Tao Ruspoli
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Tao Ruspoli (born 7 November 1975) is an Italian-American documentary film maker, photographer, and flamenco guitarist. He is the son of Italian actor and aristocrat Prince Dado Ruspoli and American actress Debra Berger.
Tao was born in Thailand and raised in Rome and Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. His most well-known piece is the documentary Just Say Know, a personal discussion of his family's drug addiction.
His other films include Flamenco: A Personal Journey, a feature length documentary about the flamenco way of life as it is lived by Gypsies in the south of Spain. He has directed a number of other short documentaries, including El Cable (also about flamenco), and This Film Needs No Title (a portrait of the renowned logician, mathematician and concert pianist Raymond Smullyan)
Tao is the founder of LAFCO, The Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative, a bohemian collective of filmmakers and musicians who work out of a converted school bus. Through LAFCO, Tao has produced several films and helped dozens of filmmakers to make their first films and discover the wonders of digital media.
His producing credits include the feature film Camjackers, which he also acted in and co-edited. Camjackers won the best editing award at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival. Tao is also involved with Lost Film Fest and collaborates with Scott Beibin
Tao is an accomplished flamenco guitar player, and his first CD, Flamenco, was released on Mapleshade Records in 2005.
He is married to actress Olivia Wilde.
[edit] Filmography
- Fix (in pre-production)
- This Film Needs No Title (2001)
- El Cable (2001)
- Just Say Know (2002)
- Flamenco: A Personal Journey (2005)
- Camjackers (2006)
[edit] Recordings
- Flamenco, Mapleshade Records, 2005