June 2025, Glenprosen, Scotland
The third iteration of Wandering Cinema took place at Balnaboth House, a dreamy, historic mansion adjacent to a tiny village in the east of Scotland about an hour's drive north of the city of Dundee. Gathered in that atmospheric place in the foothills of the Caingorms National Park, we felt more at home in our practice of creative connection than ever before so we've decided to take residence for future retreats there at Balnaboth House. Among the sheep and the creek, the watching stag's heads and the tartan rugs we continued the traditions of a 16mm Bolex-shot Exquisite Corpse film, impromptu pitch sessions, family style dinners, morning meditation, and many movie screenings. We added Scotch whisky tastings during screenings, hot tub soaks and meetings on the lawn. The brilliant visiting filmmakers Sonja Prosenc, from Slovenia, and Tolga Karaçelik, from Turkey, were inspiring and generous with their time and their unique passions for cinema. And of course the delightful, insightful group of participants brought a unique blend of personalities, experience and interests which gelled magnificently into a cohort of imaginative collaborators with whom it was pure joy to have disappeared for that week into the Scottish countryside.
July 2023, Segovia, Spain
For our second Wandering Cinema Film Retreat we traveled to Hoyuelos, Spain to an atmospheric remote house where The Spirit of the Beehive was filmed! Our visitors filmmakers were Blerta Basholli from Kosovo and Giacomo Abbruzzese from Italy, and we were lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the latter’s debut feature, Disco Boy. We again had a very diverse group of participants, this year from three different countries and spanning decades in age and experience. The synergy, creativity, and bonds were immediate and meaningful. We continued the traditions of a 16mm Bolex-shot Exquisite Corpse film, cocktails by the pool, impromptu pitch sessions, amazing dinners, morning meditation, and late-night screenings. What ambience, friendships, cinematic celebration, and creative energy!
June 2022, the Italian Alps
For the first ever Wandering Cinema Film Retreat we traveled to an old farm in Carpasio, Liguria, in the Maritime Alps of Italy, where the mountains meet the sea near the French border. Our visiting filmmakers were Agnieszka Smoczyńska from Poland and Ali Vatansever from Turkey. Participants came from five countries, spanned four decades in age, and found inspiration and delight in their connections with one another. The group shot an Exquisite Corpse film on 16mm on a Bolex camera (we express shipped the film to Belgium for development and watched our film together on the last night) and spent their days in workshops, eating and drinking, meditating, swimming and hiking.
