Carolina Pavone at the Film Festival: “It’s only thanks to Nanni Moretti”

“If I’m here it’s thanks to Nanni Moretti“. This is what Carolina Pavone told Adnkronos, on the occasion of the arrival in theaters of her debut film, after the presentation at the 81st Venice Film Festival. Moretti is producing it with his Sacher Film. “He supported me from the beginning without ever being too invasive, a presence that made us feel safe.” And it is thanks to the director of ‘Ecce Bombo’ that Pavone fell in love with cinema. “I was 17. One day I come back from school and turn on the TV and I found ‘Bianca’. At that moment I understood that I wanted to do this job“, remember.

At the center of the story is Caterina (Maria Chiara Arrighini) struggling with the search for her place in the world. She is 20 years old and wants to be a musician, but is paralyzed by fear and insecurity. Her idol, the French singer Mia (Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin), frees her. “If you are a woman and you want to make it in something, you have more difficulties. And this is a theme that we also talk about in ‘Almost Home’. It is something that has to do with the image, which is more sexualized than that of a man“, she says. “When we make mistakes, maybe we are judged more severely than men.” The director, born in 1994, remembers how on set she often thought about how to behave “to be taken seriously. I told myself ‘I have to be nice, but not too much’, ‘I have to be tough, but not too much otherwise they’ll think I’m hysterical’. These are just some of the things we shouldn’t worry about anymore, but we continue to do so.”

Insecurities and fears that go beyond the gender issue, as the film shows. “I believe that the new generations feel a more amplified sense of discomfort than the previous ones. This is because – explains Pavone – we constantly see the lives of others through social media, seeing what others achieve makes us feel inadequate. By now it is a mechanism that we have internalized”. The director’s appeal to the kids: “It’s normal to be afraid, you never stop being afraid. Ride it, only then it won’t be a limit“.

And Carolina rode those fears with the making of ‘Quasi a casa’ (in theaters tomorrow, September 5). But even before that, she did it as assistant director to Nanni Moretti in three films: ‘Mia madre’, ‘Tre Piani’ and ‘Il sol dell’avvenire’. “The most precious thing I stole on set with Nanni was seeing the absolute attention he dedicates to the actors, to the direction of the actors. He never neglects this aspect”, says Carolina. The cast of the film also includes Francesco Bianconi of Baustelle. “I’m a fan of theirs. I remember when I sneaked backstage at one of their concerts. And now he’s in my film, I can’t believe it”, says Carolina.