Clara D'Amato, 103, recounts her late husband Pasquale (PJ) D'Amato's harrowing capture, imprisonment and escape from a fascist prison camp in Italy during WW2. Follow Clara here: https://www.facebook.com/ClaraDamato...
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Hi, Clara and P.J. fans. We are in the home stretch and will be finished editing this month. I appreciate everyone’s patience a lot. From now on, I will have the Big Guns (AKA Roger Vanoro, the Director of Photography and professional editor) working directly with me on the project, which will speed the remaining editing process considerably. I’m so happy with the way Clara and Pat’s story is coming to life and I think you will be, as well…and we're so grateful for all of your support. When finished, we will send each of you a link that you can click on, which will take you to the page where you can watch the documentary. This should be right around the Christmas holiday, so you can enjoy it with some egg nog (yes, we planned it this way). Thank you again and be well,
Brian
My name is Brian Scott and I’m making a short documentary about Clara D’Amato, of Bristol, Ct., who is 103 years old. She is my mother Kitty’s (a spry 92 herself) catholic godmother and they share the same birthday.
During WW2, Clara’s husband, Pasquale (PJ), was taken prisoner by the Nazis in Italy during the torturous battle of Anzio. He and another soldier later escaped from a fascist prison camp and spent the next 6 months evading capture while traversing the Italian countryside, sleeping in barns, forests and caves. Clara and Pasquale's story is about more than his capture and escape, however. It's also a story about sacrifice, faith, and the choices people make under great pressure- and what can be manifest into being as a result. After hearing whispers of Clara and Pasquale's saga from family members as a child, I was recently able to sit in Clara’s living room and hear her recount the story herself. Since then, I've felt a strong desire (and obligation) to document Clara's telling.
I've teamed up with talented Director of Photography Roger Ingraham, Production/Direction Assistant Marcus Miller and the D'Amato family's own Jessie D'Amato-Ford as producer to make this all happen. We're passionate about telling Clara and PJ's story and we'd love to have you along for the journey.
I have a goal of raising $10,000.00 to finance the filming, editing, equipment rentals, fees, and related expenses. If you feel you’d like to help out with a donation toward this goal, we'd be very grateful. Any amount donation will entitle you to first access to the film via web link.
Donations of 100.00 or more will get your name in the credits at the end of the film and a donation of 500.00 or more will get you listed as an executive producer for your generosity! The entire WW2 generation will be gone before too long and for many of us, their stories are essential to remembering who we are.
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Hi, Clara and P.J. fans. We are in the home stretch and will be finished editing this month. I appreciate everyone’s patience a lot. From now on, I will have the Big Guns (AKA Roger Vanoro, the Director of Photography and professional editor) working directly with me on the project, which will speed the remaining editing process considerably. I’m so happy with the way Clara and Pat’s story is coming to life and I think you will be, as well…and we're so grateful for all of your support. When finished, we will send each of you a link that you can click on, which will take you to the page where you can watch the documentary. This should be right around the Christmas holiday, so you can enjoy it with some egg nog (yes, we planned it this way). Thank you again and be well,
Brian
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Hi Everybody, it's Brian Scott, the fella who's making this film. We're in the process of editing Clara and PJ and it looks like it will be special. We're really excited. I want to thank everyone for their support and patience. Due to our raising less than we expected for the project so far, I've assumed most of the editing duties…and I am not an editor (but I'm learning as I go!). This process is the most time consuming part of making a documentary because it requires editing several hours of footage and interview time down to a few minutes (20 minutes, in our case) and then organizing it into a cohesive story. I'm learning a lot and it's fun...but it’s slow going. We expect to be finished with the project in the fall. Though closing soon, we’re still accepting contributions- and they are hugely appreciated because they allow me to have our Director of Photography, Roger Ingraham, take over the editing and thus greatly speed up the process of completing the project.
Again, I thank you for your patience, it will be worth the wait.
And happy summer to you all!
Respectfully,
Brian
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Don't miss a beautiful clip of Clara from the documentary now on her Facebook fan page. https://www.facebook.com/ClaraDamatoFanClub
We only need to make it to $5,000 and we'll be ready with our documentary. Thank you!
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We are hoping to get at least $5,000 to finish the editing of our documentary. Thank you so much to all our friends and family who have donated so far.
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It brings us great sorrow to share the news that our beloved GG Clara has passed away. We were incredibly lucky to have had her in our lives for 103 years. Please join us in celebrating her life by sharing photos and memories here in the comments or online: https://www.funkfuneralhome.com/tributes/Clara-DAmato
There will be calling hours on Wednesday at Funk Funeral Home.
Thank you for all your support in sharing her life and we hope to continue sharing her stories and living by all we learned from her.
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Some behind the scenes footage of the filming of Clara. Her story is truly remarkable. Thank you all who have contributed!
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Clara sitting in her garage waiting for her closeup. She's the cutest 103 year old we know!
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The film crew had a great time learning Clara's story over the weekend! Thank you for your donations! Keep them coming!
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