Participating in the Giffoni Hollywood film festival has been an extraordinary experience for all of us. We had the opportunity to visit the most famous Hollywood landmarks – we saw a film in Grauman's Chinese Theatre, we took a walk on the Walk of Fame, we spent an unforgettable day in Disneyland, and during the final evening the awards were presented in the Kodak Theatre, in the very place where Oscars have been awarded! We visited the studio in which the American Idol is filmed and there we had the opportunity to meet Randy Jackson, one of the judges on the show, who shared the secrets of a successful musician and producer with the participants of the festival. A visit to Hollywood would not be complete without meeting with famous actors such as Will Smith (Men in Black, The Pursuit of Happyness), Sean Austen (The Lord of the Rings), James Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) and Rob Schneider (50 First Dates) who socialised with the children, and shared their experiences in the film industry and answered questions about their careers. The children were divided into three age groups (Dare to Dream - ages 9-11, Reach the Sky – ages 12-14 and Make it Happen – ages 15-17), and each group watched three films along with four short films made in different parts of the world. The participants discussed each movie after the screening, they had a chance to ask the filmmakers questions, and in the end they chose the best film in each category. These discussions were the most interesting part of the festival, because the children were able to express their views on various aspects of the films, to learn from one another, and to find out more about the process of making films. A visit to the Universal Studios was exceptionally interesting, and there we were given a guided tour of the spots where films are made, we learned new things about the history of film making, we saw the locations where classics such as Hitchcock’s Psycho and Hollywood blockbusters such as War of the Worlds were filmed, and we were able to see demonstrations of the cutting-edge special effects carried out by the very experts who worked on their creation. Still, the most beautiful part of this festival were the participants themselves, meeting young people from all over the globe involved in film making, discovering new cultures and making new friends.
