The Global Search for Education: Director Ava Fumarolo Discusses the Connection Between Music and Relationships

Posted By C. M. Rubin on Mar 7, 2023

This month, audiences can screen Ava Fumarolo’s High Fidelity on the Planet Classroom Network. This film was curated by Planet Classroom.

High Fidelity is a short film from Director Ava Fumarolo. It is the story of a young record shop worker reflecting on her past and future, thinking about personal relationships prompted by her favorite music.

With each record she places on the platter this hopeless romantic reveals the innermost secrets of her most memorable heartbreaks.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Ava Fumarolo.

What was the initial inspiration behind producing this video? Was it a catalyst for growth or a reaction to it?

For a long time, I had been given prompts or perameters to follow when creating short films. My high school doesn’t have film classes, so I’d take the digital arts classes. But the projects I was making were more experimental and I was never happy with them. My junior year, I wanted to make something that inspired me and excited me to work on. I had been struggling to come up with a new idea for about a month, and I can remember exactly where I came up with the idea for High Fidelity. I had just started watching the show on Hulu and then out of nowhere I started to think about my life in the style of High Fidelity—breaking the fourth wall and all. I began to write that night. I can’t pinpoint what it was about the story that inspired me, but I can tell you that my love for music and the unique style of storytelling from both the TV and movie were motives to produce my own version of High Fidelity.

Why did you choose to act in your own video? Was there any thought to having another actor, or was there purpose behind telling your own story?

I shot this back in November of 2021, so masks and COVID were still a very real thing. Not that that was the reason for a small cast or crew, but it played a small part. Ultimately, I decided to play the part of Blanche because I felt that after writing the script, I resonated with her on a certain level. Maybe it was just that she was a teenager, or parts of the story I told her were true for me. At the end of the day, I think the purpose for me to tell this story, not so much my own, is that it’s true for anyone who has had a crush, because most people can relate to it one way or another. And that is something that as I move forward I’d like to focus on.

How do you think your own account of life from the perspective of a young woman can help others who watch your film?

I like to make the stories that I tell fun. Mostly because it keeps people interested and I prefer to watch comedies over dramas any day. However, there are still dramatic undertones, it’s just all about the way you present it. So, the story coming from a young woman adds some humor to the music side of the story, as well as the being in love side. I think my perspective can help people connect to their own lives and remember what it was to be like a teenager, or find something that is truthful to their lives now, if they are a teenager.

How pivotal was the role of music to inspiring this video and other aspects of your life?

Music, for me, is always one the first things I go to. I think a lot of creative people turn to music because it is a medium where we can use someone else’s words to express emotions and feelings. When I was picking music, I wanted to keep some songs that people would know as it automatically creates a relationship with the audience because everyone has a different relationship with that song. I also wanted to incorporate some older songs to make that nostalgic feeling very present—make it feel youthful and remember the good old days when you were crushing on somebody.

Thank you Ava!