Neapolitan film director Antonio Capuano sat with his producer, Gian Mario Feletti, MoMA’s Curator Jvtte Jensen, and the N.I.C.E. festival Director Viviana del Bianco at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York City to introduce the 15th annual N.I.C.E.. Festival. N.I.C.E. is the New Italian Cinema Event Festival that brings overseas the best of Italy’s emerging talent in film. Along with showcasing the new Italian films from the past year, N.I.C.E. also commemorates a contemporary filmmaker who has built a body of work within the past twenty years because they want to celebrate the new directors of Italian Cinema. Last year that honor went to Matteo Garrone, the author or The Embalmer (L’Imbalsamatore) and this year it is the Antonio Capuano. Jvtte and Viviana were both happy to bring Antonio and his work to New York and they were willing to share a few nice words.
Jvtte Jensen spoke about Antonio’s commitment to being a voice for the neglected and forgotten, for his ability to give honest portrayals of the Neapolitan street life and the criminal element that exist there, and for his continued drive to speak with his own cinematic language.
Viviana del Bianco spoke of her relationship with Antonio from the very beginning of the N.I.C.E. Festival 15 years ago and how she was delighted to bring his first film Vito and the Others (Vito e gli Altri) to America as one of the first selected films to be apart of the festival.
Then the lights dimmed down and selected clips of Antonio’s films were shown on a small screen in the middle of the room. There were clips from his first film Vito and the Others, then Luna Rosa, then followed by the short Sophialoren, and finally Mario‘s War. Most directors get nervous or sometime even hate to watch their own films, but Antonio gazed at his films with admiration from the corner of the room. He looked as if he was watching them for the first time.
After the clips were finished, Gian Mario Feletti spoke of when he read Vito and the Others as a script while a part of the script selection committee for Premio Solinas in ’88. This committee also consisted of Suso Cecchi D’Amico, the author of such films as Rome, Open City and The Bicycle Thief. The whole panel unanimously knew that this script had to be made. He has since become a producer for Capuano’s films. Gian Mario said that Antonio reclaims the great literary tradition of Napoli. He went on to praise Antonio calling him the city of Napoli itself because his character is very rooted in Napoli, yet at the same time international. Then he gave Antonio the challenged that maybe he should direct a film in another great city – New York.
Antonio Capuano said that he has already written that story. Inspired by Woody Allen, possibly the greatest comedic film writer according to Capuano, the story would take place half in Napoli and half in New York and deal with a Neapolitan man and his wife. He then threw the challenge back at Gian Mario saying, “that idea is the only one that I have had trouble finding a producer for but I won’t give up on the film.” He continued, “I could see myself being very happy living and working in New York because there is so much for me to explore.”
Antonio was asked to speak about his films and his attachment to children especially in poverty. He said, “my attachment to children is something we all have. Children are beautiful and they overwhelm us, even when they stink, even when they spit and even when they yell. When you look at children you rediscover yourself and when you explore adolescence you in way hope to revisit that magical age. When you start looking at the horrible conditions which children of the sub proletarian society live in, you see that there is no end to it, it is like a bottomless pit but at the same time there is no end to the other side –heaven. I think there are children who live in more comfortable situation that are suffering just the same because they live with our neurosis and our problems.”
As the night was finishing the questioning opened to the audience and someone asked Antonio whether or not Napoli was enough for an artist to create with. Antonio responded that Giorgio Morandi, the still life-artist from Bologna who painted the same three bottles nearly a thousand times, taught him that you can look at the same room a million different ways, but it is important when doing this to keep your ears and eyes open to the world outside of that room. When asked about his experiences on set and how he feels when making a film. He responded, “the only time I feel alive is when making a film. When I hear the clack of the marker I can finally feel the blood in my veins.”
