ON THIS PAGE:
- The first Red Carpet
- Interview with Sara Ciocca
- The Gadget War
The first Red Carpet
“Who’s there, Salvini? Let’s go ahead and look for the famous ones.” The voice of innocence is that of a small group of Lido kids, 12 years old or so, probably almost all spent watching people parade on the red carpet, actors, stars, and influencers lately. And it’s ok, this time in place of Harry (Styles) is Matteo (Salvini). The excitement and magic of the red carpet pulled tight after the rain of these days always retains that old charm of who is there and, when in doubt, just shoot. The Festival and the cinema belong to everyone, the voices behind the barriers speak many languages, German, Swedish, English, French, probably there is also some Belgian, the fries people (spoilers for those who have seen the movie), there is no age limit although the wildest fans of Pierfrancesco Favino, have that middle age that authorizes them to serenely call him Picchioooo. The cry is high. He turns, waves, tries to run toward them, and flashes his famous smile, but the ceremonial does not grant him the bath of the crowd beyond the traditional ritual interviews. He’s arrived on the red carpet accompanied by his wife, Anna Ferzetti, and his daughter. Times are tight. The hall for the premiere is waiting for him. Inside, there are Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini with Francesca Verdini, and the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and Matteo Renzi, who arrived with his wife because the Lido is still the Lido. Forget Chalamet’s little girls who colonized the Venice Film Festival last year in fits of weeping, the pattern of this long-awaited first red carpet, kissed by an ideal temperature, was more or less as follows: mother lined up at the barrier, son a few steps behind, father in the rear. The ladies who arrived without families manned the front row, waiting for a greeting that unfortunately did not come. “There he is, there he is, take his picture, get down that in front is this stick.” The stick would be the immense arm that moves the Rai Movie camera, not exactly the selfie stick, but it is there in the middle of the walk of their way to Favino. With him is the entire cast of The Commander, even Belgian actor Johan Heldenbergh, whom some mistake for “the one from Succession.” The resemblance is indeed there. Let each enjoy his own red carpet, whether it be real, verisimilar or entirely imagined. After Favino, it is the turn of Liliana Cavani, elegant, smiling, polite, greeting the crowd that has already begun to leave the front lines and watch on the big screen the opening ceremonies of this 80th Film Festival, conducted by godmother Caterina Murino. Good opening, no rain, lots of crowds, a film made in Italy, the magic of every red carpet remains attached to the lights that slowly fade, but that leave the somewhat disappointed Picchio ladies only one doubt: “Cinema will make them all more beautiful, but I thought she had blue eyes, did I see wrong?” Power of the red carpet.
By Tiziana Leone
Sara Ciocca: “Nina has been the rebirth of my childhood”
Sara Ciocca is only 15, but she’s one of the most versatile promises of Italian cinema. She worked in Alessandro Siani’s comedies and D’Innocenzo Bros’ America Latina, but also in Ammaniti’s “Il Miracolo” and with Ferzan Ozpetek and Donato Carrisi. At the 20th Venice Days she stars in the dystopian Antonio Pisu’s Nina dei Lupi, where she plays a 12-year-old girl who, in a future where a solar storm has knocked out electronic devices, discovers a secret connection with nature that can redeem humankind. “Nina was a rebirth for my childhood,” explains the actress interviewed by Ciak, “because I found that wild, primitive soul that I had as a child when I lived in the countryside.” Indeed, at the heart of the film is the issue of environmental protection: “It is the issue that I hold dearest, indeed that all of us united should hold dear. We have to act; there is no more time. Among the things to do, we need to make children passionate from kindergarten onwards about love for the earth, for the environment, because only those who love protect.”
Sergio Rubini, Cesare Bocci, Sandra Ceccarelli and Davide Silvestri share the scene with Sara. “We were on the set much earlier. We joined Antonio in Vallarsa, and in the room of an elementary school, them, Antonio and I rehearsed all the scenes every day for two hours per scene,” Silvestri recalls about his work with Ciocca. She emphasizes that “There is a growth in Nina. She is my age, an adolescent, there are ups and downs, periods when you would like to hide from the world. You would not want to live at all. I am living it, and I must say that cinema is saving me a little. Like Nina, who finds her salvation in belonging to her true nature, the forest.”
By Emanuele Bucci
The Gadget War: the tarot cards
The first blow in the usual war of gadgets was scored on the sidelines of the Pino Settanni’s exhibition “I tarocchi” (Aug. 30-Nov. 26, Le Stanze della Fotografia), organized by Archivio Luce Cinecittà. The hunting for the deck of tarot cards composed of the photos taken by Settanni (1949-2010) during the six months working on the project just started across the Lido.
The tarot figures are photographed with human likenesses, taking the Marseilles Tarot as a model for the Major and Minor Arcana, and the photographer had actresses and models play them (the only male exception is the figure of the Fool, embodied by Mario Scaccia).
If you know how to read them, then you’re probably able to vaticinate the Golden Lion.
By Oscar Cosulich
