The Story Behind the Soul…
My name is Tisa Marie Zito. I am a Digital Film Producer and Film Instructor at Utah Tech University. I am also the Program Director for the DOCUTAH International Film Festival, & filmmaker for Old Soul Artistry. It took me a while to get here. I have been making films and taking photos since I was a child. Old Soul began as a tribute to family & close friends; the old souls we have lost. Feel free to navigate amongst our tabs. More on the history of Old Soul below…The name Old Soul stuck after remarks often made by strangers.
Tisa, featured here.
It started as a way to spend time in a quiet place alone with images. I spent afternoons in high school working in the darkroom with 35mm film and working through my teenage angst. I discovered I had a decent eye after encouragement from a teacher.
Years of making home movies in the basement with my brother, Brandon and my best friend, Lindsay fueled a love of creating visual stories, writing, comedy, and acting.
How We Laughed
After high school I set out to follow a career in photojournalism at Hofstra University. I wanted to do something important and that felt important. Long Island didn’t turn out to be the perfect fit for me.
Back Upstate at Monroe Community College, I discovered movement and sound and began to focus on video production, graduating with my Associate's in visual communications.
Having a camera in front of me became a natural way to take in the world and learn about every new topic I was filming. It also acted as a barrier in social situations which I learned to use as an advantage.
Video, rather than photography, began to reveal itself as the perfect vehicle for relaying messages to mass audiences. When done well, the impact could be far-reaching and great.
My brother Brandon was part of inspiring that change as well. We were destined to graduate together that May. He was truly brilliant. Brandon suddenly passed away on May 3, 2001.
On Sept 17, 2001, days after Sept 11, and months after the death of my brother, I embarked on a three-month journey living off the land in Baja, Mexico as part of NOLS course to process life and breathe. One month was spent living in the San Pedro Martir mountains, one month paddling the Sea of Cortez living in a kayak, and the last month sailing in a 15-foot Drascombe. Aside from not knowing if we’d be let back into the US at that time, nature did and always has brought me peace.
My years following in attendance at Maryland Institute College of the Arts allowed me to continue to focus on conceptualization and content. A strong element of raw truth-telling was present in my films during this time.
“Vintage”
I could often be found on the streets of downtown Baltimore, filming the homeless and happenings of Lexington Market where I lived. After losing my brother to drugs I felt a connection to the addicts and wanted to hear their story. Looking back, I certainly took a lot of risks but at the time it felt like the only place I should be.
The Weight of Words
After studying at Hofstra & MICA, I graduated from RIT’s film program with a BFA and emphasis on documentary film production. I gained some recognition with a few student films. My short doc film The Weight of Words asked questions about the impact violent language in music had on young minds.
A Strange Love Affair, a film about a childhood friend’s battle with addiction and my own sobriety was chosen for Women of SOFA, High Falls Film Festival and Honors Show in 2008.
Focus, a film documenting the public and private life of an inner-city schoolteacher was featured in the Emerging Film Makers series & High Falls Film Festival and Honors Show in 2006. Around this time I was a Semi-finalist for “I LoveNY” film competition and Interviewed by Channel 13 News.
Post graduation, I embarked on a move out west which involved years of traveling and living in different areas of the country. Although they were tumultuous and somewhat lost years, they were some of the most important in finding myself. My photography blossomed and I returned to my original love of the still.
Something about the quiet of the woods and the majesty of the mountains that made for the best subjects of all.
I spent some time working for KEZI channel 9 news in Eugene, Oregon where I learned the great and often overlooked responsibilities of the media. I operated live trucks, shot Oregon Duck games, filmed homicides, suicides, meth labs. It was interesting but not something I wanted long-term.
Cam Hanes, Professional Bow Hunter. Filmed for KEZI channel 9 news.
After years moving from Pennsylvania to Oregon to LA to Washington. I returned to the east coast where I began to pull focus on Old Soul Artistry.
“Devoting my free moments to documentary filmmaking has both spiritually and intellectually shaped who I am and continues to do so. It has become a defining aspect to my character. In my work, there is always an element of reality that I aim to keep in sight. I enjoy taking the cinema verite approach, where one forgets the camera is present.”
After years of production, Sprocket, my beloved hound has become the face behind Old Soul Artistry. My previous companion was killed by an ex-boyfriend’s rottweiler, and that event was probably the most acutely traumatic event I’ve ever lived through. Escaping that situation has also made me who I am. I was drawn to Utah because of the beautiful, chiseled mountains I saw passing through on several cross-country road trips. I aimed a dart at the map, with some luck found a film job, and I’ve been here for 8 years since, happy to be helping guide the youth of this great America. The thing about being lost and not knowing where to go next, you have nothing to lose. When you’ve got nothing else to go on, use your freedom as a guide.
