05/03/2003

Veteran Italian film director Pupi Avati succeeds Felice Laudadio at the helm of Cinecittà Holding. Avati, who is very proud of his filmmaking experience, has no intention of giving up his day job: his latest feature entitled Il cuore altrove was just released in Italy and work is almost finished on Rivincita di Natale, a follow-up to his beloved Regalo di Natale. Avati reassures us that a conflict of interests was never an issue. "Since I am a director, it is clear that I will not use either the services and infrastructure of Cinecittà nor request State funding."
In our exclusive interview with this notoriously private and rather shy native of Bologna – one of the very first he has given - Avati the director allowed Avati the President of Cinecittà Holding to speak. "Right now, we have a mountain of work to do. We must first draw up a plan of work, the Holding is the brain while the body is made up of its various associates like theatrical distributor Istituto Luce and Italia Cinema, the agency that promotes Italian cinema abroad." Avati has words of praise for Italia Cinema: “Up until now it had an exploratory role. Now it can produce results in terms of visibility; harvest time has come.”

The late Alberto Sordi, Avati symbolised an Italy that no longer exists, and the Italian people’s strong attachment to films that rely heavily on the imagination – an ability they seem to have lost.
"That is true. Sordi belonged to a kind of Italian cinema that played a central role in the cultural lives of its citizens. This actor had the ability to portray Italy quite perfectly in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Unhappily, our youth no longer considered Sordi to be a living legend. Europe – not just Italy – has gradually lost its personality in a number of different ways. Every day that passes, we distance ourselves further from our roots so that the present is always a little bit more impersonal and neutral. People in the twenties – and I say this looking at my kids – are the same the world over, and that will be even more true in ten years’ time than it is today, because English will be the lingua franca. Distance is not perceived just in terms of major events but rather is small everyday occurrences: when I tell my kids anecdotes about our family, they have a hard time understanding what I am talking about.”

Are you scared of globalisation?
“I don’t suffer from prejudice and don’t want to resort to platitudes. That said, I have noticed a gradual loss of identity. The first question I asked on coming to Cinecittà was: “What do we mean when we say ‘Italian cinema’?”
>br> And what do we mean?
The films of the 70s were subjected to huge doses of ideology and were auteur-driven. This contributed to emptying our cinemas. Today we have a filmmaking school that tries to imitate Hollywood, but with less means and less money. Then there is the school of film that bears witness to our identity whilst at the same time tries its best to re-establish a relationship with the public. Certain ideologies are simply not part of the DNA of Italian cinema; we are more concerned with observing human behaviour. But we have lost ground: we must turn this situation around and come up with popular products that appeal to the public. Even if my colleagues won’t admit it, you have to dirty your hands with vile lucre if you are a part of the film industry. A budget of three billion budget produces a comparable level of imagination...”

Italian cinema does not think of itself as an industry and perhaps that is really true.
“It isn’t an industry but has the potential to regain lost ground. Today every filmmaker represents his own personal genre: Moretti, Olmi, Amelio. Genres, which are fundamental to cinema, have been wiped out and everything was done to destroy the star system because the actor puts the director in the shade. Personalities like Sordi were also brokers of ideas between screenwriters and directors and the audience.”

Where does Cinecittà Holding fit into this rather depressing scenario?
“The Minister’s mandate contains, in my opinion, one key point: give back space, a role and visibility to Italian cinema in the world. In order to achieve this first of all Italian cinema must recover the trust of the Italian people. You cannot export a product that was refused by its country of origin.”

Have you any complaints with the work of your predecessors?
None at all. They did a good job. However I do not agree with the fact of addressing what we do and how we do it just to industry operators. We have to reach the public.”

How?
“Using every instrument at our disposal. Including SMSs.”