Tao Ruspoli, in his film Flamenco: A personal Journey, takes his audience into the heart of the gypsy culture, in Andalucia, Spain, in a personal exploration of the way of life that is flamenco. This film provides an unprecedented look at the intimate gatherings in which authentic flamenco is performed. Over a two year period, Ruspoli documented his arrival in Spain, his gradual befriending of some of Spain’s greatest flamenco singers, dancers and guitar players, and his immersion into this extraordinary culture. Voice-overs by Ruspoli explain his understanding of the art itself and the feelings that it evokes in him and other viewers. The flamenco artists allowed him to video tape not only some marvelous performances, but they showed him, and the camera, that the art of flamenco is the outward expression of a unique philosophy and way of life. He takes you through private guitar and dance lessons, festivals, the friendships he makes, interviews with artists, and colorful, lively scenes of performances, discussions, and arguments amongst the gypsies themselves. After events such as engagement parties and first communion celebrations, Ruspoli reveals the future of flamenco in the 21^st century through discussions of older artists and their feelings about modern flamenco.

Tao Ruspoli, an Italian American filmmaker, has been making documentaries for five years. He received his degree in philosophy from UC Berkeley and has worked for production designer Dean Tavoularis with Francis Coppola and Warren Beatty, and for cinematographer Vittorio Storaro with Carlos Saura. He is also an accomplished flamenco guitar player and had studied the instrument as well as the history of flamenco for 7 years before leaving for Spain in early 1998. He decided to document his journey, and concluded that the use of a MiniDV camera would prove affordable and unobtrusive in capturing the most intimate moments. Shooting over thirty hours of footage, he put together a 1 hour version of the film with his own funds, which caught the attention of several festivals and fellow filmmakers. The film was winner of the Los Angeles ongoing film festival, Cine-Nites, and was awarded Best of Festival-Documentary at the 6^th Annual Berkeley Film and Video Festival. It also was screened at the 1999 Roma Film Festival (a non-competitive festival.) With the help of completion funds, Ruspoli hopes to edit a feature length documentary to be completed by Fall 2000, and to compensate the artists who opened their hearts and souls in the making of this film (also necessary in order to get the necessary releases.)

Ruspoli has taken this project as far as possible on his own. While the present film shows great potential, he needs to hire an objective editor who can look at the footage with a distance that Ruspoli will never have, and he needs the funds to ensure that the finished film has the professional qualities required for proper distribution.