Giovanni Falcone with Paolo Borsellino, the other judge killed by the mafia in the dramatic attacks of 1992
author, Tony Gentile: “If that photo is the heritage of all Italians then it is right that it should be protected”
In the thirtieth anniversary of the Capaci and via d’Amelio massacres, the most famous photo of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino ends up in Parliament. The shot that the photojournalist Tony Gentile took in Palermo on March 27, 1992, in which the two magistrates smile, stands out on the walls of schools and public offices because it is the icon of the fight against the mafia, so much so that it will also be replicated on the 2 coins. EUR.
However, it is at the center of a judicial dispute, told some time ago by ‘Oggi’. Now the story lands in Montecitorio, with the request to the Minister Franceschini to save his paternity. Years ago the photographer sued Rai, asking for compensation for damages due to the company’s use of the TV of his photograph without requesting his consent, nor mentioning the author or even paying a fee. .
In September 2019, the Court ruled out that the work could have an authorial character, making it fall within “simple” photographs, for which the law recognizes the author the right of reproduction, diffusion and sale only for 20 years. If instead it were recognized as a “work of genius” it would be “protected” for 70 years from the death of the photographer.
For this reason, on 23 May the deputy of Iv Michele Anzaldi presented a question to the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, to ask “if he is aware of the circumstances” and “if he does not believe that, in the face of the high symbolic value of the famous photograph that reproduces the magistrates Falcone and Borsellino, it is not in his faculties to recognize in any case the value of a work of art “.
Also to avoid the joke, that is, that “the name of the photographer is no longer mentioned in some reproductions, precisely on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the massacre of Capaci and via D’Amelio”. From his side, Tony Gentile does not hide his bitterness from AGI: “For me it is a human and professional mortification, it is not possible for a photo of this value to be treated in this way”.
Gentile says: “I took it during a conference that talked about the mafia and politics, organized in support of Giuseppe Ajala’s candidacy for the House, two weeks earlier Salvo Lima had been killed. Falcone and Borsellino were aware of what would happen “.
The value of the photo lies in that sense of “natural and spontaneous intimacy that is immediately perceived when someone looks at it. There is a simplicity of the gesture that is reflected in their message and that I sensed and managed to grasp “. Considerations that the judge evidently does not agree with: “He claims that that photo became an icon only because Falcone and Borsellino died in that way, while I say that photography is an icon more simply because it exists, because a photojournalist did it knowing clearly what he was saying that evening of March 27th“.
Now Gentile’s hopes are pinned on Anzaldi’s question: “In addition to Franceschini, I hope Minister Franco will also answer me to explain if he thinks it is right that the State Mint has pulled back from an agreed agreement according to which they should have recognized me a payment 500 euros that I, on my own initiative, would have donated to charity. In the end, the coin exists but there is no signature of mine that authorizes the use of photography “.
“I think that Anzaldi’s initiative, which I did not know, however, has hit the mark because if that photo is the heritage of all Italians then it is right that it should be protected and protecting that icon would mean triggering a process for the change of Italian law on copyright that penalizes, like me, thousands of Italian photographers “.
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