Paolo Sorrentino: “If the aunt was real…”
Emotions with a touch of irony. Paolo Sorrentino meets the press in Venice combining sense and sensibility and giving to the character played by Luisa Ranieri the most ironic quote of the day. «If I had an aunt like her my life would have been different, instead of my neighbours were from Tirol». Ranieri did not even ask the director if the character was real. «I approached this woman with respect – Ranieri says – I didn’t know if it was real or not, but t was not important because she was incredibly well written». The Oscar winner is replaced by the man Sorrentino coming back at Lido after 20 years. «I came here at the beginning of my career. I like to think that being here is a fresh start». When he’s asked how difficult has been shooting the scene of his parents’ farewell he answers with few words. «There was always someone asking where to put the camera. When emotions were arriving I had something else to think about. It was my salvation».
Tiziana Leone
Giovanna Taviani at Lido with Cùntami: «Sicily is the future of human race»
«There always travels in my movies» tells Giovanna Taviani. Her movie Cùntami (produced by Cloud 9 Film with Rai Cinema) had its premiere in Notti Veneziane. The director (daughter of Vittorio Taviani) travels with a red van across Sicily looking for cuntisti, traditional storytellers. Like Mimmo Cuticchio and Gaspare Balsamo, the latter present at Lido. The actor brings together Don Chisciotte and Peppino Impastato: «Two characters that in my opinion share the poetry of madness, achievement and imagination». A nice portrait even of complicated and incredibly alive country like Sicily. «Sicily is in my heart and I believe is the future of human race even from a cultural point of view» Taviani says. «Sicilians are all Chisciotte, they have fantasy embedded in the brain, they are storytellers mistaking windmills for giants». Not by chance «Cervantes visited Messina and I do not exclude that the famous scene of the windmill was inspired by the mills of Trapani». Sicily for the director «is a pit full of beauty, fantasy and utopia» and there survives a language and a legacy of community lost elsewhere: «I found the Night of San Lorenzo again in Sicily».
Cuntisti and Taviani herself read this tradition again in a dynamic and open to present: «My focus as an author», explains Taviani, «is to make tradition and myth modern, just like Pasolini used to do. Finding answers in the myth but turning the myth contemporary ». Then «Ulysses is the migrant-refugee, Orlandi s mad not because Angelica betrayed him but because is staring at Mafia slaughtering his country. Every character has a feeling that comes from tradition and travels until today». Balsamo says that «dealing with the past means being a seed constantly glowing»
“The future of Italian cinema”
«It’s Italy’s due safeguard our past and gets us into the present, especially in those areas of interest in which was great such as the international film industry. I’m confident there are windows opening on the history of the human race, it is happening right now, and we have to handle the digital according to the expanding market and the Italian creativity». It’s what the Italian Ministry of Culture Dario Franceschini said at the meeting “European studios in the new global audiovisual market” organized by Cinecittà. Franceschini has no doubts: Italian genius can make the difference. «The resources that Italian government is making available to Cinecittà and its new governance can allow us to have a leadership in Europe that can become the greatest producer of cultural content».
Technology is the key to the new era. «Today we have the chance to think movies unthinkable before – says Cinecittà CEO Nicola Maccanico – If today Christopher Nolan would like to shoot a scene of a submarine in the middle of the ocean, this could be possible with different budgets. Studios are structures that can compete with Hollywood and even less rich production can afford these expenses. Cinecittà can be the for those producers looking for excellence, but great expectations multiply competition, it’s a great challenge». Content is the king as always. . «Fremantle produced 60 series and 14 movies during 2021– said Fremantle COO Andrea Scrosati – Most of them have been produced in Europe thanks to a pool of amazing talents and the support of the streaming platforms. Among the 15 products most streamed on Netflix during 2020, 5 were not produced in the US and three were produced in Europe. If an Italian producer makes a successful series such as My Brilliant Friend, this company has the ambition to reach an international audience». The future of cinema walks hand in hand with environmental sustainability. «Movie sets produce CO2 just like any other industrial process – said Matteo Rovere, who is now directing the second season of the Sky Original series “Romulus”, the first zero impact series for CO2 emissions – There are protocols to reduce balancing emissions with reforestation and other specific processes».
Di Tiziana Leone
