AboutI am a filmmaker, editor and educator based in Wales.For more than twenty years, I have worked across documentary, fiction, film education and community-based practice.Having grown up in southern Italy and made my home in Wales, I am drawn to stories that exist between cultures 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 the documentary Fursa, independent film editing, and curating Urban Circle's film programme in Newport. I also offer digital learning design, 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 ARTICLE
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 filmmakers and organisations with footage, a rough cut or a film that needs clarity and shape.I edit short-form, documentary and independent film work with close attention to structure, rhythm, character and emotional truth. I can work remotely or in person, whether you need a full edit, support in shaping an existing cut, or a fresh editorial perspective.• Documentary and short film editing
• Story, structure and rough cut development
• Trailer, teaser and short form edits
• Editorial consultation and feedbackDiscuss an editing project
Film Education, Workshops & ConsultancyFor students, educators, organisations and creative groups.Drawing on more than twenty years of teaching Film Studies, Media and creative practice, I offer one-to-one tuition, workshops and consultancy. Sessions can focus on filmmaking, film analysis, storytelling, research, academic writing or the development of practical creative work.• Film Studies and media tuition
• Filmmaking and editing workshops
• Film analysis, story and script development
• Workshops for schools, colleges, community groups and organisations.Plan a workshop or session
Learning design
For organisations and educators who want clear engaging digital learning.I design concise digital learning experiences that make complex ideas approachable. My work combines teaching experience, visual storytelling and interactive digital design, with particular interest in creative practice, media literacy and academic or workplace skills.• Short digital learning modules
• Interactive activities and scenario-based learning
• Learning content for creative and educational projects
• Support with course structure, tone and learner experienceView learning design work
Academic & Editorial SupportFor researchers, students and creative practitioners developing written work.I provide thoughtful editorial support for essays, dissertations, research proposals, presentations and creative-project materials. The focus is on helping you clarify your argument, structure your ideas and communicate them in confident, effective English.• Structure and developmental feedback
• Editing for clarity, flow and academic expression
• Research proposals, presentations and application materials
• Support for artists' statements, treatments and project documentsThis is supportive editorial and educational work: I do not write assessed work on a student's behalf or guarantee grades.Discuss editorial support
Start a conversation
If you have a project, an idea or a piece of work that needs shaping, please get in touch.
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.
INTERACTIVE LEARNING DESIGN
Can AI Spot a Cliché?
A 20-minute scenario-based Rise 360 learning experience exploring critical prompting, creativity and authorship.Learning Designer · Articulate Rise 360 · 2026
CONTACTLet’s talk.I welcome enquiries about learning design and digital education, 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.
LEARNING DESIGN & DIGITAL EDUCATION
I design engaging digital learning experiences that combine clear learning outcomes, multimedia storytelling and active learner participation. Drawing on more than twenty years in further and higher education alongside my work as a filmmaker and editor, I create learning that makes complex ideas accessible, practical and visually engaging.
Design challenge: How can creative media learners use AI without losing critical judgement or originality?
CAN AI SPOT A CLICHÉ?
Critical prompting, creativity and authorship in filmmaking
Interactive learning experience · Articulate Rise 360 · 2026
Can AI Spot a Cliché? is a short, scenario-based digital learning experience exploring how generative AI can be used critically within the filmmaking process.Designed for creative-media learners, the course moves from recognising cinematic clichés to constructing more purposeful prompts, evaluating AI-generated alternatives, and questioning assumptions around character and representation. Throughout, learners are encouraged to retain authorship and make their own creative decisions.
AUDIENCE
Level 3/4 creative-media learnersDURATION
Approx. 20 minutesTOOLS & TECHNICAL DELIVERY
Built in Articulate Rise 360; published as a responsive web course and available as a SCORM 1.2 package for LMS deliveryMY ROLE
Learning design · Content development · Interaction design · Visual development
DESIGN APPROACH
The experience is structured around a progression from recognition to application. Learners first identify familiar cinematic clichés, then examine how generative AI can reinforce them before learning a five-part prompting framework: Context, Task, Constraints, Output and Authorship.Scenario-based activities and formative questions allow learners to test the framework, evaluate AI-generated suggestions and consider issues of stereotype and representation. The final activity asks learners to apply these ideas to their own creative practice.Throughout the course, AI is positioned as a tool for exploration rather than a substitute for creative judgement: AI proposes. The filmmaker decides.
From Vague to UsefulWorkplace feedback microlearningA short, scenario-led learning experience for new managers and team leaders who need to turn vague feedback into constructive, actionable conversations.Learners use the OBSERVE → EXPLAIN → ACTION → CHECK framework to identify behaviour, explain its impact, agree a practical next step and invite the other person’s perspective.This project demonstrates performance-focused instructional design, scenario writing, formative feedback and responsive e-learning development in Articulate Rise 360.Private portfolio sample available on request.