FAMP Art works with artists to create alternative film posters for classic and foreign films; owner and founder Alex DiGiovanna manages the balancing act of coordinating and directing these artists, securing the licensing rights, working with a film’s director when possible, selling and distributing the final posters, and even setting up gallery showings to display these artists’ work. We talked to DiGiovanna about his company, his love of classic and foreign films, and his commitment to supporting artists who are passionate about recreating posters of for fellow cinephiles. Don’t forget to browse through the rest of our Boston Comic Con video coverage. Read the transcript of DiGiovanna’s video interview below.
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My name’s Alex DiGiovanna. I’m the owner and founder of FAMP Art. Basically, we release screen-printed poster art for movie posters and things like that. All of it is officially licensed. We’re starting to dabble in some gallery space, representing artists, fine art — there are a few aspects of things that I just want to see prints for, that I love. One of my big things is giving artists an opportunity to sell their work without getting undercut, and trying to help them get exposure, so that’s what I’m trying to do.
There are other companies that are similar to mine, and I tried to pick a niche that no one was doing. Foreign films and classics is what I love, and what I wanted to help expose as well. So, I tried to find the top films — City of God is one of my top five films of all time, it’s one of the best foreign films ever made in many people’s opinions. So, I tried to track down and work with the directors on that. Same thing with Troll Hunter. Anything that has a little bit of a following.
The main goal was to bridge the gap between art-house critics and film lovers of that area, as well as the poster-collecting scene. So, if I could do that, if I could find the nice middle ground? I’d be very happy.
I do a bit of the art directing; I ask them to send me some sketches first, and if there are things that I don’t like, I tell them. I’m not going to hold back, because I want to see the best print possible. Then, they send me the final files, and then I work on getting it screen-printed and work with the printers, making sure it all comes out nice. I handle all the shipping, and all that fun stuff.
I’m going to have a gallery show in December at Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn. It’s going to be focused on The Labours of Hercules. So, we’ve got thirteen artists lined up: twelve for each labour, then the thirteenth artist will display his own version of Hercules.
I try to find comic book artists, people that have never done any concept artist-type work, graphic designers — it doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure it’s the right person for the right property.
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