Skip to main content

Interview: Documentary Filmmaker Vicki Vasilopoulos on 'Men of the Cloth'

Men of the Cloth is a portrait of three Italian master tailors who confront the decline of the apprentice system as they navigate their challenging roles in the twilight of their career. The film unravels the mystery of their artistry and reveals how their passionate devotion to their Old World craft is akin to a religion.

Italians Nino Corvato, Joe Centofanti and Checchino Fonticoli are master tailors who have spent a lifetime perfecting the skills necessary to construct flawless custom-made suits for their clients in New York City, Philadelphia and Penne, Italy. Now in the twilight of their career, they fear that their Old World knowledge will vanish with them. Enter Joe Genuardi, a tailoring apprentice who reflects the resurgence of popular interest in artisanal craftsmanship as an alternative to corporate mass production, providing hope for the future of this craft.

Filmmaker Vicki Vasilopoulos tells us all about her journey from the idea of making this film to the impact she hopes the film will make on the industry of tailoring. 

This project was made from the heart, and all of your dedication and perseverance paid off. Tell me about your journey from the beginning up until now. Did the film meet your expectations? 
I first met Checchino on a reporting trip to Italy when I was writing a piece on the luxury market for DNR, the men’s fashion newsmagazine (now a part of Women’s Wear Daily). He gave me a tour of the Brioni factory and school in the town of Penne, in Abruzzo. He was so charismatic and passionate about his craft, it left an indelible impression, and I was mesmerized by the environment there and couldn’t help thinking that craftsmen of his stature and experience were a vanishing breed. That planted a seed that would take eleven years to come to fruition.
Nino was fascinating because he had worked at Brooks Brothers prior to opening his own custom tailoring business in New York, so his career went in the opposite direction from what you’d expect: from a large concern to a throwback from another era! And Joe in the Philadelphia area was the elder statesman. He was born in the U.S. but grew up in Italy and worked in Africa. He ultimately took on the challenge of training a young apprentice, which is a critical turning point in Men of the Cloth.
Nino and Joe both represent aspects of the immigrant experience, and I also liked the fact that Checchino, although he was based in Italy, subverts our expectations and represents the opposite end of the spectrum from these two independent tailors in the U.S. I see Men of the Cloth as akin to the Slow Food of clothing, and these gentlemen’s personal stories were my true inspiration for the film. They’re unsung heroes, and I wanted to celebrate their craft. 

What was the reaction from the tailors upon seeing their story on the big screen? 
I think that master tailor Nino Corvato in New York has been very happy to have his life portrayed in an authentic way, and audiences have been treating him like a rock start when we do the Q&A’s at screening events and premieres. I don’t think that Checchino Fonticoli in Italy has seen the film yet; I hope to have my Italy premiere in the near future. As for Joe Centofanti, sadly, he passed away before the film was completed, but his daughter Helen (who continues to run the shop that he founded) is thrilled that the film can carry on her father’s legacy. 

What has the reaction been like from audiences? What are some of the memorable comments you've received?
Men of the Cloth had a sold-out world premiere at DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in America. It was the opening night film at the Craft in Focus Festival in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and was voted an Audience Favorite at the Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has also screened at the Italian Film Fest Vancouver, the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival in New York, the Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, the Montclair Film Festival in New Jersey, and the La Femme Film Festival for women directors in Los Angeles. It has premiered theatrically in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, and Toronto. Upcoming premieres include, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, San Francisco, and London.
Making the film was a real odyssey, and I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to finish it, given the commitment and sacrifices that it necessitated. But the audience reaction has been so gratifying! I never get tired of hearing people tell me how the film touched them or made them nostalgic or more appreciative of this glorious craft. At a film festival in Indiana in August two audience members called the film “exquisite,” and I was humbled by such an intense reaction.


 Do you think this film will encourage younger generations to pursue a career in tailoring?
I’d like today’s generation to value the intrinsic beauty and integrity of a custom-made/bespoke suit and all that it represents – it’s the sum total of a master tailor’s entire life experience – and it’s imbued with his very essence.
I often hear from both young and middle-aged audience members that want to pursue a career in this venerable craft, and I find that very encouraging.  When my theatrical screening tour concludes this fall, I’ll be doing additional screenings at both art museums and colleges with Fashion Design and Italian Studies programs in an effort to continue this inter-generational dialogue. 

What is your dream for this film and its legacy or long-term effect on the tailoring industry?
My dream is that Men of the Cloth will continue to build on its grassroots following around the world. I hope to have a PBS broadcast, and I’m looking forward to the release of the Director’s Cut DVD (with extra features) as well as the digital release on streaming platforms like iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo. Fans can sign up for the newsletter at MenOfTheClothFilm.com to receive updates and I encourage them to email queries to info@menoftheclothfilm.com.

