Jeffrey DeCristofaro

I'm a native of Tennessee and a current resident of Asheville, NC. Formerly homeschooled, I'm a UNC-Asheville alumnus who graduated in May 2008 with a BA in Literature (Concentration Creative Writing, Minor Mass Communications), and now am currently enrolled in the same university's Master of Liberal Arts program. During my period as an undergraduate student, I established the UNC-Asheville Cinema Society (which sponsored film screenings and special campus appearances by guest filmmakers), had a poem published in the 2006 issue of Headwaters Creative Arts Magazine, composed PowerPoint lectures for an online companion site to MCOM Professor Donald Diefenbach's course text VIDEO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES (available online at www.videoproductiontechniques.com), donated blood three times to the American Red Cross, did DVD projection work for the annual Asheville Film Festival on campus, participated in community services and events (such as the Center for Jewish Studies "Reading of the Names" for their annual Holocaust Remembrance Week), and acted for stage/student video productions at the Carol Belk Theatre. In addition to studies and activities at UNC-Asheville, I have made other contributions to Asheville's cultural scene. Such activities included reading poetry for Spoken Word Poetics at the Dripolator Coffeehouse and Firestorm Cafe and Books, modeling for Jenny Bowen's Faces of Asheville project, being the first host for URTV's showcasing my photography at local charity fundraisers, volunteering for the annual Lexington Ave. Arts and Fun Festival and Asheville Film Festival, and modeling for local photographers and arts seminars at the Fine Arts League of the Carolinas. Currently I am a Creative Staff intern for We Art the People, a new non-profit organization working to network and enhance public exposure of local artists in the Western North Carolina region (for more information about the site and how to join, look it up at www.weartthepeople.com). I love cinema and want to make films as a actor/writer/producer/director, while modeling and publishing poetry/photography on the side. My hobbies include watching, collecting, studying and discussing movies (particularly those in the science-fiction/fantasy/horror/epic/suspense/war/thriller genres), writing (poetry/memoirs/treatments/screenplays), acting, modeling, photography, digital video cinematography, theater, nature/gardening, space, weather, aircraft, world mythology, philosophy, martial arts, long walks/hikes, dancing, swimming, biking, gym workouts, and sword collection/practice. In addition, I dream of launching a global Neo-Renaissance. Like the Renaissance of the previous millennium, this movement will be designed to gather artists, scientists, philosophers, inventors, and others making huge contributions not only to their respective fields, but to the whole world. Through this movement, we can accomplish such miracles that we've only dreamed, such as an end to war, disease and poverty; fully successful preservation of our fragile, fading environment; groundbreaking advances in science, politics and the arts; and space voyages and colonization. With this Neo-Renaissance, we can change the world for the better, break down old boundaries and establish new ones, and prove that for once and for all, there are no limits except those we each choose for ourselves.