Artist-in-Residence Marco Calvani Screens Short Film Starring

Oscar-Winner Melissa Leo at The Studios of Key West

Discussion to follow about resettled Syrian refugee

Internationally known playwright, screenwriter and director Marco Calvani will screen his short film The View From Up Here, starring Oscar-winner Melissa Leo and French-Algerian actress Leila Behke, on Tuesday, February 5th at 5:30 PM in the Helmerich Theater at The Studios of Key West, 533 Eaton Street. Admission is free.

The film, based on a one-act play penned by Calvani, is about an encounter between a Syrian refugee resettled in a New Jersey apartment building, and a suspicious neighbor. The themes of the film, Islamophobia and American Ethnocentrism, are important topics and the subject of a follow-up discussion with the playwright/filmmaker. The discussion will be moderated by Stephen Kitsakos, President of the Board of The Studios. Kitsakos, the librettist of the opera adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, deals with similar themes in this work.

Italian born artist Marco Calvani is an award-winning writer, director, filmmaker, actor and translator based in NYC. His most recently play Beautiful Day Without You opened Off-Broadway in November 2018 and starring Dan Butler, who played Bulldog Drummond in the long running NBC series,  Frasier. Calvani trained as an actor since he was a teenager and made his debut as a playwright in 2002 with Quasi. His plays have been performed throughout Europe and in the United States.

He is currently one of four Artists-in-Residence with The Studios of Key West during the months of January and February.

Admission is free.

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