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Awareness and ambiguity |
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| 07/12/2008 |
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Tina Porcelli and Fabrizio Liberti opened the second day of meetings with the press at the Courmayeur Noir in Festival. They are in Valle d’Aosta to present their documentary, which just won the prestigious Solinas Award, Di Fronte Al Silenzio Degli Altri, based on the book Cadaveri Senza Identità by Cristina Cattaneo. A forensic doctor and anthropologist, Cattaneo has for years been working with the Labanof Association to give a name and face to the hundreds who are found dead each year and whose identity has not been established.
Say the directors: “Contrary to what one thinks, [the unidentified] are predominantly Italian and are truly numerous. Those who struggle to work in this absurd reality face an endemic lack of funds. They are doctors, researchers from La Sapienza University, coordinated by this association that was founded at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Milan, which since 1985 has been studying human remains for identification purposes.”
Emidio Greco presented his film A Simple Story (based on the novel by Leonardo Sciascia), which, among other prizes, won the Best Film Award at the very first Noir in Festival. The film was also an occasion to remember a spectacular performance by Gian Maria Volontè, who won the Golden Career Lion at the Venice Film Festival; a wonderful cast (that included Ennio Fantastichini, Ricky Tognazzi, Massimo Ghini and Massimo Dapporto); and a great writer who in his lifetime was probably somewhat underrated.
“Sciascia was appreciated above all for his social commitment,” said Greco. “But his literary qualities were overlooked. Qualities that were very difficult to adapt for the cinema.”
And just as the Sciascia’s film centered entirely on the problem of ambiguity, so does the documentary by Massimo Coppola and Giovanni Giommi, Parafernalia, about a 13-year-old Brazilian girl who, led by her father, runs an evangelical community. The girl boasts of having died at the age of two to then be miraculously resuscitated.
“Thus, our film is the first real documentary about zombies,” joked Coppola. “The project came about after we saw a video on YouTube and once we got [broadcaster] La 7 interested, we could begin. The distribution situation today is very complicated, since Campo Dall’Orto (who was one of our main backers) has left television. In Brazil we found a pop situation, the girl seemed like Shirley Temple on acid. We don’t know how aware she is what she’s doing, but we’re certain that her father is not very trustworthy.”
Aurelio Grimaldi also presented, along with actor Gaetano Amato, the first Italian film in competition, Se Sarà Luce Sarà Bellissimo, on the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro. The project went through numerous phases. “We wanted to make a trilogy but in the last minute that fell through,” said Grimaldi. “Now we’d like to make a diptych, but we still lack money to finish. Even the print we presented here at the festival still needs to be corrected. But I’m happy we were able to show the film, and very thankful to the festival for this opportunity.”
The film arose from the director’s need to look at a crucial period of contemporary Italian history. “I am very interested in the events that have taken place in Italy in recent years; in the knowledge of history. But I’m also very interested in people capable of dying for ideas. My film attacks everyone: Christian Democrats, the State, the Red Brigades, the police. It is a work that I feel I must do, a work of fiction, but with enormous documentation behind it.”
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