Definition of Live Cinema: Excerpt from "Francis Ford Coppola's Live Cinema"
A documentary short directed by Cecilia Albertini (M.F.A. 2018), produced by Gayatri Bajpai (M.F.A. 2016), and with a UCLA TFT student crew, chronicles the behind-the-scenes events leading up to the debut of Distant Vision, a unique hybrid of live theater, film and television performed and viewed in real time, as envisioned by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Francis Ford Coppola's Live Cinema showcases the creativity and dedication of a talented team of students and professionals who had the great privilege of working with Coppola to help him realize his vision.
In May 2016, it was announced at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television that Coppola (M.F.A. 1967), at the invitation of Dean Teri Schwartz, would be bringing his concept of live cinema to the school in the form of an original, semi-autobiographical production that spanned three generations of the Corrados, an Italian-American family in New York City, from the 1920s to the 1980s. The creation of Distant Vision (a 19th century term for television) at UCLA TFT involved more than 100 UCLA TFT students, faculty and staff in various production and acting roles working alongside professionals in a six-week workshop co-produced by UCLA TFT and Coppola's production company, American Zoetrope. Using more than 40 cameras, the 25-minute production was realized in July 2016 from the stage of UCLA TFT's Freud Playhouse and was broadcast live to select screening rooms around the world.