About
I am an Italian-born filmmaker, editor and educator based in Newport, Wales.For more than twenty years, I have worked across documentary, fiction, film education and community-based practice. My work is particularly concerned with memory, displacement, identity and the relationship between people and the places they inhabit.Having moved between southern Italy and Wales, I am drawn to stories that exist between cultures, communities and established narratives. Whether directing, editing or teaching, I look for forms that allow people’s lived experiences to remain complex, contradictory and recognisably their own.My films are developed collaboratively, often outside conventional production structures. They combine close observation with a willingness to experiment with narrative, performance, archive and the unexpected moments that emerge during production.Current work includes Fursa, a documentary developed between Wales and Kenya; the Urban Circle film programme in Newport; documentary and independent-film editing; film education; and editorial support for researchers and creative practitioners.Selected writing and coverageA FILMMAKER BETWEEN PLACES
Profile, photographs and reflections on my films
Woody's Wax Works
READ THE PROFILETHE ODD WORLD OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING
My account of developing The Shaman of Rust
Desktop Documentaries
READ THE ARTICLEBased in Newport, Wales · Working across documentary, education, editing and community film culture
Massimo Salvato on location during Carmen, southern Italy, 2004. Photo by Anita Hummel
Services
I work with independent filmmakers, charities, community organisations, educators and researchers to shape films, learning experiences and written work that are clear, purposeful and true to the people and ideas behind them.
Documentary & Community FilmFor charities, community organisations, artists and socially engaged projects.I develop documentary and community-based films rooted in lived experience, collaboration and meaningful storytelling. I can support a project from its first idea through research, planning, interviews, filming and editorial development.• Documentary development and treatments
• Community and charity film projects
• Interview and narrative strategy
• Creative development and production planningDiscuss a film project
Film & Documentary EditingFor independent filmmakers, documentary makers, artists, charities and organisations with existing footage.I edit documentary, community and independent film projects, helping to find the strongest story within the material. My approach combines practical editing with close attention to structure, character, rhythm, perspective and emotional meaning.• Assembly and rough-cut editing
• Story and sequence development
• Interview-led narrative construction
• Fine-cut refinement and editorial feedbackDiscuss an editing project
Film Education, Workshops & ConsultancyFor schools, colleges, universities, community groups and professional organisations.I design and deliver film, media and storytelling sessions that help learners and practitioners understand how images, sound, editing and narrative create meaning. Sessions can be adapted for students, educators, community participants and professional teams.• Film and media workshops
• Documentary storytelling sessions
• Reflective practice through film
• Screening introductions and facilitated discussionsPlan a workshop or session
Academic Editing & Writing SupportFor postgraduate researchers, academics and professional writers.I provide developmental editing that strengthens the structure, clarity and flow of complex writing while preserving the author’s ideas, voice and ownership of the work.• Dissertation and thesis structure
• Chapter review and developmental editing
• Proposals, abstracts and conference papers
• Argument, coherence and organisational clarityAsk about academic editing
Not sure where your project fits?
Some projects begin as an early idea, a collection of footage, a developing piece of research or complex material that has not yet found its final form. A short conversation can help clarify what is needed and whether I am the right person to support it.
Selected Projects
A selection of documentary, editing, education and community cinema projects developed across Wales and internationally.
DOCUMENTARY IN DEVELOPMENTFursa (Swahili for 'opportunity')
A documentary following disabled Kenyan artisans and a Welsh disability activist as they work to transform an unfinished borehole into a source of survival, independence and collective possibility.Writer and Director · Wales/Kenya · In developmentFind out more
INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARYThe Shaman of RustIn post-industrial Newport, an unconventional artist transforms derelict spaces and discarded objects into art, ritual and meaning. Filmed during the city’s Empty Shops project, and against the backdrop of the destruction of the Newport Chartist Mural, The Shaman of Rust follows his restless creative process and fragmented memories as he emerges from depression and reclaims a sense of purpose. An intimate portrait of resilience and imagination, the film explores how art can help both an individual and a changing city make meaning from what has been left behind.Writer, Producer, Director, Editor · Wales, 2015 · Carmarthen Bay Film Festival finalistFind out moreTen years later, I returned to related Newport histories as editor of Keefa Chan’s documentary Newport: Rebels & Renaissance, supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales.Watch the trailer
COMMUNITY CINEMA: URBAN CIRCLE FILM PROGRAMMEUCis20A sixteen-film community cinema programme in Newport, combining international and independent cinema with local short films, guest filmmakers and facilitated audience conversations.Curator and Programme Manager · Newport · 2026
FILM, NARRATIVE AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICEFacilitator, Lecturer and Programme DeveloperWorkshops, screenings and professional-development sessions exploring how film can support reflection, learning and conversations about lived experience.
