L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 4 BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS I taly's message to the w o r l d o f c i n e m a i s loud and clear: let's go, it's time to start over again. Bari and Venice, with their internatio- nal festivals that this year have taken place only three days apart, tell us that we can start over safely after months of closed theaters, locked down sets and cancel- led events. Some sacrifices, adaptability and creativity, all characteristics people working in the field naturally have, are key to open again the doors of world cinema. This is why in Venice, on occasion of the 77th Inter- national Film Festival — a peculiar one, by all means, with social distancing in the theatre and a protective bar- r i e r o n t h e r e d c a r p e t t o avoid gatherings — the eight directors of Europe's most i m p o r t a n t f i l m f e s t i v a l s ( V e n i c e , B e r l i n , C a n n e s , Locarno, Rotterdam, Kar- lovy Vary, San Sebastian and London) cut the inaugural ribbon together, while rea- ding a message of love and solidarity for an industry w h i c h h a s b e e n h e a v i l y penalized by the pandemic. Festivals, they said, are not solely a promotional catwalk to show the best of authors and directors' creativity, they've become a learning hub for younger directors, but also an occasion for the public to interact with cultu- re and for young people to learn about beauty and the artistic wealth of cinema. F e s t i v a l s a r e p l a c e s f o r research, where creativity a n d f r e e d o m o f a r t i s t i c expression materialize in a fertile — and necessary — dialogue with the public and society. Director Roberto Bar- bera explained he decided to go ahead with the 77th edition of the Venice Film F e s t i v a l i n s p i t e o f e v e r y t h i n g , a m o n g s t r i c t s e c u r i t y m e a s u r e s , s o m e sacrifice and the support of streaming, "As a sign of trust and concrete support to the world of cinema and of the audio-visual industry, which have been heavily hit by the spreading of the virus and of its dramatic consequences. Filming was suspended, and releases postponed indefini- tely. Movie theaters were shut and then only partially r e o p e n e d w i t h i m m e n s e limitations imposed in name of our safety. Thousands of jobs got on the line and an impressive number of fami- lies has been living in the uncertainty related to a sec- tor that is far from being secondary for the world's economy and culture. Only a handful of weeks ago, we d i d n ' t k n o w w h e t h e r w e w o u l d h a v e b e e n a b l e t o carry on with our traditional e n d - o f - s u m m e r a p p o i n t - ment with Venice. However, i n t h e m e a n w h i l e , m a n y filmmakers started working again to finish up the movies t h e y c o u l d n ' t c o m p l e t e because of the pandemic, and so did we, to be ready on t i m e . I t w a s w i t h a h u g e sense of responsibility and c o m m i t m e n t — h e s a i d — that we tackled an unprece- dented situation, where all rules kept on changing, for- cing us to remain flexible and change continuously direction." But in the end, theaters' lights are on again. Venice didn't renounce to its gla- mour made of red carpets, international guests and par- ties, which are even more exclusive this year, nor to its traditional heftiness: 62 full length films, 17 shorts, 13 restored movies, 44 virtual r e a l i t y w o r k s a n d o n e t v series, selected among 2.709 titles; among them, 1.370 full length movies (205 from I t a l y ) , a n d 1 . 3 3 9 s h o r t s . "These year's submissions were many, only a tad less than what's received tradi- tionally in Venice. This is a sign that cinema — Barbera c o n t i n u e s — h a s n ' t b e e n swept away by the tsunami of Covid-19, but still main- tains an inviable vitality." T o b e h o n e s t , t h e 1 1 t h edition of the Bari Inter- national Film Festival, postponed from March to the last week of August and almost a prologue to Venezia 77, already demonstrated that the will to keep culture g o i n g c a n o v e r c o m e t h e obstacles caused by a pande- mic. Last year's 76.000 peo- ple weren't, of course, there, b u t t h e s a m e n u m b e r o f events and celebrities cer- tainly were: 80 events in 9 days, with 61 screenings and 150 guests, including Marco D ' A m o r e — C i r o f r o m Gomorra — and Francesco Frigeri, The Passion's art director. "We received extre- m e l y p o s i t i v e f e e d b a c k : we're considered a model of health and safety for events l i k e o u r s . " T h e s e a r e t h e words of Felice Laudadio, d i r e c t o r o f B i f & s t , w h e n talking about the controls c a r r i e d o u t b y M I B A C T , Italy's Ministry for heritage, cultural activities and touri- s m , w h i c h e x t e n d e d t h e same checks to Venice a few days later to ensure all pre- c a u t i o n a r y m e a s u r e s a r e ready to be implemented. "I must thank our public, who respected very carefully all necessary measures." A sign that starting again in safety is possible for cinema. And if the best example should come from the stage, O s c a r w i n n e r R o b e r t o B e n i g n i , m a i n g u e s t a t Bif&est, certainly taught the best lesson and followed scrupulously all anti-Covid procedures: social distancing a t a l l t i m e s , n o h u g s n o r h a n d s h a k e s , s a n i t i z e d m i c r o p h o n e s , f a c e m a s k always on, except during the l e n g t h y — a n d s o c i a l l y d i s t a n c e d — c h a t h e h a d with the public. He's been a cheerful fountain of conver- sation: energy and feelings, among personal memories and anecdotes about Hol- lywood cinema. Up there on stage, a histrionic storyteller as usual, he entertained, moved, affected people's fee- lings in a continuous up and down from his seat. Above all, he spoke for all of us and s h o w e d t h a t i n s t i n c t i v e , natural need we all have to socialize, which we feel so much stronger in this period of privation: "Covid has truly been painful for me, it rui- ned me. I've got this uncon- trollable desire to touch and h u g e v e r y o n e , t o t h r o w myself at people! B e n i g n i s h o w e d t h a t humanity, that mix of emo- tions, carefreeness, rela- tions, satires and memories, is what makes cinema as great as it is, that makes it necessary and indispensable. Being back in the theatre means finally being able to daydream again, to live more lives, to dream, to cry and laugh together, to think of ourselves just like —or very different from — movie cha- racters. Benigni wants, awaits and l o o k s f o r a n e w s t o r y t o interpret with his wife, 15 years after the last time the two shared the stage in La Tigre e la Neve. He men- t i o n s i t a s a n e c e s s i t y t o meet: "I'm thinking about a nice comedy, something for people our age," but also with words that could have easily come from the pen of b e l o v e d D a n t e A l i g h i e r i , because cinema is image and poetry: "I'd love to make a movie with Nicoletta Braschi because everything good and beautiful I've done in my life h a s b e e n t o u c h e d b y h e r light." A message of love that Benigni with the awards he received at the Bari International Film Festival (Photo: Daniele Notaristefano) Continued to page 6 In Italy, world cinema returns on the red carpet

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