Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lorenza De Benedictis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lorenza, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
When I was younger, and even into my adult life, I’ve struggled with my self-esteem, confidence and overall social skills from progressive bullying within my friend groups. I’ve always had someone over my shoulder telling me I couldn’t do something because it was too hard, or my work wouldn’t be liked by anyone, or it wasn’t good – or even worse things than that. People tell me that is pretty hard to believe! I was very shy, but as I’ve grown, I’ve become more and more interested in who I am and less interested in what people think about me. To say I persist is an interesting thing because I don’t always feel I have the strength to do that. Imposter Syndrome numbs my persistence every so often but I’d say the number one reason I continue to make work despite outside negativity is because I feel that my life is way too short for me to care about opinions that hold no bearing on what my life could and should be. I make work for myself. I want to travel, make work I like, experience everything the world has to offer so despite feeling nervous I push myself. It’s terrifying and difficult, but I usually let my mind go “oh crap oh crap oh crap” while I go and do the thing. I also don’t push myself if I really don’t want to do something, or I’m not ready to. Building that trust in myself has been a big part of knowing that I can always circle back.
In my final year of high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was essentially giving up on my dream of going to University, having a career, joining clubs and even all my hobbies were falling to the side. I had a few teachers, I want to mention them here: Mr. Galang and Mr. Cheng who introduced me to media as an art form. I am forever indebted to both of them for supporting me in wanting to first be a graphic designer and ultimately switching to being a filmmaker. I took a new-ish course on film in my final years at the school and about a month before the deadline to apply, I made a film and submitted it to two University programs, banking on one of them to take me. At that time, a friend of mine was also interested in film, but instead of being supportive, they decided to persistently tell me that I could never ever make a film because I didn’t know anything about doing that. I took that as a challenge, and I got into one of the best film schools in Canada. We are not friends anymore, and that was my first experience with an avid hater, and discovery of how persistent I could be when I wanted something.
In 2022, I graduated from University with 3 friends, memories of being excluded from parties, groups, and harsh or rude comments directed at me by other students and went into my first job as a Covid PA on a Tier A production. Earlier that year, I had won Achievement in Production for work on the short thesis film, Cod Story, which was an example of how I continue to jump into challenges, despite how many people tell me to drop a project or that I’ve never done it before, so it’s going to be way too difficult. I have received many comments from well-meaning people about having a backup in case film doesn’t work out, and many comments about how I likely will never be famous – so is it worth it? I left University knowing that I had this amazing film under my belt and regardless of all the hate, shame, fear that I had in my system, I had pushed myself to do something I never thought that I would do, which was produce a film in a province I had never been to, Newfoundland, and spend half a month on location during the school year. The result was amazing.
In 2023, I went to Italy for a workshop called Terre di Cinema, where I directed a film for the first time on 35mm Kodak film. There was a lot of buzz about whether or not this was worth it or a waste of my money, but I continued to push to do it, and it was the best decision of my life. I also started my production company, Waddling Duck, in this year to give myself an incentive to continue making work and build community. I have to move forward and make opportunities because I do not want to wait around for someone to give me that chance.
Persistence is how I move. It’s how I manage to do anything because if I wasn’t annoying about getting work or forcing myself to do things despite my mind running around telling me it’s too scary, I would be sitting at home on my couch watching back to back episodes of random things on National Geographic and watching life go by one pixel at a time.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a filmmaker, mostly a Producer and an occasional Director of short films, but I dabble in everything from mini-series to mid-length, features, YouTube content and more. I have worked around Toronto in the commercial world for the last two years, and continue to build up my portfolio and skills while learning from some of the best commercial companies here. My production company and banner, Waddling Duck, focuses on films that interest me or do something new and technologically cool. I’ve always been a fan of anything and everything. I think filmmaking is a very special career because it’s like the wild west – but without the scary high-noon shoot-out scenes. It can be fun, but daunting and I think that is what makes it so interesting to me. I experience through film. I travel through film and I am able to have a product at the end that is an extension of me that I can give to the world. I’ve always considered my films as like, little me’s that go out into the world and live their lives, or live their era until that part of me is retired – or the way I’ve usually described it to others is “this is my child and she is now old enough for me to send her out on her own” and when the film is coming back for anything “this is my child coming home from boarding school for the winter break”. Film is timeless, imaginative, and circular and that is what I love about the industry I work in.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Confidence, Honesty and Resilience. There are more words I could use, but these three, the minute I implemented them more into my life the more forward I was able to travel. I have never been a fully confident person, but I have my moments and no one is every truly confident all the time. I’ve always been an honest person. Even if I have told a little lie, I can’t hold onto it and come out with it right away. Honesty is a big one because the more you are honest with yourself and with other people, the more trust will come through, and the more people will feel connected to you. Resilience is super important and it’s something my parents taught me. Life can be so horrible, and it might not get better but it does become more full and I think that is so much better than better, because it is real. I think that to be resilient in the face of hardship is the most amazing thing that anyone can do because I consider it to be the most difficult skill to master.
I don’t know if I’m qualified to give advice because I’m still early on in my journey and could use some myself! But I would say, if you have an idea – make it. If someone tells you you aren’t capable – do it anyway and do it bad. Too often I’m told, if you’re going to do something do it well. No, man, do it bad. Just do it, there’s always time to improve, and the best way to improve is by making mistakes, switching gears and building on what you just learned. Resilience, I think, is the hardest of these to give advice for, but what I do is remind myself that no matter what happens, I want to see the end of the movie that I’m living in right now, because I won’t be able to revisit it later.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I have a list of people: my parents – Sandra and Dario, my sister – Sarra, my grandparents – Attilio, Emilia, Tommasso and Renza, my best friends and notable favourite people – Kristoffer Bradley, Marina, Lauren, Daniel C., Daniel G., Ralph, Ryan, Ethan, Rachel, Brandon. There are many more people but for the sake of accidentally forgetting to mention someone – you know who you are so thank you for helping me along the way and including me in your projects and your lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lorenzadebenedictis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorenzadebenedictis/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lorenzadebenedictis
Image Credits
Still From: Scatter Brain (2020)
BTS images from: Cod Story (2022)
Still From: My University Acceptance Film!
BTS Photos From ‘A Thousand Little Trees of Blood’ (2024) provided by:
Reynard Lee
Johannes Kirchlechner, BVK
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
