano De Nardis