CONTACTLet’s talk.I welcome enquiries about documentary development, editing, film education, community screenings, workshops and academic editorial support.If you have a project, film, piece of research or early-stage idea you would like to discuss, please get in touch.Based in Newport, Wales, and available for work across the UK and internationally.
© 2026 Massimo Salvato · Filmmaker, educator and editor
Making FURSA
A documentary journey between Wales and Kenya, exploring disability, enterprise, water access and the work of building lasting independence.
With members of the Fursa community project during filming in Kibwezi, Makueni County, Kenya, July 2024.
Fursa began through my involvement with ResponsABLE Assistance, a Newport-based charity working alongside disabled people’s groups in Kenya. During two weeks of filming in 2024, I followed community members whose businesses, skills and ambitions challenge familiar assumptions about disability and dependence. The developing documentary now centres on a shared effort to complete a borehole capable of providing water, income and greater independence.The video below was created in 2024 as a funders/context film for the Fursa Initiative of ResponsABLE assistance. The footage was filmed by myself and Josemarie Nyagah during our time with the community groups in Kenya, and later edited by Metfield Films Ltd. It introduces the charity partnership, the disabled people’s groups, and the borehole project that has become central to the developing documentary Fursa.
Context video for the Fursa Initiative · Footage by Massimo Salvato and Josemarie Nyagah · Edited by Metfield Films Ltd, 2024
The project
Fursa is a documentary project connecting Wales and Kenya through the work of disability activist Trevor Palmer BEM and the disabled artisans and entrepreneurs supported by the Fursa initiative in Makueni County.The film follows people building businesses through rope-making, basketry, farming and micro-loans while confronting one fundamental obstacle: access to water.
At the centre of the developing story is a borehole drilled 200 metres beneath donated land, awaiting the solar-powered equipment needed to bring the water to the surface.
Current logline
A Welsh disability activist and disabled Kenyan artisans confront an unfinished borehole, trying to turn underground water into their survival and independence.
From Newport to Kibwezi
The project grew from the long-term partnership between Newport charity ResponsABLE Assistance and disabled people’s organisations in Kenya. What began with three groups has developed into a wider network of community initiatives involving hundreds of members.The documentary follows relationships that have developed over time, between Wales and Kenya, between community organisers and participants, and between individual ambition and collective support.
Trevor Palmer in Newport, Wales
Dr Cecilia Nyagah, the Kenya-based coordinator of the Fursa initiative, outside the main Fursa office
Members of a Fursa group display their handwoven sisal baskets and bags during a community visit
The people at the centre
Trevor Palmer BEM
A Newport-based disability activist and the founder of ResponsABLE Assistance. A wheelchair user himself, he has spent many years building relationships with disabled people and community groups in Kenya, helping the Fursa initiative grow into a wide network supporting hundreds of members. His belief in practical, community-led empowerment connects the Welsh and Kenyan strands of the documentary. The strength of these relationships is reflected in Francis and Jacinta naming their young son Trevor after him.
Dr Cecilia Nyagah
The Kenya-based coordinator of the Fursa initiative and the principal link between the participating community groups and ResponsABLE Assistance in Wales. She supports members in developing enterprises, organising community activities and strengthening local leadership, working particularly closely with Francis Mutuku. Cecilia empowers disabled members of the Fursa community to support themselves and their families, while developing practical skills that they can share with other disabled people in their communities.
Nzembi Musuvuli
A wheelchair user, entrepreneur and community organiser, Nzembi has developed activities including water-tank sales and vegetable growing. Land connected to her family became central to the borehole project.
