Notte Sento, a short film made with 4500+ still photographs, brilliantly captures a magical chance encounter between an Italian man and a girl who misses her train to Milan and is set to spend the night in Rome.

Starring: Debora Antonaci, Andrea Mauri
Screenplay By: Stefano Gianfreda, Maurizio de Benedictis
Directed By: Daniele Napolitano
Produced By: CUT/Urban Team
Original music: Rocco Centrella

Shot with a Canon EOS 30D camera.
Funded by the Seagate Creative Fund in 2008.

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As you can see I’ve been in a video mood lately. More text-based posts (including finding a job in London, finding a place to live in London, and karma when traveling) will be coming soon.

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2. Love Snow, Love Winter!
3. Music That Makes Me Happy: The Story

I haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, but I love this clip of the boys on a train.

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Ray (Collin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are two hit men who, after a failed mission in England, flee to Bruges to wait for further instructions from their boss. Stuck in a double room at a fully booked hotel over Christmas, they do what tourists in Bruges do – sight see. While Ken prefers cathedrals, old buildings, and admiring the view from the Belfry tower (Belfort), a medieval bell tower on the market square of Bruges, Ray wants to drink beer at the pub and get to know the Belgian actress/drug-dealer Chloë.

The film starts off great, with beautiful shots of Bruges, witty dialogue and Farrell’s excellent comedic timing. One of the characters says Bruges is a fairytale place, and that if it wasn’t in Belgium there would be too many tourists visiting and spoil its charm.

Bruges is still on my ‘to-visit’ list, but after watching In Bruges I see the town as more of a fairytale-ish place than a tourist-trap. At least so far.

Also, in this case the movie is way better than the trailer.

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1. Photo of the Week: Bruges at Night
2. Photo of the Week: French Kitty
3. The Best Trains For a Cycle Vacation

Top student and athlete Christopher McCandleness (Emile Hirsch) graduated from Emory University in 1992. In pursuit of freedom and no obligations, he gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, abandoned his possessions, and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. The movie is, at best, breathtaking and Eddie Vedder’s score truly pushes this film to its full potential.

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Traveling through films is an amazing way to experience a place without even needing to leave the comfort of your own home. It is definitely not a substitute for traveling, but perfect to get inspiration, ideas and insights. I remember when I saw Gorillas in the Mist at 11, and how fascinated I became by Dian Fossey, the scientists who spent almost two decades studying the mountain gorillas in Africa’s rainforests. Since then I have always wanted to go mountain gorilla tracking in the rainforests of Uganda or Rwanda.

After Thelma & Louise I was determined to do a road trip across USA some time, preferably from the east to the west coast. And K2, one of my favourite movies as a kid, made me want to start mountain climbing.

When I was 15 and saw The Beach, the idea of backpacking in Thailand intrigued me. I wanted to begin my journey on Khao San Road in Bangkok and end it a month or so later on Koh Phi Phi Leh.

Another place I feel attracted to because of a film is Alaska. I think I was 10 when I saw A Perfect World for the first time. I had never even heard about Alaska back then. The film is about the prisoner Butch (Kevin Costner) who kidnaps a young boy as protection and flees across Texas. At one time Butch says he’s going to Alaska and I remember thinking “if this man who just escaped from prison chooses to go to Alaska of all the places in the world, it must be a truly special and beautiful place.” Butch’s face expression and the way he spoke about it made me think “some time I will travel there too.” I got the same thought when I saw The Motorcycle Diaries in a half empty cinema in Grenoble in 2004. Since that day, South America has been on top of my list of places to visit.

Wicker Park and The Weather Man, both shot in a wintry Chicago, make me want to travel to “the windy city”. In Her Shoes and Rocky almost make me fall in love with Philadelphia. After The Big Blue I knew I had to see Amorgos in Greece, Sicily in Italy and Corsica in France. Man on Fire, Amores perros and Babel make me curious about Mexico. Blue Crush captures the surf culture on Hawaii in such a great way that I want to experience it myself. After Lost in Translation I longed for Tokyo, Park Hyatt Tokyo and Kyoto. And partly because of City of Angels I want to see the L.A skyline.

8 Mile make me think of the day when we tried to get out of Detroit and drove the wrong way on 8 mile. After seeing Imagine Me & You, Notting Hill and Match Point I love London even more — especially Primrose Hill and Portobello Road. When I miss Paris I watch Amelie or Before Sunset, if I miss Vienna I see Before Sunrise.

I often find myself missing New York. Luckily it’s one of the most popular places to shoot a movie, so if I wanted to I wouldn’t have to go a day without seeing this great city. Miracle on 34^th Street, West Side Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Godfather, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, Saturday Night Fever, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hair, Fame, Wall Street, Big, Cocktail, Working Girl, When Harry Met Sally, Carlito’s Way, Sleepless in Seattle, As Good as it Gets, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, You’ve Got Mail, Rent, Sidewalks of New York, Vanilla Sky, Autumn in New York, Heights, Stepmom, Analyze This, Analyze That, Big Daddy, Eyes Wide Shut, The Thomas Crown Affair, New York Waiting, The Devil Wears Prada, Coyote Ugly, Maid in Manhattan, Shortbus, Anything Else, The Family Man, Finding Forrester, Kate & Leopold, Kissing Jessica Stein, Serendipity, 25^th Hour, Uptown Girls, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, When Will I Be Loved, 13 Going on 30, Alfie, Little Black Book, Hitch, In Good Company, The Interpreter, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Prime, 16 Blocks, Just My Luck, The Nanny Diaries and Rush Hour 3 were all shot in New York City.

I can’t deny that traveling through movies is enjoyable, but the real deal is without a doubt much better.

Traveling through TV-series

If I hadn’t begun watching Ally McBeal at 13, I would probably not be so keen to visit Boston. Too bad they ended the show because it’s one of the best feel-good TV-series ever. The O.C. and Summerland, shot in LA, at Hermosa Beach and in Malibu, make me want to travel to California. As does Entourage.

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