If you're in the vicinity of Rochester, New York, Men of the Cloth will be shown at George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre as part of the Labor Film Series on Friday October 9th at 8 PM. Filmmaker Vicki Vasilopoulos will present the film and answer audience questions afterwards.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Days - 7 Women: Interview with Actress Sabrina Impacciatore

  Photo by Rossella Vetrano On Day 6 of our series, 7 Days - 7 Women, in which we are profiling seven strong, talented women working as filmmakers, writers or visual artists, we talk with actress Sabrina Impacciatore about the diversity of her roles. Whether she's playing a devoted mother trying to protect her child, Jesus Christ's "Veronica" in Mel Gibson's controversial film, "Passion of the Christ" or a young woman coming of age, Impacciatore escapes into the life and mind of each character she takes on, sometimes so deeply that she believes she is actually them.   It's a fine line between reality and fiction, but she treads it carefully and anyone watching her performance benefits from her emotional connection to the character that she becomes. I spoke with Impacciatore at the 2010 Open Roads: New Italian Film series in New York City. We talked about her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She also gave me some insight into the diff
Post a Comment
Read more

A Conversation with Taylor Taglianetti, Founder of NOIAFT

A new platform has recently been launched that promotes the work of Italian Americans in film and television. The brains behind the initiative is a young, passionate woman who is taking the support that she received early on in her journey and paying it forward. With origins in Basilicata and  Campania , Taylor Taglianetti is a proud Italian American from Brooklyn, New York. She is currently a senior at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in January 2020. She is majoring in Film and Television and minoring in the Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology.  Taglianetti  aspires to be a feature film producer and bring great stories to the big screen. In addition to running NOIAFT, she is currently a Development Intern with Silver Pictures, the production company that produced the Lethal Weapon and The Matrix series. Last summer, she was a development intern with Maven Pictures, the Academy-Award winning production company behind Still Alice and The Kids Are All Right . 
Post a Comment
Read more

A Conversation With the Man Who Played Pasolini's Christ

There have been countless cinematic interpretations of the books of the Bible, but few have stood the test of time. One that qualifies as a classic is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1964 “Il Vangolo secondo Matteo” (The Gospel According to St. Matthew). Considered by the Vatican to be among the best film adaptations of one of the Gospels, Pasolini’s 1964 film was shot in the regions of Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata. In an interview with RAI television while on location in Matera, Pasolini talked about the reasons for shooting there. “I chose two or three places in Basilicata. One is Barile, a town of Albanians. I needed a place for Bethlehem. Another location is Matera because it reminded me of Jerusalem,” he explained. Pasolini’s interpretation of St. Matthews’s Gospel is pure, with no added commentary. He said that he followed the Gospel word for word without adding a single syllable. He explained in the interview that his idea to make the film happened by coincidence. “In October of 19
Post a Comment
Read more

Anna Foglietta: Actress and Activist with Old School Elegance

One look at actress Anna Foglietta in her any of her roles, and the Golden Age of Italian cinema comes to mind. Among Italy’s most sought-after actresses today, Foglietta brings to the table a classic eloquence of yesterday while representing Italy’s modern woman. Born in Rome in 1979, Foglietta began her career in 2005 with a role in the RAI television series La squadra . Her character Agent Anna De Luca had a two-year run on the series as she was transitioning to cinema with Paolo Virzì’s 2006 ensemble project 4-4-2- Il gioco più bello del mondo . Since then, she has become one of Italy’s most diverse actresses, transforming herself into interesting, layered characters for comedies and dramas alike. Aside from a small part in Anton Corbijn’s 2010 film The American starring George Clooney, Foglietta’s work began reaching mainstream American audiences in 2015. As Elisa in Edoardo Leo’s 2015 comedy Noi e la Giulia , Foglietta showed her funny side playing a goofball pregn
Post a Comment
Read more

Michelangelo Frammartino's "Il buco" — Unearthing our past

When a team of speleologists descended 700 meters into the Bifurto Abyss in Cosenza, Calabria, in 1961, they discovered that the underground caverns were the third deepest in the world and the deepest in Europe. Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Frammartino retraces that mission six decades later with a cast of locals and their livestock in his latest documentary, “Il buco” (“The Hole”). Inspiration for the film came while he was on location shooting his 2007 documentary, “Le quattro volte” (“Four Times”). Officials in the Pollino mountains, which stretch between Calabria and Basilicata, showed him what appeared to be just another sinkhole. Frammartino failed to understand their enthusiasm until they tossed a large stone into the void. It disappeared without making a sound. He was so overcome by the experience and the eerie landscape, he was haunted for years, compelling him to make his current film, one of many rooted in nature. “I was born in Milan, but my family is from Calabria. My pa
Post a Comment
Read more