Francis and Jacinta Mutuku
Francis, who is blind, makes sisal ropes by hand and also tends livestock and a garden. Over time, he has become one of Fursa’s key leaders, working closely with Kenya-based coordinator Dr Cecilia Nyagah and emerging as a respected community advocate for disability empowerment. Jacinta supports the initiative through bookkeeping and administration and now trains other women in basic accountancy and beadwork. Together, they reflect the practical skills, leadership and mutual support at the heart of the Fursa community. Their family also includes little Trevor, named after Welsh disability activist and ResponsABLE Assistance founder Trevor Palmer BEM.
Documentary · 60 minutes · Wales · 2015
Produced, directed and edited by Massimo Salvato
The Shaman of Rust is a poetic documentary about creativity, displacement and survival.Filmed in Newport, South Wales, during the Empty Shops project, it follows artist Jonathan Sherwood as he faces depression, the threat of losing his home and the disappearance of the temporary cultural spaces in which he and other local artists worked.Surrounded by rusted tools, discarded objects and recycled materials, Jonny continuously transforms what has been abandoned into art. His humour, vulnerability and restless imagination reveal creativity as a way of rebuilding purpose and identity.The film grew from a chance encounter in Newport’s empty-shop studios and was supported through a community crowdfunding campaign. Blending observational documentary, urban poetry and moments of surreal humour, it becomes both an intimate portrait of one artist and a record of a city undergoing profound change.The Shaman of Rust was a finalist at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival in 2016.Art is the heart of a culture.
— Jonathan Sherwood
A quirky yet riveting film … made with refreshing integrity.
— Taini Polypheme, Woody’s Wax Works, 2015
How the film began
The documentary began unexpectedly. I encountered Jonny in Newport town centre as he and around twenty other artists were facing eviction from the empty shop they had transformed into a communal studio. At the same time, Jonny was facing the possible loss of his own home.I began filming without a fixed structure, returning repeatedly to the studio and gradually earning the trust of the artists and other people using the space. What started as observational documentary developed into a more playful and collaborative form, incorporating music, poetry, performance and deliberately staged encounters alongside the unfolding reality.The film grew through this mixture of observation and improvisation. Its form emerged from the people, spaces and unexpected events encountered during production.
Newport in transition
The documentary also contains footage connected to the destruction of Newport’s Chartist Mural near John Frost Square. Its demolition became part of the wider context surrounding the film: a city being regenerated while many of its cultural spaces, artworks and communal histories were being displaced or erased.
Watch the trailer
Screen the film
The Shaman of Rust is available for community, educational, arts and cultural screenings. Screenings can be accompanied by an introduction or a discussion about documentary practice, mental health, community art, urban regeneration and Newport’s changing cultural landscape.
FILM EDUCATION, WORKSHOPS
AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
I design and facilitate film workshops, screening programmes and professional-development sessions that use moving-image storytelling to support learning, reflection and meaningful conversation.Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a filmmaker and educator, I combine close film analysis with practical creative work. Sessions can be developed for students, educators, community groups, health professionals, researchers and creative practitioners.My approach is collaborative and adaptable. I shape each session around the participants, the setting and the questions the organisation wants to explore.
FILM WORKSHOPS AND SHORT COURSESPractical and analytical sessions exploring visual storytelling, documentary, screenwriting, directing, editing and mobile filmmaking.Workshops can introduce new skills, develop an existing project or help participants understand how meaning is created through image, sound and narrative.
CURATED SCREENINGS AND FACILITATED DISCUSSIONFilm screenings accompanied by introductions, guided discussion and reflective activities.Programmes can be developed around social, cultural, political or personal themes, helping audiences continue the conversation beyond the film itself.
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE THROUGH FILM AND STORYTELLINGBespoke sessions using film, narrative and creative exercises to support reflection on professional experience, communication, identity and lived experience.This work can be adapted for health professionals, educators, community workers and multidisciplinary teams.
CURRICULUM AND PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENTSupport with designing film courses, workshop programmes, learning materials and community-cinema projects—from initial concept and film selection through to delivery and evaluation.