The place that teaches us to listen

Cinema is my passion, and I have chosen to make it – at least for now -the goal of my professional life. So, more and more, I happen to be in the group of those who live cinema from the inside and become – how to explain it? – one of the subjects that are proposed to fans and viewers. And while you are in front of them, or among them, you end up peering into the expressions on their faces to see if you have succeeded in convincing them with your interpretations, which generates a mild (and persistent) state of anxiety. At the Venice Film Festival, on the other hand, it is not like that. You feel at home here, even if you are only 24 years old. It’s the place of dreams and confirmation of your aspirations, and that’s fine. But most of all it’s where you’re surrounded by the must-see films, the best you can find. And by the people who make them, tell them, choose them, love them. And the performance anxiety disappears, the pleasure of going to the theatre prevails (but how good is it spending time in a movie theatre?), and even just wandering around the Lido’s alleys overlooking the canals or at some party. I am no longer seeking confirmation for myself, but rather, opening myself up to meeting even very different people who also like to immerse themselves in a film to make their heads travel or put them on pause. That happened again this year. Which for me, by the way, was professionally important: someone decided to award me for the role I played in Il colibrì by my “cinema mom” Francesca Archibugi and for Tutto chiede salvezza, Francesco Bruni’s series that won the Audience Ciak d’oro. In Venice, I was invited to drop into things that were very pleasant for me: awarded by my peers along with creatives my age or chosen by a big brand (Mastercard, ed.) to have experiences like those that happen to a star. Nice! However, not only what happened to me in this year’s festival will remain on my skin. But especially the atmosphere there, the (healthy) flavour of a place that, through stories in pictures, tells us about life. And that helps us. Because it pushes us to be together, each in his way, despite different histories, ages and tastes. To be interested – and by now it is not so obvious – in those who live near us and to exchange something with them. That is, to listen to them. And maybe even to understand them. As well as to listen and understand something more about ourselves.