L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY S omething magic a b o u t t r u t h i s t h a t n o m a t t e r h o w m u c h i t h u r t s w h e n w e first learn it, it eventually sets us free. This explains t h e f e a r b u t a l s o t h e j o y behind the celebration of a creature called the Badali- sc, that lives in the woods around a small town called Andrista, in Valcamoni- ca, a valley in the Italian Prealps. The legend says that this mountain monster, visually represented as a creature with a big head covered with goat skin, two small horns, a h u g e m o u t h a n d g l o w i n g eyes, gets captured every year by the community and brought to the village. Here it is celebrated with drums and dances and his speech is read in front of everybody. What does it say? It's a reve- lation of the community's secrets and sins, which is the r e a s o n a s t o w h y t h e Badalisc is a despicable crea- ture in the eyes of the village. "It's a very simple idea," ani- mator Lino Di Salvo tells me, explaining why he deci- ded to do an animated featu- re film about it. "His whole magical ability is to see your future, tell your truth. This creature knows everybody's b u s i n e s s . A n d t h e r e ' s something about airing out grievances, about bringing out the truth. At the begin- ning you don't want to hear it, but you need to do it. At first, the village is annoyed by his presence, but then they live happily for the rest of the year after his speech." Born in 1974 in Brooklyn, New York, from a Sicilian family, Di Salvo worked at Disney Animation for 17 years and served as Head of A n i m a t i o n o n F r o z e n , s u p e r v i s i n g a n i m a t o r o n Tangled and Bolt and ani- m a t o r o n M e e t t h e R o b i n s o n s , C h i c k e n Little, 102 Dalmatians, and Reign of Fire. Lino, as someone who was born and raised in V a l c a m o n i c a , I w a s always fascinated by this unique story and I was blown away to find out an Italian American ani- m a t o r , f i l m d i r e c t o r , writer and voice actor like you wanted to make a movie about it. How did you find out about it? I was at Disney for a really long time. I was there for 17 years. It was my dream job. I always said to myself that I was going to leave Disney after working on a big hit and lucky for me, I worked on Frozen. So when Frozen came out, and the movie got momentum from the success I said to myself "I'm going to go out to the studios with my own stories." I realized that it was incredible that there weren't any stories told from Italy, no animated stories besides Pinocchio. So I started looking up folklore. I'm speaking to my p a r e n t s a n d t h e y h a d a f r i e n d f r o m V a l c a m o n i c a a n d s h e m e n t i o n e d t h e Badalisc. I had never heard of that. I looked it up and I thought, "Oh my God, how h a s t h i s n e v e r b e e n a movie?" And then what happe- ned? I started to research. And then I was at the Cannes film festival in 2018 and I was in a room full of Italians, so I thought to test my idea out with them. I mentioned the Badalisc from Valcamonica and there w a s a j o u r n a l i s t t h e r e , Maura Serioli, that worked f o r t h e c u l t u r a l c e n t e r o f Valcamonica and she got in touch with me and she sent me so much stuff about the Badalisc and his mythology. Did you relate in some w a y s t o t h e B a d a l i s c legend? M y f a m i l y m o v e d f r o m S i c i l y t o N e w Y o r k ; m y father is a chef and so is my s i s t e r . S o m e t h i n g a b o u t Italian families is that your parents are trying to protect you and they plan a road for you. And for me it was that I was going to take over the restaurants in New York and I knew that wasn't for me. The movie really is about the fact that you should never lie t o y o u r s e l f . Y o u s h o u l d always pursue your truth. Did you put some of this personal aspect of your life in your movie? Yes. My story is going to be rooted in tradition and it's about this girl, Angelina, whose father owns a pizze- ria. He has a plan for her and all she wants to do is do her own thing, but she doe- sn't have the heart to tell her father. "How can I tell my father this? I'm going to break his heart by telling him that I want to go to New York to be a vet because I want to take care of animals." She can't do it. Here's something very beautiful about Italian families: they want to do good and they want to help and protect you, but that's also the thing that's holding t h e y o u n g e r g e n e r a t i o n back. I experienced that. How must the movie be? It has to be as genuine as possible. I have to be really careful. It's also important f o r m e t h a t w e c a s t a l l Italian actors, because what I w a n t t o c a p t u r e i s y o u r type of accent. Can you tell me a bit more about the plot? Is this story going to be set in a Valcamonica? Yes, Angelina is the pro- tagonist; Giorgio delivers the mail. Giorgio is in love with her, but he's intimida- t e d b y h e r . S h e ' s v e r y strong. She knows what she w a n t s . S h e ' s v e r y s m a r t . Giorgio knows everything a b o u t I t a l i a n m y t h o l o g y while she's worldly and sees herself living in LA, expe- r i e n c i n g t h e r e s t o f t h e world. And Giorgio is a little b i t o f a s m a l l t o w n k i d . What happens is that her father gets into trouble. So she needs to find a cure for t h i s c u r s e a n d f i n d t h e Badalisc so he can reveal one particular secrets.Then they need to find Ombra, the goddess of secrets kept in the shadows. I s t h e r e a n y t h i n g working at Disney hel- ped you with while wri- ting the Badalisc? T h e t h i n g W a l t D i s n e y always believed in is that you have to find one truth that makes the story real. You have to find that one thing you can tell a whole story about, and there's this honesty behind the movies. When you work at Disney, you always ask yourself why, w h y a r e y o u m a k i n g t h i s choice? Why is the character making this decision? What's your biggest w i s h r e g a r d i n g t h i s movie? I've been in the industry 2 5 y e a r s s e r v i c i n g o t h e r people's thoughts. So this one's mine, this one's for m e . W h e n I ' l l g o t o t h e movie theater, I want to feel like it's my movie, and that I am proud of it. Like this is the movie I wanted to make. SILVIA GIUDICI Lino Di Salvo (Photo courtesy of Lino Di Salvo) After Frozen, Disney director Lino Di Salvo to make a movie about a mythological Italian creature

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