Today we’d like to introduce you to Tisa Zito.
Hi Tisa , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. After years moving from Pennsylvania to Oregon to LA to Washington to NY to Utah, 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 for myself. The film ran the festival circuit in the US, Canada, and in the UK. It is now available to stream on Amazon, Apple, iTunes, InDemand, Tubi, and more. Please feel free to check it out.
After years of production, Sprocket, my beloved hound has become the face behind Old Soul Artistry and my love. 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 that 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. That is the truth. From this sentiment, In 2020 during the COVID pandemic, Old Soul Legacy was born. 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.
I will be doing a Fine Art Photography show in St. George at The Sears Gallery this June with my Alaska photography. I finally made that solo trip to visit The Final Frontier. Some of the proceeds will go to help rehab damage from the fires in Pine Valley, a place many of us are heartbroken to have lost.
I believe deeply that everyone can make positive change and in doing so only improve upon their own happiness with a sense of purpose. If we all just 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 What Remains: A Nuclear Legacy can be found here. I am currently looking for funding to help finish this very important story: https://gofund.me/b5a5a3932
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My tenacity and refusal to take “no” for an answer is what sets me apart from others. I refuse to give up. I’d love to spend a moment speaking about a timely film I am trying to finish that has taken my own money and generous donations of loving friends and family to get off the ground. The film is called What Remains: A Nuclear Legacy.
All eyes are on Climate Change and our carbon footprint. With the added electricity grid tax of AI, data center energy consumption in the US will double or even triple by 2026, to match that of Japan. The Nuclear Industry’s flame is being stoked once again, however old questions such as nuclear storage, safety, and cleanup are still unanswered. Is the next wave of nuclear power going to be different? This film, with funding, will answer these questions and provide, hopefully, a sense of relief with solutions for the future.
The film is neither for or against Nuclear. It is diving into the history of where we’ve been and where we’re going and if we are thinking it all through. If you care about the environment, clean energy, science, cancer rates, nuclear proliferation, and the world you’re leaving behind for your children, please consider donating so that myself and my one-person crew can get to our final locations and finish telling the story to educate.
With your funding and the help of specialists like Dr. Michael Ketterer PhD, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his spectrometry process, Nuclear Engineer Nick Touran, Scientist Aaron Datesman, and Heather Hoff of Mothers for Nuclear, we hope to answer is nuclear viable for the future?
Three Mile Island T1 is set to reopen for Microsoft’s data centers. In light of yesterday’s announcements about resuming Nuclear testing at the Nevada National Security Site (-the old Nevada Test Site,) I am becoming more vocal about my fundraising trailer. We need your help. This film needs to be made.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
in paragraph one I mention that I was pretty shy. I used cameras to hide behind rather than try to be apart of what was going on, I wanted to watch. I was a true introvert, riddled with anxiety who later turned to drinking early around 14 to quell that anxiety. My art has always been a life line. Whether it’s writing, photography, singing, acting, dancing, filmmaking, an attempt at painting, it’s all a place to put whatever it is that I need to expel. I no longer need drinking. I think after living through major hardships and challenges, you learn you can do anything.
Pricing:
- Old Soul Legacy $1,500-3,500+
- Signed and framed Photography Varies: $100-1,200
- ForeverMoore rental varies all over streaming services
- What Remains: A Nuclear Legacy- https://gofund.me/57ac6d41d
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oldsoulartistry.com
- Instagram: @oldsoul_artistry, @forevermooredoc, @oldsoullegacy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForeverMooreTheAngeloProject and https://www.facebook.com/OldSoulArtistryProductions/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tisazito/
- Google Photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPEChSFWlhC-pPLZSh3jBPUGkv7K2Ekuo6sujgFc-aH8WN4p9UuYOuB0o4eKDUSdQ
- Other: https://gofund.me/57ac6d41d
