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Performer (Interviewee)

Elettra Fiumi

Interviewer

Dr. You Li

Geographic Location

Italy

Biography

Elettra Fiumi is an award-winning film director, producer, and editor making independent documentary films. Elettra’s documentaries explore themes of discovery, innovation, and a sense of place. She’s told stories of people, brands, and places across nations and industries, including in technology, adventure travel, fashion, art, architecture, and education. Elettra’s past films have been featured in the BBC, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, NBC News Digital, MSNBC, Univision and others. Elettra launched and leads Fiumi Studios, a full-service production and online content strategy company, and worked on content for Netflix, Airbnb, WhatsApp, and Amazon Prime, among many others. Elettra also teaches filmmaking at Franklin University in Switzerland.

Fiumi, a freelance documentary filmmaker who has strong family and professional ties in Italy and the U.S. Relocated to Switzerland right before the outbreak of COVID, Elettra had to innovate her filming approach when in-person interviews and filming were impossible during lockdowns. She compiled crowdsourcing from residents and curated the eyewitness footage and storytelling from a few photojournalists remotely to document the frontline impact of COVID-19 in Italy, which won the attention of a global audience and 17 international awards. In this interview, she revealed the behind-the-scene coordination of those productions, challenges for filmmakers, and gender stereotypes in the filming industry. She left some encouraging remarks to future generations.

Interview Date

6-8-2023

Subject

Italy, documentary, filmmaking, crowdsourcing, photojournalism, first-person voice, gender stereotypes, communication, community, Eastern Michigan University Archives, journalism, women in journalism, COVID-19, pandemic

Publisher

Eastern Michigan University Archives

Digital Object File Type

mp3

Run Time

0:46:49

Rights

Copyright to the audio resource and its transcript, headshot, and stories is held by the content creator, author, artist, or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any other format without written permission of the copyright owner, Eastern Michigan University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).

Elettra Fiumi, Oral History Interview, 2023

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