Award-winning film ‘Old Days’ is about old friends from Brooklyn

July 7, 2016 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle

From left: Phil Curcuru, Christina Dempsey, Jim Ceribello, the late Joe Curcuru, Roger Fiorentino, Lou DiNatale and Stu Seiderman. Photos by Michael Curcuru

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Staten Island composer and musician Philip Cucuru finds his fondest memories deeply rooted in Brooklyn. Curcuru, along with Jim Ceribello, Lou DiNatale, Christina Dempsey, Roger Fiorentino, Stu Seiderman, Bob Aniano, Dan Giangiobbi and the late Joe Curcuru and Mike Micara, established their music origins in Brooklyn during the 1960s, and they’ve been making music together ever since. Their latest group, The Atomik Age Project, has been producing original music and short films for the last 12 years. Curcuru, Ceribello and DiNatale co-produce and direct all of the films.

They have won three original best soundtrack awards and have been profiled a few times in the Staten Island Advance. Recently, they produced a short film/music video titled “Old Days,” about their early years playing music in Brooklyn during the ’60s. They’ve won eight award laurels to date from various film festivals for the project, including the 2016 “Best Original Song” at the 17th Annual Bare Bones film festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma this past April.

Recently, they were nominated for “Best Music Score” for “Old Days” at the TMC London Film Festival, and received second place honors from a long list of worldwide submissions. Curcuru said, “It finally came down to us and another composer from Indonesia who finally won the award with a big budget film and symphony orchestra arrangement, which was great.”

Curcuru continued, “For a group of old friends and musicians from Brooklyn for over 50 years, being nominated in competition with the world for ‘best music score’ is an honor that we’ll never forget, especially accomplishing it with little to no budget at all. It just goes to show what you can accomplish with a little hard work and a lot of passion. That’s the thought we would like to get out there to everyone.”

The theme behind “Old Days” is that times change, but music is forever. The Atomik Age Project music is born from a need to find a way to deal with loss. The loss of family, the loss of friends, the loss of time. Jim Ceribello said, “In ‘Old Days’ we get the chance to revisit our youth and the happy, carefree, endless hours spent there.”

All the songs in their films and videos are written and produced by lead guitarist Curcuru and performed by The Atomik Age Project. The poster artwork for their films is designed by Curcuru’s son Michael and his White Dog Design Studio. Through music and visuals, they honor all the friends and relatives that are now gone, but rejoice in their ability to pay tribute to the people and events that have inspired their lives.

Ceribello, Curcuru and DiNatale added, “Looking back, the relationships we established were intense, especially when it came to making music together. It turned us into brothers. Today, we get together, we talk about those old days as if they were the happiest times of our lives. It’s hard to argue that they weren’t.”

The Atomik Age Project’s latest vision continues with their new music and film venture titled “Friends for Life,” now in production.