IL FINTO VDEOMAKER A NEW YORK

THE FAKE VIDEOMAKER IN NYC

MY DREAM WAS ALWAYS JUST ONE: TO GO TO NEW YORK.

My favorite movies, the music, my Gotham City. Somehow, everything always brought me back there. New York wasn’t just a city; it was a promise.

Every November, for my birthday, I always try to take at least a week off. It has become a sort of tradition.

One day, almost by chance, I checked the flights. And there it was: €330 round trip to New York. I just stared at the screen. I thought it had to be a mistake.

It wasn’t.

I texted Giovanni: “Should we go?”

He said no. Too little time, ESTA, passports, everything that needed to be organized.

End of the story, at least for a few hours.

The next day, another message arrived.

He told me that a colleague of his, who worked in the music industry, might be able to host us in New York.

And that changed everything.

Officially, I wasn’t just a friend.

I was the videographer.

Or at least, that’s what it looked like.

Filming, photos, content for a music project.

In exchange: free accommodation.

There wasn’t much to think about.

When I arrived in New York, it felt like stepping into Wonderland.

Strange people, artists everywhere, “Mad Hatters” around every corner: on the streets, in the subway, in bars and clubs.

My happiness was obvious, almost embarrassing in how intense it was.

After a couple of days, Evan — the guy hosting us — had probably already figured out that I wasn’t really a videographer.

But he never made me feel uncomfortable about it.

And I just kept doing my thing.

And maybe that experience was exactly what opened my eyes.

During a night of live music, I saw something that deeply struck me: the artists were helping each other, collaborating, and at the end of each performance, congratulating one another and exchanging contacts.

There was a different kind of energy.

That was when I truly understood the meaning of:

“I want to help you. Let’s do this together.”

A mindset that, in my opinion, is sometimes missing in Italy, where people too often try to put others down in order to stand out, instead of growing together.

New York didn’t just give me a trip.

It gave me a new perspective on reality.

And even though my role there was that of a fake videographer, in that city I felt, for the first time, exactly where I was meant to be..