Premiered in 1994 at the Venice Film Festival, Il Postino has returned 30 years later in a restored version to where it all began, paying homage to its protagonist, Massimo Troisi, who gave the role of Mario his heart to the point of losing it.
Before the screening, Maria Grazia Cucinotta organised a conference attended by the president of the Campania Region, Vincenzo De Luca, Titta Fiore, and Maurizio Gemma, president and director of the Film Commission Campania, Anna Bonaiuto, and Enzo Decaro, who shared the stage with Troisi for years along with Lello Arena in La Smorfia.
‘When his life ended prematurely, we experienced a tragedy, perceived as a bitter injustice,’ De Luca said,’ but seeing how his name still echoes in places dedicated to cinema and art compensates us for the pain, he is an example of timeless humanity, who teaches us so much: he was a proletarian, an emigrant, proud of his nature as an isolated man and of his dignity.
‘It was right here, in Venice, 30 years ago that my life changed,’ said Cucinotta during the event organised by the Biennale and Hollywood Communication, with the Settimana della Critica and Venice Days and with the support of the Region and the Film Commissioncampane,’ and from that moment on, there has not been a day in my life when I have not spoken about him. Massimo gave me a wonderful memory I will always carry with me‘.
The emotion came with the intimate, respectful and poetic portrait of Troisi painted by Decaro, who knew the artist from the beginning to the end, when Il postino had become so essential to Troisi that he decided to give up even his life to complete it.
‘The film bears witness to Massimo’s consistency, steadfastness and stubbornness. It is a rhyming experiment: it gives seeds of consciousness of thought, which, if cultivated well, bear great fruits of awareness. Massimo is like a supernova leaving trails in the sky, a reference point for the human world. He is among the greatest humble thinkers in Naples and always will be‘.