L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano I t's sunny in San Francisco on the Saturday afternoon before Memorial Day. Mat- teo comes to San Francisco from S an Luis O bis po, before taking a flight to Chicago the next day. Matteo and I have been in touch for a few days now and I can immediately feel his excitement when we meet to talk about his film, Ar r an giar s i (Pizza... and the Art of Living) that he is now touring around the US. Once we introduce to each other, Director Matteo Tron- cone is the one starting the con- versation: "Did you see him?" he asks. Surely he takes me by sur- prise, but only for a moment. Soon, it becomes clear that the "him" is actually his van. The Brown Bison, as Matteo calls it, is parked outside the café and there is no way it can go unno- ticed: on both sides, you can read "Pizza and the art of liv- ing," whereas the back shows the word "arrangiarsi," in addi- tion to stickers of all Festivals where the film was played, an Italian plate Matteo found on the road while visiting Italy, and the official plate cus tomized as "Pizza." The 1985 VW van is only one, yet precious, part of Direc- tor Troncone's life, in which - he confesses - serendipity and faith have played a big role. Matteo was born in an Italian-American family, with the four grandpar- ents coming from the Bel Paese and searching new opportunities in the S tates . H is granddad reached Pennsylvania, Matteo recalls, as many other immi- grants who stopped in New York before moving to the city of adoption. Matteo and his family have spent their life in Mill Val- ley though, and he is the only one with an interest in acting and filmmaking. Matteo followed his passion, he studied theatre at San Francis- co State University and got his Masters degree at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. What hap- pens in between the degree and today is a blend of experiences, decisions, and serendipity, all contributing to making Matteo's life extremely unique and fasci- nating. He filmed his story in Naples, edited it in California, and screened it in American the- atres for a few years now. Who was Matteo Troncone before "Arrangiarsi (Pizza... and the Art of Living)?" Before the film, he was somebody focused on getting acting work, looking outward, and depending on other people's opinions in order to do what he was passionate about. Then, he became s omebody oppos ite to that: now he is , ins tead, looking inw ard and embracing a truthful way of looking at life. He has simply become a maestro in surviving life events. M atteo, w ho w ent by Matthew during his acting career ("otherwise your name sounds like somebody's own- ing a pizza place" a colleague suggested once), was in the running for a part in "Long Day's Journey into Night," but he was cut at the last minute. He had a falling out with family, he almost got killed by a M uni bus on Haight Street in San Francisco, and ultimately became sin- gle from one day to anoth- er via email, when his girl- friend of that time announced she had a new lover. What changed then? "My life was at a turning point and, as it usually happens in any hero's journey, I started with big losses. My family has played an impor- tant role in terms of values, cul- ture, pride, and the language spo- ken at home. H ow ever, they w eren't too pres ent in the moment I made those changes. The film represents the evidence of a faith walk, along which we learn whether or not the universe is friendly to us. In my career as an actor, I was always looking for validation, I worked to make other people happy, until something changed so radi- cally that turned my career into something different. I was man- aging myself and taking care of every piece of the film. Moments of serendipity came, one after the other." When M atteo travelled to Italy to discover his parents' roots, he decided Naples was the place. After he enjoyed pizza and the Italian life, he headed back to Mill Valley and decided he would make a film about pizza, even if he had never worked on a movie before. He got a free tick- et to go back from a friend who could not use it and returned to Naples for 18 days to film artists, pizza makers, farmers, and flour producers. Matteo, tell us a bit more of how this documentary came to life. I launched a kickstarter cam- paign in 2013, which lasted 45 days. People backed me up with $25K, which was what I asked in the campaign page. It took three years to come up with what we can see today: I had 130 hours of footage and s pent 12 hours working, six days a week. I also had to go back to Italy one time because the audio I had taken at the Caputo Factory wasn't good enough. On the other hand, I was lucky to have my friend from Trieste work with me for 10 days to translate all the parts spo- ken in Neapolitan. She literally worked as a "ciuccina" those days . O n my hand, I w as s o inspired that I organized all my SERENA PERFETTO Matteo Troncone filmed his Arrangiarsi (Pizza and the Art of Living) entirely in Naples @ Matteo Troncone Matteo Troncone and the Neapolitan "art of living" LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS Continued to page 14 Troncone sitting on the roof of his beloved 1985 VW van, The Brown Bison @ Matteo Troncone

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