ADAC Adriatic American College Italy

ADAC Adriatic American College will launch online and in-person classes in 2026, and in Fall 2025 / Spring 2026, will host multiple events designed as hands-on academic / media industry learning programs – under the umbrella of intensive boot camps – theory and practice.

Pictured above: Dr. Mark Woods seen at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where 100s of film industry stars, directors, producers, distributors, fans and paparazzi were dazzled by the selection of new films. Dr. Woods hopes to accompany ADAC students on chaperoned Study Abroad Trips to future film festival events.

ADAC is the evolving brainchild of Dr. Mark Woods, with input and advice from several informal committees of experts in Italy, U.S.A., and the United Kingdom, including prominent business leaders, academics, residents, educational and financial consultants, and governmental leaders. 

Pictured above: Dr. Mark Woods met with hundreds of European and international film producers and directors at the annual International Audiovisual Market held in Rome, Italy in 2023. Dr. Woods hopes to accompany ADAC students on chaperoned Study Abroad Trips to future film festival events.

Dr. Woods has specific expertise in the financing, development, construction, and maintenance of projects for academic institutions (building and launching purpose-built film & media schools) and entertainment industry production (planning, building, and running film and television studios).

Pictured above: Dr. Mark Woods is a working film & television producer, and he pitched new feature film and television series to investors, distributors and co-producers at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival – industry event called the Marche du Film. Dr. Woods hopes to accompany ADAC students on chaperoned Study Abroad Trips to future film festival events.

Dr. Woods served on international film school faculties for over 27 years, and has specialized in film & television Tax Credits and regional incentives, cultural test and BFI Certification of North American and European productions, and has spearheaded Film & Television Study Abroad Programs for college students in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London, Cardiff, Aberwystwyth, Prague, Rome, Berlin and Cannes.

In order to develop the proposal to launch ADAC ( a new American Liberal Arts College in Molise, Italy) featuring a Digital Film / Media — Acting for Stage & Screen School, Dr. Woods has shared his vision with his professional network of scholars and professors, specializing in Screenwriting, Acting, and Media production and development.

Consequently, Our Faculty Visiting Professors and Boot Camp Expert Speakers are members of Italian, American and British Film & Television Guilds, including Directors Guild of America (DGA), Producers Guild of America (PGA), Writers Guild of America (WGA), Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and Actors Equity.

About the proposed new campus for ADAC Adriatic American College in Guglionesi:

Guglionesi was founded in 500 B.C.E. by the Samnites, and throughout the Roman Classical Period, Early and Middle Ages, and during the Renaissance and subsequent Industrial Age, has been a center for commerce, learning, literature, music, and art. The historic center of Guglionesi has been maintained in stunning architectural detail, with the preservation of numerous, Medieval cobblestone streets, boasting ancient churches, prestigious palaces, belltowers, and ancient ruins.

Since the Risorgimento (Unification of Italy, 1848-1871) Guglionesi has been supported primarily by agriculture, tourism, and local services. Guglionesi might be called the crown jewel in an 8-municipality zone called the Basso Molise, a chain of historic, hilltop towns (averaging 1,000 feet in altitude) and enjoying spectacular panoramic vistas of the Adriatic Sea Coastal beaches and islands, and the sweeping Gargano Promontory Mountains and golden Plains of Puglia.

Guglionesi is part of a beautiful network of historic hilltop towns located at varying altitudes above sea level, and all boasting spectacular panoramic views of the Adriatic Sea Coastal plains, including views of the internationally.famous Gargano Peninsula National Park and the Tremiti Islands.

Most of these hilltop towns were famous sites for the development and invention of European culture, most predating the Roman Empire, and continuing long after the Romans’ decline, as fortified economic centers, that fostered the rebirth of language, music, drama, liturgy, philosophy, art, sculpture, architecture and a staggering list of contributions to our modern societies.

Guglionesi as a fortified town that provided refuge to wealthy royal families, church bishops, and dozens of prosperous and influential convents and monasteries during the Dark Ages and Middles Ages – up through the Baroque, the Renaissance, and continuing up through the Risorgimento – during the artistic periods of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline Modern and various movements within Modernism.

Additionally, Guglionesi and the surrounding towns along the Biferna River Valley, boasted world famous artisans who were painters, goldsmiths, silversmiths, and innovators in many other mediums – including a famous musical conservatory that producer court musicians and composers for hundreds of years.

Many of the Guglionesi historic district Medieval homes have been proposed as candidates for conversion into student housing and classroom facilities for ADAC, and our development committee has been meeting with building contractors for more than one year, to refine the finances and plans.

Pictured above: The fairy tale castle walls and bell towers of the town of Guglionesi, that sits at an altitude of 1000 feet above the nearby Adriatic Sea — here we see the fertile vineyards and golden plains that made Guglionesi an influential and wealthy marketplace in the Middle Ages up through the 20th century – when the economy shifted to manufacturing and tourism.