L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 F lash, interviews, spotlights, cameras and everyone's eyes on them. Hollywood stars enjoyed, as it happens every year, the limelight of the Oscars. Bound or not to receive a statuette at the Dolby Theater, they walked, full of pride and surrounded by admiration, screams and applause, the red carpet leading to the most awaited ceremony of the year. Every year, the Academy offers surprises, confirmations and, sometimes, great disappointments, but never fails to give movie stars worldwide visibility. From Venice to Rome, from Turin to Taormina, from Ischia to Bari, up and down the peninsula, all year round, more than 120 festivals dedicated to cinema and a long series of awards - Nastri d'Argento, Ciak d'Oro, David di Donatello - mark actors and screenwriters' careers and fill with glamor, selfies and autograph-hunting our stages, all to honor a world particularly loved and admired by the public. In Los Angeles, stars enjoyed their precious moment in the spotlight, whether they received an award or not. Some thanks to their outfit, others thanks to a particularly risqué neckline, others still thanks to the shiniest jewel or to the least known partner. For one reason or another, they managed to end up on the world's glossiest magazines. For weeks after the award ceremony, they bounced from one gossip website to another, on social media and on traditional newspaper pages. But many names, which would deserve a similar notoriety, often remain in the shadow. And those names do not only represent stories of professional and personal achievement, but are also successful examples of how Italians abroad make the Belpaese great with their passionate work. Alberto Bof is a pianist and music producer. He was born in Genoa, Liguria, but has been living and working in Los Angeles for a few years. In addition to appearing in the film A Star Is Born as the pianist of Jack's band - the singer played by Bradley Cooper - he contributed to five of its soundtrack's songs, including Shallow, which won the Oscar for Best Song. The Gaga-Cooper duet was certainly the climax of the evening, but his musical contribution was essential. Italy is always on the red carpet, even when you don't see it From the director Sara Pichelli, the Marche-born-Roman-by-adoption illustrator, is another obvious example. She was not even around at the Oscars. We learned about her because director Peter Ramsey, statuette in hand, publicly thanked her: "She did the heavy work!" An official recognition that many do not get. After all, how many of us read all the credits or think about the fact that, if we liked a movie, it's not only thanks to the director or the main actor, but also thanks to the sound engineer or the photographer help at the bottom of the list? Pichelli joined the world of great animation houses after winning an international contest: a confirmation that talent pays off, and that even if you are born in a town of 26 thousand like Porto Sant'Elpidio, you can really hit it big. Another Italian story that reached LA and won an Oscar comes from Morfasso. Obviously, no one spoke about this village of just 977 inhabitants, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia Romagna. No matter where you come from, your talent counts. Then, here comes Queen's magnetic live performance, a lucky charm for the four statuettes won by Bohemian Rhapsody, including one for Best Sound. But we want to talk about Morfasso, one of the many tiny Italian villages where everyone knows each other and where you always feel like you're at home. From here, in the '50s, the father of John Casali left, as millions of other Italian immigrants. John Casali, who made of sound an art, so as to deserve that Oscar for Best Sound awarded to Bohemian Rhapsody. "These are our emigrants - he commented with emotion and enthusiasm Gian Luigi Molinari, president of the Consulta of the Emiliano-Romagnoli in the world - the people we humbly seek to represent. We want to show what our forefathers did abroad and what the Emiliano-Romagnoli of today have been doing, to show the best side of a capable, strong and beautiful Italy. We are proud of John: we were born by chance in the same land and we're seizing this opportunity to remember the millions of Italians who were forced to leave their homeland but still love our magnificent country. Talents of this kind are not stopped on the street because their faces are not known as those of Italian-American Lady Gaga (Oscar for the Best Original Song with Shallow) or Nick Vallelonga (one of the writers of Green Book, which at the Oscars 2019 won three awards, including the Best Original Screenplay). But they should. Because they represent the talented workers that make the Made in Italy artistic workshop great. Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

• Cover