L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano folders by topic and took care of each single piece of it. How d id you ch oos e th e people who eventually worked or supported you in the pro- ject? I do not believe in coinci- dence, I do believe in things hap- pening as res ult of a divine orchestration: for instance, Peter Coyote saw me in a play and loved my performance. Random- ly, we were at the same theatre one night in Sausalito and he asked how I was doing. I told him about my project and he eventually became involved with the voice over. However, when we recorded in 2016, the sound came out pretty bad and could not use it. When we decided to use my own voice for narration, he offered his help and support- ed anyways, he kept encouraging me and suggested to change the "art of survival," as I first called it, into the "art of living." Also Steve Bove, formerly at Walt Disney Studios, became the Cre- ative Consultant and we met just because, when I moved into my new place, I found a free couch and he was the one giving it aw ay . When I collected the couch, we started talking about my project and offered to help. That has been crucial for many reasons. For instance, when he helped me understand the use of whiteboards to return to the main topic of the film, the art of "arrangiarsi." Matteo is an active part of the movie, however his pres- ence is not everywhere or over- whelming. What's behind this choice? To be totally honest, at the beginning, I didn't even want to be part of it. But all the people who knew me and were follow- ing my work advised to be an active part of it. They suggested the story would be more interest- ing with me in there, as the art of "arrangiarsi" was and is a big part of my own life. My way to look at obstacles and the art of overcoming them would have made the story more appealing, even if I wasn't necessarily mas- tering that art itself. How did you find the expe- rien ce of filmin g arou n d Naples? First of all, I was told to use a blue plastic bag for the camera. It would have made it safe to walk around and film people. It just looked like a grocery bag. Then, I was going around meet- ing artists and, at some point, I was also selling cartoline made from my photos. That facilitate some relationships with other street artists, like for example Peppe Martinelli. He allowed me to follow him for three days, s hoo ting his performances around the city. There were also tough places where I could not film at all, and people were ask- ing to not use my camera there. Wh at s u rp ris ed you th e most when you arrived in Italy the first time? And what was in s tead exactly w h at you expected? One of the best memories is when I went to Villa Adriana, near Rome, and the guy from the factory I was visiting let me ride the wheat combine. I was so sur- prised that I could not believe it! On the other hand, in general, I did not have many expectations: that's what you do when you don't follow any agenda. Just to give you an example: I filmed the San Gennaro Catacombs and entered the site using a fake press pass. One year later, I was listening to NPR and there was an interview with the guy who let me in two times. I sent an email to congratulate him and discovered he knew my press pass was fake, and said: "We all knew you had a good heart and you were working hard to show the beauty of Naples". That was unexpected for sure. If Naples did not happen to be the city of this film, which one would have been? Let me tell you: if it wasn't Naples, the film wouldn't exist. After my first time there, the friend who came when I was filming some new shots told me: "Y ou are not making a film about pizza, you are doing some- thing more." She was totally right. I changed the purpose of the film and believed her because my soul knew what the film was about before my brain did. Which was the best part of this project? Eating pizza and meeting new people represented the sex part of the project. Then, when the baby - the movie - was born, I had to start dealing with chang- ing diapers, which means for me getting the word out there. I loved when Neapolitans say I captured the essence of the city. I did not play the camorra card or something similar. As an Italian- American, I know what Italy is because I learned it through my family, but I come with the eyes of somebody from California and can see things more objectively. I screened in Los Angeles and I loved to see how people were touched by the story and I am impressed by the inspiration I can bring into the world. How does your life look like right now? Today, I live on the road: I have an office in San Luis Obis- po and my van, Bison, is my home wherever I go. It never gives up and is always going. I also discovered how much I love editing, not only is fun but it's also where magic happens. Wh at d oes th e art of "arran giars i" mean to you today? To me, "arrangiarsi" means allowing things to happen, listen- ing to myself, and letting spiritu- ality guide me. Thanks to this film, I learned to trust myself as an artist and as a filmmaker, in my own voice. Before I take a photo of Mat- teo next to his van, I realized I have another, last question. Will be there any part two, I won- der. Matteo says there won't be any part two, because the second part of the project is touring the film and making sure people are able to watch it. The film hasn't been screened in Italy, although Matteo tried to get into some big festivals. He is right now his own publicist and "just a guy in a van" looking for (and hopefully finding soon) other ways than festivals to have it shown in Naples and Italy. Serendipity, he concludes, will do the rest. The movie will have a screen- ing on Wednesday, June 5th at the Laemmle Fine Arts The- atre (Screening 7:30pm. Pizza reception 6:30pm). From June 7th to 13th at the Laemmle Music Hall 4:30 pm daily; on June 11th at Laemmle Monica at 7pm; finally on June 12th at Laemmle Pasadena Playhouse at 7pm. Continued from page 12 Matteo Troncone director and creator of Arrangiarsi @ Matteo Troncone LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS Peppe, one of the many Neapolitans who became part of Troncone's beautiful cinematographic vision @ Mat- teo Troncone.

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