“Cinema starts again from the province”. Luca Ribuoli, established director of Call my agent, artistic director of the Alessandria Film Festival and creator of Alessandria October (from 28 September to 31 October 2024 in Alessandria), is convinced of this. “We must stop and say that cinema must be told again.” In all its facets: from writing to acting work. It must also be relaunched because “it is a mirror. A way of recognizing each other, of seeing each other.” An art that has always fascinated millions of people as demonstrated by the success of October Alessandrino, an event that also uses culture to relaunch an entire territory.
How did the idea of dedicating an entire month to cinema come about?
“They offered me the opportunity to be the director of the Alessandria Film Festival, now in its sixth edition. But since there were 2 film festivals: one critical and one, let’s say, more traditional like mine, I thought I’d join forces. The main idea was to network in the Alessandria area which is very large: Alessandria, Casale Monferrato, Acqui Terme, Ovada, Tortona, Novi Ligure… In short, cities also known at a national level. So, having two festivals close by, we started to organize events and came up with the idea of occupying the entire month of October in that area for cinema. We have put together 41 events that will cover the whole month.”
The longest film festival in Italy.
“Yes, we have achieved this record. An entire month of events related to cinema, but which is not just cinema: book presentations, script contests and many other events. All with the aim of making the territory work, of exalting the figures of the territory, but also of making the territory known to the entire nation. We have many guests who obviously come from Rome, the base of cinema, but not only. They come to present films, their events. One in particular that I care a lot about is “One year of There’s Still Tomorrow”. In fact, October 26th will be one year since the release of Cortellesi’s film and I wanted to create a format that was a bit of a balance sheet of the film: all the awards won, the spectators found, the language used and everything that went around it. to the film event also for the theme covered. We will talk about how much the film changed perceptions and raised awareness of the issue of violence against women.”
Why the choice of Alessandria? Is the intention to use culture as a driving force for territorial activity?
“Absolutely yes. Especially for a city that has had some difficult years: the flood in 1994, the administration of the municipality at the beginning of the 2000s, the closure of the theater due to asbestos… The city needed something that tied everything together and that made people talk about culture and brought it back to the province. It’s working like a god. We are very happy. All events are full. The province is responding in a big way.”
What is the state of culture in Italy?
“It’s not in a good place, especially in the province. We continued to create culture in a very local way, but – in particular referring to cinematographic culture – I’ll tell you something: a boy from Eco high school, I want to remember that Alessandria is the city of Umberto Eco, told me: ” There are 6 of us in the whole high school who go to the cinema.” I then understood that there is a problem. I understood that cinema is no longer perceived as an event, as something important that can help you in life like literature for example. On this basis, I created a project with five local institutes to encourage creativity and raise awareness of cinema at all creative levels, starting from writing. I’m happy that, to date, there are already 70 kids signed up. This makes me very happy. It’s a great starting point.”
Why don’t people go to the cinema anymore? Is it just the platforms’ fault?
“Yes, platforms have their “responsibilities”, but we have ours too. We must stop and say that cinema must be told again. Now it reaches the public, through platforms, as something pre-packaged, as if it were produced by Artificial Intelligence. Speaking with the kids I realized that there is no perception that they could make a film with their cell phones, instead of using it to interact on the various platforms. They have all the technological supports to be able to produce something creative. I am also the director of Call My Agent and I saw how much the ironic key of the stars was interested but also how much the behind the scenes were interested. We need to find the right key to make people understand the importance of cinema and what value it can have in everyone’s life.”
Why is cinema so important?
“Cinema is a mirror. A way of recognizing each other, of seeing each other. It is obvious that the type of story we tell is also important. If they are not stories that can tell the present then it is useless. We tell stories that young people can identify with. If you pay attention, the biggest successes, for example Mare Fuori, are stories that tell a certain age group in a certain way. Then, of course, there are not only young people. We need stories that show us how we are or extraordinary stories. We need greater depth than what we choose to tell if we want the public to relate to it in some way.”
What do you think of the Meloni government’s political moves on cinema?
“Let me start by saying that we always have to understand what will happen. Let’s see how they will act. For now I suspend judgment. It’s right to point the finger at certain measures, but we also need to self-criticize and understand what we can do to be better understood. However, it must be said that this is a particularly difficult moment. The platforms no longer produce as before. When the bubble burst a bit, having a restructuring of the Tax Credit at the same time certainly had a negative impact on our sector which is now in really bad shape. Whatever decision is made will have to take into consideration the global vision that this world is paying for in this period.”
What is the future of cinematographic art in Italy?
“I think we need to be better at telling stories that represent us, in which people can recognize themselves. It’s an ambition on which we need to work more.”
Should cinema start again from the province?
“Yes, I think so. In the end, if you think about it, both TV and cinema are seen above all in the provinces. In recent years we have talked about big cities that are worlds apart. Yes, it is true that Rome is also a province, Milan is also a province. But the real province is something else. It bases its mechanisms on desires and ambitions that are very difficult to make people who don’t live in these places understand. To those who have not breathed and lived here. The success of the event we are carrying out demonstrates the fact that the inhabitants of the Italian province would like to be close to cultural events. But unfortunately they are distant. However, when these events come to them, they respond immediately.”
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