L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS MANUELA CARACCIOLO C r e a t i n g a w a r e n e s s o f Umbria in the Sugar Land area of Fort Bend County, Texas, through the integrated promotion of tourism, food and wine excellences, artistic crafts and other aspects of the Italian region's local production. T h i s i s t h e g o a l o f t h e " P r o g e t t o U m b r i a i n S u g a r L a n d , " c r e a t e d b y t h e " A s s o c i a z i o n e C u l t u r a l e d i Promozione Sociale Aurora," led by Donatella Cocchini, in collaboration with the town of Spello, The region of Umbria, the city of Sugar Land and the F o r t B e n d C h a m b e r o f Commerce, using as an attrac- t i o n p o i n t t h e " F e s t i v a l d e l Cinema Città di Spello e dei B o r g h i U m b r i " ( S p e l l o a n d U m b r i a n B o r o u g h s F i l m Festival). N o t o n l y f o o d a n d w i n e , then, but also quality cinema, a bridge between Italy and Texas m a d e o f d r e a m s , s c e n t s a n d images. The festival, which ran from the 27th of September to the 1st of October this year, saw seven movies competing for the prizes assigned by a specialists' jury led by Los Angeles-based Italian director Max Leonida. The project is the brainchild of two women in love with their r e g i o n : D o n a t e l l a C o c c h i n i , president of the Associaione A u r o r a a n d o r g a n i z e r o f t h e S p e l l o F i l m F e s t i v a l , a n d M a n u e l a T e n t o n i , b o r n i n P e r u g i a a n d l i v i n g n o w i n Houston. They are supported in t h e i r e f f o r t b y T i z i a n a Ciacciofera Triolo, the project's US director, who has been liv- ing in Sugar Land for the past 7 years. We interviewed two of the most prominent personalities of the project: the first, Tiziana C i a c c i o f e r a T r i o l o , p r o j e c t director. The second, Italian d i r e c t o r a n d p r o d u c e r M a x Leonida, president of the jury. Tiziana, can you sum up for us the initiative's objectives? T. "Texas and Sugar Land are among the areas in the US that have experienced the high- est economic and demographic growth in recent times. This is why we've chosen this city, so close to Houston, as the see of t h e f e s t i v a l ' s f i r s t e d i t i o n . Beside promoting Italian cine- ma, we would like to increase t h e t o u r i s t i c f l o w t o w a r d s U m b r i a , w h i c h h a s r e c e n t l y added the United States as a specific target of interest, as well as creating and improving c o m m e r c i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s between the two areas. How many producers have j o i n e d t h e i n i t i a t i v e s a n d w h i c h U m b r i a n s p e c i a l t i e s have been brought to Texas? T. "Many Umbrian producers have joined us, including wine producers Cantine Collesole and Heart of Italy, oil producers A z i e n d e T e g a , p u l s e s ' f a r m Fertitecnica and flour producers Spigadoro. Moreover, an exhibi- tion of Umbrian artists has been set up in the foyer of the theatre where the movies were shown daily. Among the protagonists, Gallenghi, Giacometti, LaNoce, Onorati, Ottaviani and Tini." Will you recreate the expe- rience in other States, maybe i n v o l v i n g o t h e r I t a l i a n regions? T . " T h e p r o j e c t w a s b o r n with the objective to create a yearly opportunity for Umbrian excellences, selected by local regional administrations, to get exposure in Sugar Land, Tx. It is, then, tied to a specific agree- ment signed among the Region of Umbria, the City of Spello, t h e S p e l l o a n d U m b r i a n Boroughs Film Festival, the City of Sugar Land and the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce. H o w e v e r , c o n s i d e r i n g t h e success of this 'pilot project,' we definitely remain open to the possibility of collaborating with other regions." We then asked Max Leonida which movies and products the Texan public preferred and why. M. "In general, I must say I have seen great enthusiasm and interest for the initiative and all the movies. As president of the Festival's jury, I can give you a m o r e s p e c i f i c a n d p r e c i s e answer, as a have personally lis- tened to each and every juror's evaluation and opinion. Without a d o u b t , V i r z ì ' s " L a P a z z a Gioia," Rovere's "Veloce come i l V e n t o " a n d O l m i ' s "Torneranno i Prati" have been particularly appreciated. This m a k e s u s u n d e r s t a n d t h e American public has been defi- nitely seeking, at least when it comes to Italian cinema, visual poetry, auteur movies." As a producer living in the US, how would you explain this opening towards made in Italy cinematography? M. "In truth, it really seems that Hollywood has been open- ing up to other cinematographic realities -including those from E u r o p e - f o r a f e w y e a r s already... Certainly, after our great generation of post-war d i r e c t o r s ( F e l l i n i , L e o n e , Rossellini, De Sica) and the for- m i d a b l e w a v e o f I t a l i a n - American geniuses of the 1970s (Scorsese, Coppola, Cimino, De Palma, Storaro), it appeared Italian cinema went unconscious and the American moved once more only on itself, developing a more nationalistic dimension. Everything has a natural cycle, t h o u g h , s o t o d a y - p o s s i b l y because of the growing number of explosive, loud, CGI-heavy super heroes of US cinema - the American market has turned once more to European (and Italian) films in search of sto- ries, emotions, visions and, fun- d a m e n t a l l y , p o e m s , t h a t t h e American sci-fi/super hero tra- dition cannot reproduce. Honestly, I do believe there's still a lot to do, as Americans c o n t i n u e t o h a v e a s l i g h t l y skewed perception of our histor- ical identity, often read through "emotional stereotypes." Will w e s u r p r i s e t h e m a n d m a k e t h e m c h a n g e t h e i r m i n d ? Maybe! The public's reaction to the Italian works presented in S u g a r L a n d a r e d e f i n i t e l y a good sign." Finally, we asked both Max and Tiziana the same ques- tion: what did participants think of the Festival? T. "The festival has been warmly received by the Texan community, which is known to love Italy. Participation has gone well beyond our expecta- t i o n s . A s i g n a l m a r k i n g t h e overall success of the initiative has definitely been the fantastic welcome the Umbrian delega- tion has received from the local community. M. "As I said, the comments of both the public and the jury have been very positive. Many people did stop me to point out how much they liked the initia- tive. Without a doubt, the 'Made in Italy' still has a very special strength, charm and authority!" Here are, to conclude, the winners of the Festival: Paolo Virzì' s "La Pazza Gioia" won the price for best movie and best screenplay. Ermanno Olmi's "Torneranno i Prati" that for b e s t d i r e c t i o n a n d M a t t e o R o v e r e ' s " V e l o c e c o m e i l Vento" brought home the price f o r b e s t p h o t o g r a p h y . O t h e r m o v i e s p r e s e n t e d w e r e " H o Amici in Paradiso" by Fabrizio M a r i a C o r t e s e , " I l V a n g e l o Secondo Mattei" by Antonio Andisani and Pascal Zullino, "My Italy" by Bruno Colella a n d " M a t e r n i t y B l u e s " b y Fabrizio Cattani. Tiziana Ciacciofera Triolo Spello and Umbrian Boroughs Film Festival flies to Texas Italian director Max Leonida Aziende Tega are one of the many Umbrian produ- cers that participated to the initiative

• Cover