Old Soul is experiencing life for those that are no longer here. By creating work in their name, I bring meaning to my own life.
Brandon, April 9, 1978- May 03, 2001
Todd Conaway
Over the years, a love of visual aesthetics, the ability to tell a story as it unfolds, and the tenacity for attention to detail, have become what is now Old Soul Artistry. My latest project is called Old Soul Legacy. I’m now creating high-end professional documentaries for people of all walks of life, telling their stories, to be left behind for loved ones and the world. It brings me peace creating professional level documentary filmmaking for the everyday person, in life and in memoriam, knowing how important that time of grieving is for people.
ARTIST STATEMENT
When viewing a film, I appreciate when the creator allows me to collect my own thoughts, make my own conclusions. I aim to extend that to my own viewers. It is my opinion that we become too far removed from what we are watching when it is weighed down with too much cinematic glitz and the message is lost. I am content driven. I have a strong desire to create work that will educate society and open its eyes. There are hidden stories reaching the farthest ends of the globe and stories in our own backyard waiting to be captured. These stories, whether small and intimate, or vast and relentless, are mirror images of ourselves, and a door to understanding the human psyche. What’s so compelling about a successful documentary is that it can take us to the heart of an issue, into the center of another world, and allow us to see what we could never imagine being a reality. It can express visually to us, what we may not be able to grasp in any other form. Some of the most successful documentaries are not easy to watch. It takes a willing participant to look at themselves, at mankind, and accept room for improvement. Documentary film, when created in an unbiased fashion, is an enlightening experience. I enjoy getting people to think. What I specifically love about creating documentaries is the process of learning as I’m filming and also the process of educating the viewer. These lessons can be absorbed and applied directly to real life because they are being derived from watching real situations. They are not what we have come to know as reality tv, they are not created for the sake of hyped up drama, and no one is acting a role. The story tells itself. Editing guides the story, but the characters, the plot, are all there. It’s up to the filmmaker to line them up in a way that tells the story best. Sometimes less is more.
— Tisa
ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project
My first feature film called ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project finally came to be. Here I acted as sole creator in the Directorial, Producer, DP, and Editorial role. The film is about the lead singer of Fishbone, Angelo Moore and focuses on the question of why artists are compelled to make art. I was also asking this of myself. The film ran the festival circuit in the US, Canada, and in the UK: Idyllwild, Sound Unseen, Decibels, The Tucson Film and Music Festival, NorthWestFest (Canada), The Beloit International Film Festival, The Lake County Film Festival, London’s Doc’nroll, DOCUTAH, and the NOVA fest in the D.C. area. It is now available to stream on Amazon, Apple, iTunes, InDemand, Tubi, and more.
I am currently a Film Producer and film professor Utah Tech University and Program Director for the DOCUTAH International Film Festival.
BIO
Tisa is a Digital Film Producer and Film Instructor at Utah Tech University. She is also the Program Director for the DOCUTAH International Film Festival, & filmmaker for Old Soul Artistry. She has been making films and taking photos since she was a child. Determined to be a photojournalist, she discovered the power of movement & sound at MCC where she began making documentaries and obtained an AS. After studying at Hofstra & MICA, she graduated from RIT’s film program with a BFA. Her first feature film is called ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project, where she acted as sole creator in the Directorial, Producer, DP, and Editorial role. She began Old Soul Artistry as a tribute to loved ones, where she offers a documentary service for individuals called Legacy, bringing professional level documentary filmmaking to the everyday person in life and in memoriam. Her latest project is an environmental documentary about the Nuclear Industry. Her favorite creative pastimes are taking naturalistic portraits and nature photography with her Basset Hound, Sprocket and free flow creative writing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I believe deeply that everyone can make positive change and in doing so improve upon their own happiness by having a sense of purpose. If we choose one thing and focus on that, we can make progress. It takes hard work and commitment and near obsession, but it can be done. I believe pain teaches you great lessons about what actually matters and who is deserving of your love. You can have it all but if you aren’t capable of appreciating it, you have nothing at all.
My latest passion project is an environmental documentary about the Nuclear Industry called What Remains: A Nuclear Legacy. The film has local ties. More information on this film can be found here. I am currently looking for funding to help finish this very important story: https://gofund.me/b5a5a3932
