By STEPHEN HAMMILL

Mike Matteo, author, screenwriter, teacher and unabashed film junkie, is returning to teach his eight-week film course starting Jan. 11 at the Life Enrichment Center in Forest Hills.
The course, entitled Film Festival, features a series of popular movies and documentaries from different eras, with discussions to be held during and after viewing.
“We’ll talk about how they were made, who made them and why they were made,” said Matteo, who selects the films from his personal collection, which numbers, he estimates, between 2,000 and 3,000. The course aims to break films down into their genres and address their motifs, styles, social issues and historical contexts.
Matteo taught world history and economics at Gaither High School, Ben Hill Middle School, and in private schools before leaving teaching to open up M & P Costumes in Tampa. While that location has now closed, he is in the process of selling the costume store’s location in New Port Richey in order to devote himself to his writing, which he’s been doing for 20 years now.
Matteo’s plays have been produced in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. His origins are in New York, where he minored in theater at Brooklyn College while majoring in economics. These days he prefers to stay close to his home in Tampa.
“That’s what’s great about writing – I can stay home and work,” he said.
However, Matteo may travel to Germany in the near future to work on a screenplay. He’s also co-written two books, as well as authored and self-published a third, entitled “How to Survive the Public School System.”
For Film Festival, he sees it as his role to illustrate points on the movies and to lead discussions. The course breaks films down into genres, with each week devoted to a different one. Week one will feature musicals like “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Rent.” The second week will be reserved for horror and science fiction films. Week three covers movies with social themes, followed in week four by the classics, comedies in week five, and parodies, remakes and sequels in week six.
“What was so scary in the movies of the 1950’s wouldn’t work now,” said Matteo. “People were focused on the Cold War then. “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was about Communism if you take a look at it.”
Matteo uses the course to stress the significant changes in how films are made now versus decades past, and how our reactions to movies alter with our own historical perspectives.
“I’ll compare ‘Young Frankenstein’ to the original ‘Frankenstein’ movies, for instance, and trace the references,” he said.
When asked what kinds of filmmaking techniques his course will explore, he recalled “there’s a wonderful scene in ‘Immortal Beloved’ when they try to show what was on Beethoven’s mind when he wrote the Ninth Symphony. Now, there’s no way to know what was in his mind; it was up to the director.”
He also recalled how, in a recent course, he showed “Judgment at Nuremberg” and a woman exclaimed to the class that she had last seen the film when she was a young child.
He stresses there are no tests. This is for fun, enjoyment and enrichment.
“We will talk about politics, or what’s funny. I encourage people to tell me what’s on their minds,” he said. “The essence of filmmaking is to connect to an audience, and the films we watch all connect to people in a universal way. We will talk about that.”
Matteo makes no secret how much teaching these classes and re-watching the great films helps him as a writer.
“When I look at older movies, they tell me how it was good then, but also how it was different,” he said.
Matteo laments what he calls MTV-influenced changes in movies over the years, away from dialogue and open space.
“Now the cuts are every three seconds. If the scene goes for 30 seconds, the audience fidgets.”
He admits he had to change his writing style to better fit today’s audiences.
“When you write, you’ve got to give people what they’re used to,” he said.
He doesn’t mind this, but, in fact, sees evolution as integral to the life of a writer.
“If it doesn’t get produced and seen, there’s no point in writing it,” he said.
In Matteo’s home, film quotes and photographs line the walls, featuring many giants of cinema.
“If you surround yourself with great thoughts and great ideas, it inspires you,” he said.
He’s currently working on a new screenplay called “51 steps,” about a man serving time on death row. Matteo admits to an attraction to controversial subjects. The film “Descansos,” for which he co-wrote the script, deals with a man guilty of a past hit-and-run who goes around town ripping down roadside memorials wherever he finds them. The film was shot in the area and features performances by actors Charles Durning and Gary Busey. He was on set for the first couple of days shooting, but like any screenwriter, had to let the project go.
He’s now adapting his play, “Who Took the Last Ketchup?” into a screenplay for actor/comedian Jackie Mason.
Matteo also teaches a screenwriting course at the University of South Florida as part of its Continuing Education program. That course begins on Feb. 14.
Carrollwood’s Life Enrichment Center is the only private, nonprofit community-based center for adults in the Tampa Bay area, and one of few of its kind nationwide. It provides dozens of classes each year for active adults, typically 40 and older. Courses this year include contemporary dance, art, digital photography, creative writing, computers and Spanish. There are also non-academic fitness courses available, such as Tai Chi and low impact exercise. The classes run weekdays, evenings, and some weekends.
Ronna Metcalf has been executive director for the Life Enrichment Center for the past seven years.
“I’m always looking for new classes and new teachers,” she said. The 26-year-old center does a lot with a limited budget. Its funding comes mostly from individuals, small grants and fundraising efforts.
“None of us does it for the money because the money isn’t there,” she said.
Metcalf takes pride in the center as a model for adult education across the country. She stresses that these courses are not just for the elderly or retired.
“We are really targeting the baby boomer population, and our program is reaching out to them,” she said. “Mike approached me about a year ago and said he was interested in teaching a class.”
According to Metcalf, most of the program’s teachers are retired educators or active professionals looking to give back to the community.
“Mike is a wonderful teacher,” she said. “I feel fortunate to have him at the center.”
Matteo believes what they do at the Life Enrichment Center is vital.
“It’s a great place to teach,” he said, “and I love to give something back to the community.”
The prices for Film Festival run $10 per class, or $70 for the full eight-week course. All classes at the Life Enrichment Center can be paid for on a class-by-class basis, or up-front for the entire course.
The Life Enrichment Center is at 9704 N. Boulevard in Tampa. To register for classes, call 932-0241 or visit http://www.lifeenrichmenttampa.org.