Independent documentary filmmaker, producer and director Larry Confino visited Weber State University on March 23 and 24 in promotion of his recent films. Confino is an alum from New York University’s film program and has been operating as an independent filmmaker for over 25 years.

Confino has spent the past several years working on a series of documentary short films called “50 States of Sustainability.”

This 10-part documentary series regards different ways energy is being renewed and sustained in the United States, and the series is currently airing on public-access television. Confino is currently working on the second season of the show.

On March 23, Confino attended the Intermountain Sustainability Summit in the Shepherd Union Ballrooms, and on March 24, Confino and Studio 76 held a talk in the Stewart Library for Film and Communication majors to see Confino’s latest work and learn about being a professional independent filmmaker.

Students who were interested in careers in this field had the chance to ask questions and get insight about the process of transitioning from college student to producer or director from a professional who has been in the business for several decades.

Confino presented one of the episodes of “50 States of Sustainability” that was about BETA Technologies, a company based out of Vermont working on a new type of airplane that runs off sustainable energy.

“I was attracted to this because I went to a Summit in Arkansas, and I told them that we hadn’t done any kind of production related to the coming of electric aircrafts,” Confino said. “This will transform logistics and transportation in general.”

Later, Confino showed off another film that he has spent the past six years working on, “Psychedelicized: The Electric Circus Story.” This documentary is about a popular 1960s and 70s nightclub in New York City.

This documentary is almost complete, and the students in attendance watched the first 20 minutes of the film, which has not yet been seen by anyone except the people working on the film.

The soundtrack for “Psychedelicized: The Electric Circus Story” consists of covers from bands that played at this nightclub. The covers are done by a rock band called The Grip Weeds. Confino expects to release a soundtrack album alongside his film.

“There are all kinds of great advantages to that kind of cross-promotion,” Confino said.

Confino also said he is using new technology and software for editing and sharing film with other people who are involved in making the film. Confino uses a software called Telestream Cloud Qualify to analyze the film to see if there are issues with the sound quality or color correction.

“The software makes it so I can send my cut of the film to the cloud,” Confino said. “It will analyze it in the cloud and then send me a report. I am not buying expensive hardware for editing. I just upload the cut and it tells me what the violations might be and then we fix it.”

As Confino closed out the night, he gave some final advice to students who are interested in working on films.

“Okay, you want to be a director,” Confino said. “Well, start directing. Don’t waste any time. Don’t wait for someone to tell you to direct a movie.”